The Dark Knight Returns, the animated film. (spoilers)

[Hammerskjold]

Batfans, something awesome happened. 'The Dark Knight Returns' graphic novel is one of my favourite Batman story.

It's not a big secret that it was\is also a great influence on the live action film from the 1989 Tim Burton take, to the more recent Christopher Nolan trilogy.

I always thought that the best, truest adaptation would be an animated adaptation of the novel. Even then it would have to either a miniseries or broken into a 2 or 3 parter to do the novel justice. (And come on, Batman is all about Justice amirite?)

It's not about just getting it done, but getting it done -right-, I really think that there's just too many factors to bung it up that if it's not unfilmable, then at least unfilmable in my lifetime.

Then a friend told me there's an animated 2 part, full length theatrical length, film adaptation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_The...%28film%29

Long story short. They got it done, and IMO they got it done -right-.

(Spoilers)











- They kept the time period, so it's in the semi-fictionalized 1980's. Big shoulder pads, Reagan, and the Cold War is still in play. Which is the right decision. The core story still resonates, and 'updating' it would be a mistake.

- It does not have the internal monologue of the novel, but IMO they made the best adaptation from a visual novel into a cinematic, animated film.

- The musical score. In a weird but great ' everything comes full circle' way, the music style is greatly influenced by the Nolan trilogy, and again it really works IMO.

- The Joker. Chilling. Yes yes Heath Ledger did an excellent portrayal. Mark Hamill did an excellent job in the animated TV series. This one IMO also enters the 'Hall of Fame' level of Batman's rogues gallery performance.

- Action pieces. Amazing. Greatly choreographed (a lot of live action directors can learn a thing or two from this 'cartoon') scenes. Not only are they faithful, in some scenes they added to the Bat mythology, in the best sense of the word.

Staying faithful and respectful to the material is hard enough, ('Batman needs a neon talking street luge, so the 6-10 year olds can relate and our toy division has something to pump out for christmas') but -adding- to it without seriously screwing it up? It's very very, very difficult to pull off. And these guys and gals, accomplished it.


TL, DR;

The Dark Knight Returns. Animated film in 2 parts. Over 3 hours of Batman nerdgasm in total.(edited correction, make that 2 hours and 20 minutes approx, still good though.) Billy berzerk, Batman don't shiv, man.
Honestly I got chills and manly tears of 'OMG sooo much win....'.

If you're a Batfan, seriously grab a copy of this. Grab 'Batman: Year One' (aka 'Gordon: Commisioner Bad-Ass') animated film as well. It's the Bat trilogy I always wanted, The Alpha and the Omega of the Bat Mythos, and I couldn't believe it actually happened.

[Drasca]

I just saw the two parter, before I came upon this post. I can only add a 'me too' love for this film. I've been on a batman kick recently. Just finished watching Batman Beyond , and went into Mystery of Batwoman and Mask of the Phantasm.

There's a scene from Mask that stands out in my mind though:

Bruce breaks down in front of his parent's graves and asks permission to be happy. That's key to his pathos. Every time he comes close to happiness in a normal life, he feels guilty about it.

You see the aftereffects in batman beyond how the years have worn on him and the choices he's made. By then, he's no longer bruce wayne. That is his mask. He made the choice to be batman as his core identity, and he struggles with that in the younger stages.

What did you think of the other batman tv series in the DCAU?

[Hammerskjold]

I just saw the two parter, before I came upon this post. I can only add a 'me too' love for this film. I've been on a batman kick recently. Just finished watching Batman Beyond , and went into Mystery of Batwoman and Mask of the Phantasm.

What did you think of the other batman tv series in the DCAU?

All great stuff. I'm a huge, huge, HUUUUGE fan of the Dini\Timm DCAU.

(It took me a bit longer to warm up to Batman Beyond when it first came out, until it clicked that the new Batman was deliberately an homage to Spiderman. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker was great though.)

Everything from the beginning BTAS, the mid transition Gotham Knights,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Batman_Adventures

to Justice League, and absolutely -the- greatest love letter to the best of DC comics by Dini\Timm team, JL:Unlimited. The whole 'Cadmus' story arc of JLU to me is the closest thing to a faithful adaptation of 'Watchmen'. That includes the Zack Snyder live action version.

I dunno if Batman:The Brave and The Bold is technically in the DCAU, but by quality alone I personally would include that series in the animated universe. Diedrich Baeder is amazing for an 'all ages friendly' Batman, and Aquaman is finally a boisterous hero instead of a soggy joke.

The Batman, on the other hand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Batman_%28TV_series%29

I think did not find it's feet until the last 2-3 seasons. Not awful, but not my personal favourite.

Going back briefly to the 2 parter Dark Knight Returns,
I have to praise the voice actress for Robin. For me, she's absolutely pitch perfect. That's the voice I have in my head when I read the novel.

Such a great scene during the first part with ,'don't be dead don't be dead don't be dead...good you're alive...NOW GET UP!'

Peter Weller did a good to excellent job, with only one scene I think where I think he could've played it much bigger. But that's kinda nit picking for no real good reason in the big picture.

Reading something on another forum however, a fan suggested another voice actor that could have been an interesting choice. Michael Ironside, as old Bats\Bruce. IIRC he did a voice cameo in BTAS in a Dark Knight tribute scene.

In any case, voice and music is 'A' Grade in my books. Sometimes I just listen to the audio of some animated film, and IMO the better ones can still work even without the visuals like a radio play. While the ones that don't, sounds like a feature length toy commercial, or an advertisement for a laxative.

Overall though, I've watched it multiple times now, and it's still good. Again I can't recommend this enough for all the bat-fans out there, or anyone who enjoys a good movie. If you like the Nolan films, but think the last part (The Dark Knight Rises) was slightly missing something.

Watch this film.

If you used to be a fan of Frank Miller, before he went bat-sh1t bonkers.* If you ever imagined 'wouldn't it be great if they paired up the DCAU with one of the greatest Batman graphic novel.'

Watch this film.

IMO it's the 'Wrath of Khan' of the Batman mythos. It's where you can proudly say it's not just a good 'star trek' film. It's a good film, period.


Now here's hoping they will do 'Gotham Central' AKA, 'Law and Order: Gotham'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham_Central

as an animated miniseries.


* The novel IMO does have a streak of fascist fantasy, however I think it was perhaps tempered and Miller was probably more of an equal opportunity offender back then. Both sides of the ideological spectrum received his critical fire and analysis, and the novel does have a subtle satire on the medium of comics itself. It can be read as a metacritical story without being so obvious and hipster about it. It can still be enjoyed as a Batman story, and it can be enjoyed on other levels as well.

The more recent Frank Miller...starting from DK2 onward..not so much.
Having said all that, TDKR is still a hell of a story IMO, and probably one of those once in a lifetime magnum opus.