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If You're Impatient For Nolan's Next, The Animated Batman: Year One Is Here To Tide You Over

By Rob Payne | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (8)

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Since Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises won’t be in theaters until next summer, and we can’t keep talking about what Anne Hathaway is or isn’t wearing (in the film), it’s only fair that Warner Bros. gives us something to distract us with in the interim. Starring Bryan Cranston, Eliza Dushku, and Ben McKenzie, Batman: Year One plops in stores on October 18th, making it the perfect Halloween gift for that weird Pagan guy/gal in the office who calls it All Hallow’s Eve. The adaptation of Frank Miller’s original DC comic looks to recapture the animated magic of Batman: Under the Red Hood, with a focus on Bruce Wayne’s (McKenzie) first 12 months in the cape and cowl, though police lieutenant Jim Gordon’s (Cranston) perspective on the events should be equally represented. The movie will also feature the origin of Catwoman (Dushku), who will get to star in her very own animated short on the DVD’s special features.

Warner Bros. has released a couple of iconic scenes from the comic that ought to play significant (but non-spoilery) parts in the adaptation. While the animation seems uniformly excellent as a mix between Miller’s style and the standard Bruce Timm look from “Batman: The Animated Series”, the scenes themselves are a bit of a 50/50 proposition, if only because McKenzie just kind of sounds like he’s still the kid from “The O.C.” trying to imitate Christian Bale’s Batman voice. Which is hilarious, but not exactly what one would hope for. And even if you’ve never read the comics, if you’ve seen Nolan’s Batman Begins then you’ll recognize the second scene to some degree, which was lifted heavily for the theatrical motion picture.



Seeing the comic in motion is fairly thrilling, though, no matter how bad Ryan Atwood’s Batman might be. But Warner Bros.’ DC animated features have a pretty stellar track record — far better on average than their live action counterparts — so they’ve earned the benefit of the doubt. Batman: Year One is definitely one to check out, especially since it was originally written well before Frank Miller’s crazy period (September 12, 2001-present).

Rob Payne also writes the indie comic The Unstoppable Force, tweets on the Twitter @RobOfWar, and studied RTVF (radio, television, and film) in college. He could honestly talk about Anne Hathaway’s outfits, or lack thereof, all day long.









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Comments

cant wait, cant wait, cant wait,

Posted by: batmanisinsane at October 7, 2011 9:27 AM

the scenes themselves are a bit of a 50/50 proposition, if only because McKenzie just kind of sounds like he’s still the kid from “The O.C.” trying to imitate Christian Bale’s Batman voice.

I'm curious to know why they chose McKenzie. It's not as if Kevin Conroy has stopped voicing the role, considering it's him for both Arkham City and Arkham Asylum. Or even Bruce Greenwood, aka Captain Pike from Star Trek: The Flarening. Age of the character, I guess?

Posted by: branded at October 7, 2011 9:52 AM

I think it's just an effort to draw people in with more "name" actors. Kevin Conroy might get the fans of DC Animation all excited, but outside of that I doubt many people know who he is. That's how you end up with Billy Baldwin voicing Batman in Crises on Two Earths.

On a total side note: I originally thought it was James Woods that did Batman for that movie. (He actually voiced Batman's doppleganger, Owlman.) When I went to IMDB to confirm, I found this awesome line at the top of his bio:

Leanly built, strangely handsome actor-producer-director with intense eyes, swarthy complexion, and a sometimes untrustworthy grin has been impressing audiences for over three decades with his compelling performances.

Posted by: Socrates_Johnson at October 7, 2011 10:18 AM

Starring Bryan Cranston, Eliza DushOH THE HUMANITY!!!

Posted by: Todd at October 7, 2011 11:06 AM

I'm just gonna go ahead and say it...I can't stand it when they use well known people for these voices. To me, it seems that they rarely bring much to the character except themselves. So, here I am, watching Under the Red Hood thinking, "Oh, look, it's Batman and Neil Patrick Harris. How delightful.". I mean, come on, it's obvious that they think (probably rightly so) they'll get more sales with big name actors voicing the roles, but I'm sure that they'd get a better outcome (not financially) by using professional voice actors.

Not to discount the actors themselves. I'm sure they usually do a good job. I just find it distracting.

Posted by: pissant at October 7, 2011 11:31 AM

Didn't like the voice, but the rest looked good.

Posted by: Drake at October 7, 2011 11:40 AM

They've been trying to stay away from using the typical DCAU voices for the characters in these so they seperate them from the cartoon series.

Honestly I'm getting sick of them reusing the same characters in these. We've gotten what 3 batman movies, 3 superman movies and 2 Green Lantern and 1 wonderwoman? What about some of the other characters? Where the hell is my Flash movie?

Posted by: Ben at October 9, 2011 9:33 PM

I'm just gonna go ahead and say it...I can't stand it when they use well known people for these voices. To me, it seems that they rarely bring much to the character except themselves. So, here I am, watching Under the Red Hood thinking, "Oh, look, it's Batman and Neil Patrick Harris. How delightful.". I mean, come on, it's obvious that they think (probably rightly so) they'll get more sales with big name actors voicing the roles, but I'm sure that they'd get a better outcome (not financially) by using professional voice actors.
Not to discount the actors themselves. I'm sure they usually do a good job. I just find it distracting.
Posted by: pissant at October 7, 2011 11:31 AM

My thoughts exactly.

As much as I'm not for the DCU reboot that's occurred, I'd love to see a reboot movie. If we're going to keep with the main cash cow -- Batman having the most interesting storyline in the DCU, no matter how you slice that bread -- we could at least progress to Damian Wayne's timeline. You have to admit, though: Batman's origin stories never get old.

Posted by: duckandcover at October 11, 2011 7:51 AM