Batman vs. Drácula

This was a most unexpected twist to the series "The Batman." The series was dark, edgy, and had lots of new twists to the classic characters of the world of Batman. Then this film came around, pitting Batman against the original creature of the night. I remember reading a comic book of Batman vs Dracula, which has two sequels, that was definitely not meant for kids. This movie is right near the boundary of not being kid-friendly either and it's a warm welcome to the franchise.

Plot: Joker and Penguin escape Arkham Asylum (big surprise). While Batman battles Joker, Penguin searches for treasure in a cemetery, accidentally awakening the one and only Dracula. With Penguin as his new hypnotized servant and countless people transformed into vampires, Dracula seems to be Batman's greatest challenge. With news reporter Vicky Vale and Joker caught in the middle, can Batman conquer the deadly Dracula and save his transformed victims? Its modern technology vs supernatural power as these dark knights battle it out for the fate of Gotham City.

From start to finish, this movie is pretty darn impressive. I like how both Joker and Penguin play into all this chaos. Vicky Vale, in her first appearance in the series, remains ever so persistent and attractive, something neither Batman or Dracula can resist. Dracula is especially interesting. He has some of his classic features like being tall, dark, and mysterious while having nice twists to his character and his dialogue with Batman is loads of fun to watch.

With great action, creepy moments, a nicely-written story, and surprising amounts of blood, this is arguably one of the greatest match-ups of all time. I give this movie a seven for entertainment and an extra point for not being too afraid of getting a little dark. So fly in and enjoy.

I thought this movie was great in every aspect. Animation was top notch. All those haters talking about how it looks anime, well guess what Japanese anime is pretty much the hot thing now. The only real good animation we have is JLU. Anyways this movie really surprised me. When I initially heard about this title I was a little skeptic at 1st cause I mean when you first hear The Batman vs Dracula, you think what the bleep. But when read more about it I got more excited. This movie ranks it the top three, MOTP and ROTJ are a head of it mainly because of the story. That was the only problem I had with this movie. The story was pretty self explanatory. I think if they wanted to add the human element to the character, they should have had Alfred getting bitten and then Batman trying to save him, not the Joker. But overall I enjoyed it and will watch it again. And for the person who was confused about the antidote working on the vampire minions but not Dracula. Well,I think it's because Dracula is the originator of the infection. Meaning that is blood is pure and basically when he bites someone else it could be seen as an infection that can be cured. If that makes any sense.

And this is not anything to do with not liking Batman. I happen to love Batman, right from the 60s series(camp but compulsively colourful fun) to the animated DC movies with Batman:The Animated Series being the real jewel in the crown. This said, I happen to not be a fan of the The Batman show. It is not a terrible show, it has its good moments, but I do prefer more darkness and Gothic pathos when it comes to Batman and there are elements that take some getting used to. I happen to think The Batman vs. Dracula is much better. It is not perfect, Joker's character design like the show does take a lot of getting used to, in all honesty I never really warmed to it, and Peter Stormare while voicing Dracula with just the right smooth menace has an accent that is very inconsistent. However, the animation is really great, much smoother than the show's and has much more atmosphere. There is also a haunting music score, smart intelligent writing that has a much mature tone than the show and some exciting action sequences, though there perhaps could have been more. The story is very dark and compelling, with some both intense and moving moments and perfectly paced. I would have liked to have seen the Vampyric lore element further explored but that wasn't enough to harm the story. The characters are great, Batman is much darker and more brooding, Penguin as always is great fun, he was a bright spot of the show always, and Joker is more menacing and twisted than ever before. Dracula in design may be more Ras Al'Ghul than Dracula, but is still a more than worthy adversary to Batman. The voice acting is very good too, Rino Romano sounds more comfortable and brooding, Tara Strong is a likable Vicki Vale. Tom Kenny voices Penguin with great enthusiasm without ever overdoing it while Kevin Michael Richardson's voice for Joker is in keeping with the character's more twisted personality here, it didn't work in the show for me because that psyche wasn't really explored. All in all, a very good movie and much better than The Batman show. 8/10 Bethany Cox

When I first heard about this movie, I had reservations. The Batman series was straight forward action with too little character depth. Every villain was an evil mustache twirling master martial artist, yet Batman was always able to overpower them. I guess I was hoping for something closer to the Paul Dini, Bruce Timm style complex Batman.

Anyway, this movie started out somewhat similar to a series episode, the Joker escapes from Arkham Asylum and the Penguin uses the distraction and some deft martial arts to make his own escape. Having a lead on a hidden treasure, Penguin goes to a very Gothic cemetery and finds more then gold, but Dracula's remains. Accidentally reviving him, Dracula proceeds to build an army of the undead, targeting Batman partially for using his image to scare criminals, partially because Batman rules the night of Gotham, and that's his territory.

Yeah, I was a little hesitant when I first heard of this story, and the first few minutes didn't do much to dispel those feelings, but it quickly changed into something more entertaining and complex then the series ever achieved, not Bruce Timm, but perfect within its own universe.

Probably the best part of this movie is that Batman has trouble with Dracula's vampire minions, and is completely outmatched by Dracula himself. This means he has to rely on intelligence and improvisation, in addition to plain martial arts skill to defeat him. Batman shows great humility in that luck was the only thing to prevent Dracula's victory in their first encounter.

Make no mistake, this is not a kids movie. Years ago, censors were hesitant to allow a violent Batman Beyond movie go through without changes. This movie has scenes and violence even more intense then the original, uncut version of that movie. You feel the impacts of some hits and see the characters painful reaction. One scene in a blood bank involves vials raining down on the combatants, it is in almost black and white to lessen the image but there is no mistaking what is happening.

Voice work is impressive, many stand out and there are no sub-par performances. Peter Stromwell performs Dracula as calculating, piercing, and outright creepy. Rino Romano gives another strong performance, Bruce Wayne is a charming playboy with occasional philanthropic tendencies, Batman is no-nonsense, plain and simple.

Overall, while some things may not be for everyones taste, it is a rousing 90 minutes that keeps up a strong pace and does not let up until after the credits roll.

Overall, if The Batman

I sat down to watch the 2005 DC animated movie "The Batman vs. Dracula" here in 2021, together with my son as he wanted to watch an animated movie. I had never seen this particular animated movie from writers Duane Capizzi and Michael Jelenic before.

Normally I am not overly keen on the superhero genre, but I do tend to watch the movies when I have the chance. And of course I sat down to watch "The Batman vs. Dracula" as well, as I hadn't already seen it before.

And I must admit that "The Batman vs. Dracula" was definitely the best animated movie in the superhero genre that I have seen thus far. This simply transcended the archetypical formula of it being a superhero that just pounds on one or more villains. How so, as there was beating and brawling in this animated movie as well? Well, because of the storyline.

The storyline concocted by the writers for "The Batman vs. Dracula" was one that definitely appealed to me, as it was a good combination of things. And it was a storyline that had a greater level of maturity to it, aimed at a more mature audience. And also it was a dark and sinister plot actually.

The events that took place in the storyline definitely helped to make "The Batman vs. Dracula" an outstanding and memorable animated movie for me. So on that account then directors definitely delivered something great.

With "The Batman vs. Dracula" being an animated movie, having a good ensemble of voice actors to deliver the dialogue is a must. And they definitely had that for this animated movie. And having Peter Stomare do the voice for Dracula was just brilliant. I will say that the voice performers delivered good performances here.

Now, the art style used in "The Batman vs. Dracula" was something of an acquired taste. The way that the characters were drawn didn't really sit well with me. But it was something I could look beyond given the rather interesting storyline. If they had opted for a more classic art style to present "The Batman vs. Dracula" in, then this would have been a stroke of brilliance.

"The Batman vs. Dracula" is a DC animated movie that is well-worth the time, money and effort. This is without a doubt the best animated superhero movie I had seen, and it was quite a pleasant surprise in terms of entertainment.

My rating of "The Batman vs. Dracula" lands on an eight our of ten stars.