Batman Unlimited: L'Instinct Animal

The only reason I gave this entry to the DC animated universe a five is because it's Batman. That's it. What we have here is a futuristic Gotham with the ol' good guys against the ol' bad guys scenario. The basic plot has the Penguin recruiting many of the animal super-villains--Cheetah, Silverback, Killer Croc, among others--to help pull off a heist of, ahem, cosmic proportions. Naturally, the good guys have to stop them and you can guess the rest.

First, the good points. Decent music, fast moving, some good fight sequences.

And now, the bad. The animation looks like it's been scaled down significantly. I'm not expecting Pixar. I am expecting something decent. This wasn't. Batman's suit (light blue) hearkens back to the late 1960's take and it doesn't suit (no pun intended) this day and age. His gold get-through-the-force-field suit reminded me of some lousy Japanese anime...double ungood.

As for the script, again, while War and Peace ain't on the menu, this makes Jack and Jill Go Up the Hill read like a masterpiece. Cheesy, poor humor, poorer lines...the one good thing was the voice cast that did what they could with their parts. I miss Kevin Conroy doing the voice of Batman. He had the bearing. His replacement sounds like a slightly younger version of him, but with no depth.

The actress doing Cheetah sounds like a whiny child, and I got zero sense of menace behind any of the baddies. Not their fault, really; 'twas the script that done 'em in.

Finally, all the old stereotypes of animals being what they are were trotted out, and quite frankly, that kind of thinking should have gone out fifty years ago.

I heard this direct-to-DVD effort was to sell toys. My only question is: How many? Nothing wrong with selling goods to the kiddies, but this video is an insult to any comic book/cartoon fan.

Obviously this isn't the best Batman movie ever but I wasn't expecting it to be. I expected it to be a decent animated Cartoon Network style movie, and that's what I got.

The story is decent enough but the action/fight sequences could be better. Also, at times it felt like there was too many characters. Penguin wanted to destroy everyone so he could be rich, but that doesn't make any sense because there's no point in being rich if you're the only one on earth.

This movie has a style that is different from most, if not all Batman movies so far. It is quite a bit lighter, brighter in the less serious sense. So if you're open to see something a bit different, you'll enjoy it. If you are hoping to see something that goes along with the previous Batman movies, you might feel that your expectations aren't met.

Had this movie tried to merge its colorful, somewhat more cartoony style with a serious, dark narrative that is usually a common thing to expect, given that it plays in Gotham, it would have failed to do so and felt really out of place. Instead it takes events a bit less serious, mixing well written, witty dialogue that has some quite entertaining moments with a story that is simple, but serves its purpose, resulting in a combination that works - if you're open to see these kind of things (and don't expect to be surprised by intricate plot-twists - other reviews pick up on this). That also makes this movie quite easy to stomach for the younger audiences. Style, story and dialogue have been chosen to work together, which is nice to see.

The animation quality is very much acceptable and up to the task, voice acting is very nice! No complaints there. The soundtrack is also good.

Enjoyed!

This is just a rotten cartoon. I honestly don't think it would entertain anyone over the age of six.

If you don't know what Batman Unlimited is, it's essentially a line Batman universe toys which, until now, didn't have any cartoon or comicbook to back them up. This movie attempts to do that for kids... but yeah, it's not even worth the $3.99 digital view price.

The first thing you'll notice on viewing it is that, unlike previous Direct-to-DVD DC Comics cartoons, this one doesn't fly under the "Warner Premier" banner. Meaning it has none the writing pedigree or production values of movies like "Under the Red Hood" or "Batman: Gotham Knight." And that shows in how full of plot holes and contrivances this toon is; such as the bat-dog-robot-motorcycle and the clumsy attempt to tie in the Batman Beyond suit, which is instantly forgotten to move on to the next in a line of "neon street luge batman" bat costumes you get throughout the viewing. Villains are given no more reason to work together and no more plot than the fact that they share an animal theme, and one of the heroes just happens to be hanging around Gotham City despite not even having a connection to Batman ever mentioned.

In other words, the movie is a 90 minute toy commercial, and it makes the original Thundercats and Silverhawks seem like Shakespeare by comparison.

The first of three DTV movies made to promote Mattel's action figure line of the same name. Batman, Nightwing, Flash, Green Arrow, and Red Robin team up to take on Penguin and his 'Animalitia' (Killer Croc, Cheetah, Man-Bat, and Silverback) and their plan to divert an asteroid known as the Midas Heart due to pass by Earth in order to get the gold at its centre.

Much of the voice cast has a solid history with DC; Roger Craig Smith (Batman), John DiMaggio (Killer Croc), Will Friedle (Nightwing), Phil LaMarr (Man-Bat), Charlie Schlatter (Flash), Laura Bailey (Cheetah), Keith Szarabajka (Silverback), Yuri Lowenthal (Red Robin), and Alastair Duncan (Alfred). Animation is pretty good (there are a couple of places where the action seems to 'jump' a little), as are the costume designs (a prototype Batsuit featured at the beginning is an obvious nod to Batman Beyond!). Gotham itself has a Blade Runner/sci-fi look, rather than the more familiar BTAS/Burton type of design. Dialogue, although corny at times, is pretty snappy.

This doesn't approach the depth of the DCAU, and it never claims to. It's just fun, with a feel of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, or the movie JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time. 7/10.