Batman Ninja

I'm not someone who reviews films online, but this was so pitifully done that it deserves some criticism.

Given that anime is a visually-focused story telling medium, it can be expected that dialogue will rarely be taken seriously. Unlike western animation, scripts are usually only developed after the animation is complete. For this reason, WB allowed for the English language version to develop independently from the Japanese, expecting that doing so would ensure that the film was authentically Batman while allowing the animation team in Japan to focus on making an authentically anime creation of their own. However, the result is the most mindless Batman script ever created in an animated film. The animation has its moments, but is completely overshadowed by the dumbest and least observant Batman ever created. For the world's greatest detective to ask who a group of samurai wearing Joker masks are working for is just lazy storytelling. This Batman has none of the characteristics that make him an attractive character and the voice acting feals forced and overdone.

I never trust these types of crossover endeavors because they rarely allow for either medium's strengths to fully materialize. Reading that this was to be scripted independently in English made me curious to see if there would be some more substance to the story to go along with the flashy animation, but it's a hard pass. There's some chance that the Japanese version might make a little more sense, but I don't see how this poorly constructed story allows for much improvement. A hard pass.

Batman Ninja is an incredibly stylish and original anime that just so happens to feature Batman and co. While the animation occasionally falters and the English dub can best be described as 'serviceable', it succeeds at delivering an excellent and decidedly different animated Batman feature. I truly hope that DC will continue to deliver more animated features like Batman Ninja.

8/10

• Many of the lowest reviews on IMDB seem to take issue with the Japanese influences and the departure from the usual 'grounded' Batman universe(s). If you dislike Japanese media and/or can't handle a film that will greatly differ from popular Batman movies & source material, then this is not for you.

Artwork, great. Voice acting, ok... But story??? I don't know WHO is giving 9's & 10's for this, but if you like this Batman story hey, more power to you.

I was done with this after the first 20 minutes. I watched it all just cause I couldn't believe the writing.

Good grief...

The 4 of the 10 is for the artwork. It is nice.

The movie has some very awesome and interesting ideas, but unfortunately they are not executed or presented all that well. The story isn't very well written, the script / dialogue was weak, the animation didn't look very good, except in some moments and the music was forgettable. Batman and the Joker were the best characters in the entire movie, while the others were there, because it wouldn't be a Batman movie without them and there are some that i totally forgot they are in it, so of course they have to remind you that they exist. Sometimes there is some nice cinematography, but most of it didn't impress me. Those aspects have some small percent positives, but it's not enough to give it a good score. The only huge positives that i can give is that the acting was very good (if you watch it with japanese audio) and the sound was great, but thats it. Overall it's very disappointing in many ways.

I love Batman. I love anime. I love cheesy anime conversations. But I hate an emptied character and script despite a huge potential.

Batman is NEVER about his gadgets. Look at the Arkham Knight game, Red Hood thinks Batman is all about his gadgets and nothing without them, but Batman proves him wrong with his gigantic intellect and training. Granted, he relies on his gadgets on his day-to-day operations. However he never despairs when he loses any of them. On the contrary, he willingly sacrifice his gadgets and tools like they are nothing, because he is the weapon.

If anyone says "its's an interpretation of Batman" an interpretation is about nuances, settings, surroundings; not the main subject. If you take what makes Batman out of Batman, it's not an interpretation, it's Dark Knight Rises...

Decent artwork though...