Son of Batman
As the resident Batman fangirl of Dorkadia, I rushed home last week to watch Son of Batman as soon as I could. I shut the curtains, poured myself some beer (ask Charles about beers here in the pacific NW – he has opinions), and spent the next hour or so watching the movie. I won’t say it was terrible; it wasn’t GI Joe terrible, but it fell so short of my hopes and expectations.
For a scrappy kid, Damian is full of the crazies
If you aren’t aware of the story line of Son of Batman, I don’t know if necessarily have to have read it before watching this movie to get the gist of what is going on (though it’s a great comic, well worth reading up on Damian Wayne!). To the contrary, this is one of those times when reading Batman and Son afterwards might be better because there is SO MUCH that is left out! To the point that I think it detracts not just from the story, but on the characterization of who is Damian. In the continuity of Son of Batman and Justice League: War, there is no Tim Drake, or Jason Todd. Damian makes one quip to Nightwing about how he is the blood son, but that doesn’t nearly have the gravitas of kicking Tim Drake’s ass and leaving him battered in the Batcave while he donned Jason Todd’s Robin outfit and went out to Gotham. It missed how Damian went out and severed the head of a thug. They show Damian being spoiled, not that he may or may not be a psychopath. (Odds are high, that seems to run on both sides of the family. Just sayin’)
Straight up I will say, the voice acting seemed not great. I know what you might be thinking – it wasn’t Kevin Conroy, so you’re already disappointed. You wouldn’t be wrong, but it was more than that. You know how when you watch anime with subtitles, and then you go back and watch it dubbed, and the voices just seem… off? Son of Batman felt like that the whole way through, but it was in english from the start. Just listen of lifeless Damian sounds when he meets Batman for the first time.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/HLyVgZWknbk?t=1m15s-A&w=620&h=350-A&start=75]
I was chatting with someone on twitter when they made the joke that every time Kevin Conroy isn’t the voice actor for Batman, they start just making justifications in their head. Like, “Maybe he was sick that day, so they had to get someone else to play Batman?” LOL – I won’t lie, I totally do the same thing. But all of that said, it felt like their acting was always just a bit too bland.
There is also the odd plot line of Slade Wilson, AKA Deathstroke being the prodigy of Ra’s al Ghul, and that he only loses his eye when Damian stabs him. Very much the feeling of Arrow in that you find yourself asking “Wait, what? What just happened here?” So it’s a hodgepodge of story lines, not just from Batman and Son or Batman and Robin. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t want to explore more of this continuity that they are pulling out of their behinds in this new 52 animated universe, but skeptical cat is very skeptical.
I love Batman, and I really wanted to love this movie; but I think i’m giving it a thumbs down. Save your pennies and go back and watch Batman the Animated Series.
