Official Synopsis
“When Gotham City is plagued by a rash of bizarre crimes committed by the animal-inspired villain squad, the Animilitia (made up of Silverback, Cheetah, Killer Croc and Man-Bat), Batman swings into action to investigate. But could the Animilita be working for powerful businessman Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin? How does Cobblepot’s new invention of robotic Cyber Animals fit into the mix? In the end, it’ll take the combined forces of Batman, Green Arrow, Flash, Nightwing and Red Robin to fight off these “ANIMAL INSTINCTS.”
DC Comics and Warner Bros. rule the roost when it comes to putting out the best superhero animated features. Marvel cannot and probably will not touch them when it comes to this side of the movie equation. That might seem like a bold thing to say, but consider how many different Justice League and Batman animated movies have come out in the last decade. Consider the variation of content within those releases, stuff for kids and also content for adults. Consider the quality of storytelling and how engrained those animated features and animated series have been over the last 20 years.
DC Comics doesn’t seem to release things just to release them. They seem to be top tier when it comes to quality assurance. Maybe the live-action movies could get some advice from the animated folks.
Now, having said that, I’m not sure Batman Unlimited is in the upper part of the top tier material, though the acting and writing at times seems to be on the nose with the WB and DC Comic’s the quality expected with animated releases.
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Let’s get right to this.
Batman Unlimited — Animal Instincts starts out well enough. The first act of the movie has our futuristic cape crusader following a series of strange robotic animal attacks in Gotham. Soon after seeing this, he discovers that Cheetah, Silverback and Killer Croc seem to be up to something related to these strange attacks. Behind the scenes, we get introduced to Penguin, whom also seems to have a bitter stake in the entire affair.
What I love about the first act is that it calmly and carefully introduces us to all the players. We get both sides of the equation, heroes and villains. We get a dose of Green Arrow, Flash, Nightwing and the new Robin (along side of Batman). What the first act also does is create, in a short amount of time, the personalities of each. For example, we have a careful and calculated Nightwing, who has been through the villain ropes before. Opposite of him, the Flash is a sporadic and bored youth, who just wants to help, though sometimes he ends up doing harm more than help. The story does a great job with establishing age and charm of each hero and villain. It doesn’t feel rushed, nor does it feel forced.
Aside from properly introducing the characters, the first act also does a great job of keeping the plot points and story under wrap. I find that to be the most impressive portion of this feature. Cartoons like this tend to lean towards a predictable setup with a predictable outcome. The first act of the movie doesn’t give anything away. The story certainly reveals who is involved with the crimes, but doesn’t give an inch with why the crimes are happening. It doesn’t give any detail about the robotic involvement and/or the ultimate endpoint. That is pretty impressive for an animated feature geared towards a younger audience.
With that said, act two continues to carry that aura of mystery about it. As the pieces slowly start to come into focus, the second act has more fighting, more setup and still no visible sign of what’s going on. In act two there should always be an ‘ah-ha!’ moment when it comes to storytelling, but as the the act draws closer to a conclusion, the story still doesn’t reveal itself properly. The villains start to get a bit more onscreen action, the characters clash on several occasions (in a zoo and in other places) and the movie slowly becomes stale. Act two has a bunch of action, but no semblance of a revelation to what and why these villains are doing what they’re doing.
Then act three springs into action.
Act three begins and all the pieces fall immediately into place. The main reason for the robberies in the story are revealed. The main antagonist is exposed and the crisis that builds into a crescendo of a climax ups the ante of the film by tenfold. I don’t want to give too much away, but the movie certainly ends on a high note as soon as the covers are pulled off.
Without giving too many spoilers away, the payoff is exciting, but the lack of explanation really begs the question of ‘why’ the robot animals were involved in the first place. They do make good action sequences, as well as drama because of their indestructibility, but they seem purposeless in the grand scheme of things, if not cheap at times (mainly because they’re transitions and a way for villains to escape). Most of the villains were doing the dirty work, so the robotic animals (you see them on the cover) really didn’t do anything except distract. Even their mild connection to a mystery character (not giving him away) with good intentions, there doesn’t seem to be a purpose for them in the overall body of work.
Anyway, while Batman Unlimited – Animal Instincts certainly does a great job with the action, characters and dialogue, the story as a whole isn’t as strong as a Dark Knight Returns or even Batman vs. Robin. Again, the action is there, but the payoff, which is still very exciting when you’re not thinking of the story too much, just isn’t as worthwhile in comparison to other Batman animated features. If you’re a fan of Batman animated features, this might be worth your time, but there are better movies out there from DC Comics.
On the Blu-ray side of things, this is another beautiful and fine example of how much Warner Home Video cares for its HD releases. The animation is gripping, gorgeous and visually clean as a whistle on a Sunday morning walk. There are no signs of imperfections or transfer issues, including color banding or otherwise. Just another fine WHV release on Blu-ray.
On the special features side of things, here is what to expect:
– Penguin High Society Criminal
– DC Nation Shorts
– Two bonus cartoons
Not bad for a small release. The MSRP is $24.98 ($16.99 on Amazon), so it’s a good amount of features for that price. Believe me, I’ve seen more expensive releases with less-to-no features included. Good stuff to extend the life of the Blu-ray.