Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 Review

Batman fans yesterday I brought you a review of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 so it only seems right that today I finish this story of by bringing you a review of the second part so here is my review of Batman: the Dark Knight Returns Part 2 enjoy it batfans.

So then what is the plot of this movie I pretend your saying right now well Batman has finally returned but so has an old foe and he's out for vengeance the only way he knows how. I know i'm being really vague in the plot summery but that's because honestly there really isn't that much of a story outside of what I described but I will give the film this it does have pretty solid pacing.

Returning from the first film is Robocop as Batman , One of the hot chicks from Modern Family as Robin , Michael Emerson as The Joker , Maria Canals-Barrera as Commissioner Ellen Yindel , David Selby as Jim Gordon and Michael Jackson as Alfred Pennyworth. Honestly it's hard for me to say which of the returning cast did the best job since all of them are really good in this movie altho it's pretty strange hearing Peter Weller playing Batman and fact after when I went to watch this movie all I could hear in my head was Robocop.

They are joined by Mark Valley as Superman , Robin Atkin Downes as Oliver Queen , Tress MacNeille as Selina Kyle , Jim Meskimen as President Ronald Reagan and Conan O'Brien as David Endochrine. What's Interesting about this film is voice acting legend Tara Strong provides additional voices for this film so if you hear a character that sounds like Bubbles now you know why.

Out of the new cast I'd have to say that my favorite was Mark Valley as the big blue boy scout just because he portrays a more wiser version of the character and I think that's a more interesting take on a classic character.

Thankfully I didn't need that many Shovels this time because I already knew that returning to do the animation for this film was Moi Animation and I have to say that the animation in this film was slightly better then the previous I sat slightly because you still get the odd looking drawing but they make up for it with the well animated fight scenes which for me is when you should always get the best animation.

Honestly there's not that much that really bugged me about this film which is strange for me just because there's usually a few things that really annoy me in films but i've pretty much mentioned the only real issues I personally had with the film so if your expecting me to crack jokes about how bad the film this I really can't because it's a good film.

I will say that if you want to see a better version of Batman V Superman then this is fr sure the film because this film handles there conflict so much better if I remember right in the theatrical cut of BVS there conflict is pretty much summed up in one sentence but here we are given multiple scenes so when they finally do come to blows we fully understand why they are fighting instead of "let's fight because it would be funny".

Now I've received comments pretty much saying why I should have read the original graphic novel first the reason why I chose to take a look at the movie versions first is because A) despite The dark Knight Returns only being three issues since they can have as many pages as they need per issue it means you could have alot of filler and B) I'm honestly lazy in the time it would have taken my to get through all the issues I could have watched both parts of this movie.

If Batman doing the cover pose in the movie was deemed as fan service then this movie has a scene which is fan service if your an American and I think the above image pretty much says it all it's such a pro America image that it really doesn't fit in with the rest of the film if the scene was Superman dressed in a suit talking to Bruce and Eagle happened to fly over heard it would work but just look at it how is this image not pro America.

I touched on this briefly in this review but the fight scenes in this film are really freaking good and unlike freaking BVS there was no "Martha" moment either in those scenes and this is where the film being a UK rated 15 really worked because in the final fight with Superman you feel every single punch and you get to see both heroes bleed.

Overall this is was a pretty good conclusion to the first film but if I were to choose i'd say that the first film was better and as you can tell by the above image i'm really looking forward to the Hush animated movie that's coming out I give this film a 7.5 out of 10.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 Review

Batman fans the dark knight has featured in so many animated films ranging from great to bizarre but he's never been in a two part film before will in 2012 and 2013 that all changed with the release of the two part film adaptation of the Frank Miller classic The Dark Knight Returns so here is my review of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1.

The plot for part 1 is Batman has not been seen for ten years a new breed of criminal ravages Gotham City forcing a now 55-year-old Bruce Wayne back into the cape and cowl but does he still have what it takes to fight crime in a new era?. yeah this part of the film is mainly about Bruce coming out of retirement and I have to say that seeing an old Bruce suiting up as Batman perfectly ties in with his character and the story is fairly solid even if it is basically the first half or so of the graphic novel.

Starring as Batman in this movie is Robocop i'm not even making that up actor Peter Weller who plays Batman in this film also played Robocop in the original film and he is joined by Ariel Winter as Carrie Kelley , David Selby as Jim Gordon , Wade Williams as Harvey Dent , Michael Emerson as The Joker , Maria Canals-Barrera as Commissioner Ellen Yindel , Michael Jackson (no not that one) as Alfred Pennyworth , Bruce Timm as Thomas Wayne and Gary Anthony Williams as Mutant Leader.

I was honestly shocked at how good Peter Weller was as Batman / Bruce Wayne I really can't say how he portrays him but it's one that suits the tone of this film very well and I liked Ariel Winter in this film and I think her version of Carrie Kelley is solid since her character does provide some of the much needed comic relief and the rest of the cast are pretty solid and I will say now that some of the characters who don't have a big role in this film have a bigger role in part 2.

After many moons of digging and more digging I finally ran out of shovels and then I went online and found out that the animation for this film was done by Moi Animation aka the studio that animated Avatar and I have to say that the animation in this film was honestly really good it's not by any means perfect you do get the odd drawing here and there which is to be expected in any movie really but here since the story is so good and so strong it doesn't really take anything away from the film.

I mentioned before how Bruce being old and yet suiting up was in his character and it's so true Bruce Wayne not for one minuet would allow himself any bit of happiness no matter what form it took in fact the only reason why he stopped being Batman for so long was the fact that he's drinking alot. 

If you think back to the very first animated Batman movie we have a series of flashbacks where we see Bruce be happy and in one of those flashbacks he's begging his parents to not keep him to his promise and let him be happy in my mind the same thing is kind of happening here Bruce is happy not being Batman and in this case he's begging the city to let him stay happy but when the city says no you made a promise so keep it that's when he finally suits back up.

I havn't read the original source material so I cannot say if this is a faithful adaptation or not but I can say that as a film the story is really good and as you can no doubt tell by the above picture that iconic cover does appear in the movie and to me that was the only scene in the movie that felt like total fan service it's not a bad scene but if you look at in context of the film you can just tell that it was there for fan service.

I have to mention the awesome Batman reveal to me that was one of the best scenes in the whole movie that whole scene was just so well done (just to make things clear i'm talking about the scene where Batman first comes back not the opening of the movie) everything in that scene made it feel like Batman coming was a big deal which is what it should have done since it is a big deal it was well edited , animated , written and acted I also like the fact that it was a slow build for the vast majority of that scene we barely see Batman in full we either just see certain body parts or it's his shadow.

Rather shockingly there isn't that much action in this movie but what action there is in the movie is really well done this is a UK rated 15 film so you get to see alot of blood in this movie and alot of it comes from Batman himself and that's something you very rarely see in animated media and it always happens after an intense action see which to me says that the action scenes in this movie mean something there not just there to add a bit of excitement they are here to help advance the story.

Overall this is a really solid first part and to me it's one of the few films that does the whole two part film right but tho it does have it's fair share of problems and ironically there the same problems that all first part films have but it's still an enjoyable film in it's own right and it scores an 8 out of 10 from me.

Some Comic Books That I Would Love To See Get An Animated Series

Comic Book fans it's very common for someone to turn a comic book character into an animated series just look at Disney as prime examples but for every one that does get made there are a dozen or so that don't even get looked at and so i'm going to list of the comic books that I want to see turned into an animated series.

Grimm Fairy Tales

This series presents a take on classic fairy tales that is more inline with there original source material so this could make for a really exiting adult animated show heck one of the characters was so popular that she got her own Syfy show Van Helsing but just imagine if the whole Grimm universe was adapted for this series we could see Cinderella interact with Snow White and Alice and we could see Robyn Hood (that's how they spell it in this series) interact with Dorothy Gale you could do pretty much anything and it would work.

Suicide Squad

Yes I know that Harley Quinn is getting her own animated series but this one could also work as a series again the only way this could work for me is if you make it an adult series since the team is mostly made up of villains that would make the most sense and heck the recent animated movie Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay proved that the team can look good in animated form and if you wanted to tie this into the new Harley Quinn series then make this one a spin off.

Any 2000 AD Character

2000 Ad has such a great selection of characters some have already been seen in movies but none have been turned into an animated series and to me that's just wrong Judge Dredd has proven himself popular twice at the box office and you wouldn't have to stick to one genre of show Dredd could be a cop show , Slaine could a violent fantasy epic and Survival Geeks could be a Sci-Fi comedy there are so many genres you could do if these characters were adapted into an animated series.

Hellboy

Like Suicide Squad Hellboy has not only appeared in live action but also in animation and also like Suicide Squad he has never gotten an animated series despite how popular he became after the 2004 movie perhaps the reason why he's not been given his own animated series is the fact that the series does focus alot on supernatural elements but the way I see it is if Supernatural can get an anime then why can't Hellboy get his own animated series.

Vampirella

She's pretty much a vampire freaking superhero how in the hell is this not been turned into an animated series already the series pretty much writes itself and since this is a horror character you can really go all out in terms of the story and the things you can get away with all you need to do is get somebody like Adult Swim to air the show and the shows golden.

Deadpool

This was honestly one of the few things I was really excited for when it first announced and then they announced that the glover brothers were going to be behind it and I got even more excited and then they cancelled it which is a shame because Deadpool IS a cartoon character so all they had to do was put that character on the small screen that was it and yes I still believe that one day this character will get his own animated series.

Red Sonja

This character kinda got an animated film but it's really more of a motion comic but the character has never been given an animated series which is a shame because if you make the show in the vain of Xena mixed in with Game Of Thrones it could really work I really cannot be the only one who sees the potential in an animated Red Sonja series even today she's still popular this is a series that's just begging to happen.

Spicy City Review

In the world of animated shows aimed at adults there are alot of shows that people talk about shows like Robot Chicken , Superjail and Archer to name but a few but the one show that has been forgotten due to the passage of time is ironically the show that started it all for animated shows aimed at adults so here is my review of Spicy City.

The format that this show took was that of an anthology series so each episode had it's story and cast of characters with the only connecting factor being that of the character Raven who is pretty much the host of the show. Making the show an anthology does make it stand out from other adult animated shows but at the same time it would have been nice if there was more then one connecting factor like maybe you could have characters crossover into each others stories or maybe have a recurring location.

Now as I mentioned each episode had a different cast of characters and so the cast list is huge but the only actor to appear in all six episodes was Michelle Phillips as Raven but also in the show was the likes of A Nightmare On Elm Street 4 star Tuesday Knight and E.G. Daily, 

The acting for me was very hit and miss for every performance that I thought was good there would be one that wasn't Michelle did a great job as the "host" Raven but Tuesday Knight wasn't that good for me she really should have stuck to singing because her voice acting at least in this show wasn't that good and with E.G> you know your in a for a good performance so I wasn't really shocked when she gave a good performance in this.

The animation came from two different companies Koko Entertainment and Dong Yang Animation and honestly the animation was really good but I have to wonder why were two different animation studios contacted about doing this show when one would have been cheaper and easier to find. I will say that in the final episode I did notice that some of the background characters looked like they could have came from Batman: The Animated Series it's not that much of a bad thing but it was distracting to see.

It's common assumption that South Park is the first animated show aimed at adults and while it was the first one to go mainstream that show came out one month after this one which means that by default Spicy City is the first adult orientated cartoon show but tho Spicy City was only made due to the popularity of Jesus vs. Santa the second short that helped bring South Park to life.

For awhile I was racking my head trying to think of why this isn't talked about in the cartoon fanbase and one of the reasons I came up with wasn't due to the fact that it came out in late nineties but rather it's lack of seasons for you see Spicy City only lasted six episodes but tho a second season was commissioned and then cancelled by HBO because they wanted to replace all the writers and the creator of the show Ralph Bakshi refused to bow down to that demand and thus Spicy City bit the dust.

As I just mentioned the creator of the show was Ralph Bakshi one of  the greatest animation directors of our time but the legends in animation doesn't really end there because Eric Radomski the creator of Batman: The Animated Series did some work on the show altho for some reason even tho he's listed in the shows opening credits he's not listed on IMDB but tho also working on the show was a man called John Kafka and if you don't know his name look him on IMDB and you'll soon see that he's worked on alot of great shows.

Ralph did alot of work on this show because not only was he the creator and executive producer but he also directed two episodes , came up with character designs for two episodes and was the series voice director I want to know if he ever slept during this show because that's alot of work to do on one show so I have to give the guy alot of respect and it might have helped that his son Preston was a writer on the show.

Since i've called this show an animated show aimed at adults many times in this review it should come as no surprise to you that there's alot of swearing , violence , nudity among many other things (or as Ralph Bakshi calls the first draft of a new screenplay) so don't watch this show with your parents trust me it will embarrass both you and them but tho here those adult things that i've mentioned also help to tell whatever story they happen to be telling in that episode so it's not there just for the hell of it it's there to serve a purpose.

Overall this was a show that I was already watching prior to this review and yet when re-watching it I was still taken a back by how good it was and it's a show that shouldn't be forgotten but it's also a show with problems so it gets a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

  

Some Animated Films That I Like

There have been alot of animated films released some are good , some are bad and some are downright strange but for this list i'm going to tell you some animated films that I like now alot of these films might not be your favorite but I ask that you respect me enough because I do like these films so here we go.

My Little Pony: The Movie 

Honestly when this film was first announced I wasn't that excited just because I knew what kind of story they were going to tell with this film but even so when it came out I really enjoyed it even tho it can get a git repetitive at times if your a fan of the show it's a fun ride and it has some really great animation and songs.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Until about a few years ago I hadn't seen this film at all and i've glad that I have because it truly is a wonderful film and it's one that should be watched on both Christmas and Halloween it's a film that also makes you wonder if it's a Halloween or Christmas film but for me it's both since it contains the best of both elements. 

I really would go on about how good the songs and animation are but that's honestly been done to death so I will say that the story is really fun and the characters are really memorable and likeable which is important for a film.

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

It's a South Park movie how can they not make this funny , smart and clever? The film is not only really freaking funny it's songs also not only add to the story but they also add to the jokes as well heck even the name of the movie is a joke i'm not going to spoil what that joke is but when you find out it will make you see the name of this movie in a new light.

The Haunted World of El Superbeasto

This film is very mature in it's content it's not as mature as South Park but it's pretty close plus it's an animated film directed by Rob Zombie so you know it's going to be gory as hell and that they will be both swearing and nudity but if you can get past that then you'll find the film to be pretty damn funny it doesn't have great animation but for me that's something I can easily get past.

Moana

I make it no secret that I really like this film heck you could even say that I really love this film and what's not to like about it it has great characters , it's well written and well acted if you havn't seen this film then I highly recommend that you pick it up right away because it's that damn good.

Early Man

This film might have slipped alot of animation fans by and that's fair enough there's alot of animated films out there but if you ever get the chance to see this movie then I highly recommend it it's full of that typical Aardman charm that we all know and love plus it has Tom Hiddelstone playing a French man how is that not funny.

Heavy Metal

If you were to look up the word bizarre in the dictionary you'd find a picture from this film right next to it it's strange , weird , barely a film and yet for some unknown reason I like it words do not do this film justice it's something you have to watch in order to understand it and that's honestly one of the best things I can say about this film.  

Please note that just because a movie isn't featured here it doesn't mean I don't like it as the title does suggest this is only some of the films that I like so if your a fan of Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm for example don't worry I like that film as well and if I ever do anougher list like this then chances are it will be included as well.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Review

Turtle fans the mean green ninja team have a new series coming out soon and Nickelodeon decided to drop the first four episodes of the show and that means animation fans such as myself can now talk about the show and my god do I have some thoughts about the show so here is my review of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

So then what is the plot of this show I hear you asking well that's a good question because technically there isn't one but the set up is The Turtles try to discover mysteries about New York and I have to say that it's strange watching a Turtles series that doesn't have any kind of plot to it and while not having a plot does work for this show it doesn't work for the turtles.

Playing the turtles in this series are Ben Schwartz as Leo , Omar Benson Miller as Raphael , Josh Brener as Donatello and Brandon Mychal Smith as Michelangelo. Playing the other characters are Kat Graham as April , Eric Bauza as Splinter and WWE star John Cena as new villain Baron Draxum. The actors playing the turtles are decent at best but there not really given much to work with so no matter how good the performance could have been it would have been let down by the script.

One of the things that this show does differently from the other shows is the fact it switches some of roles of the group Leo as not the leader of the group he's now the prankster and Raph no longer the angry one he's now the leader. I'm strangely ok with them making Raph the leader but there's just something wrong with Leo being the joker of the group to me that's not his character at all and it kinda makes Michelangelo pointless since that was his role in the group.

The animation for the show was done by Flying Bark Productions who really havn't done anything of note like at all I think it's fair to say that this is there first mainstream project and it shows because the animation was actually pretty good and I don't know if it's just me that thinks this but it seems like they took inspiration from OK KO that's not a bad thing but it does make me wonder if the people working on the animation are fans of that show.

When the designs for this show were released alot of people didn't like the designs for the turtles themselves I personally think that the designs do work for this show but at the same time I do see where people are coming from since the designs are so radically different and I think for Raph they took inspiration from the 2014 movie and that's not a good idea at all.

Here is something for you animation fans the voice director for this series is Turtles legend Rob Paulsen if you don't know who he is he played Raph in the 1980's series and Donny in the 2012 series and has been in many other animated shows and movies and I think it's great that he's working on this new version of the show.

One of the things that I wish they didn't do with this series was what they did to Splinter they turned someone who was basically a rat version of Yoda and they made him an overweight and lazy character who would rather sit in front of the TV then train his sons and give them life lessons to me that's not splinter at all he would always put his sons first and yet in this show it's the other way round.

In case your crazy enough to actually want to watch this show when it airs on Nickelodeon the series will premier on September 17th but tho unlike the previous show where it was pretty much an instant hit this show I really can't see lasting longer then twenty six episodes which is a shame because these characters are iconic and they deserve to be on TV screens for a long time but this show just isn't the right fit for them.

Overall this show is by no means a bad show if your a little kid however if you grew up with the turtles then chances are you might want to avoid watching this show or just watch it only when your board for me the show gets a 4.5 out of 10. 

Freedom Fighters: The Ray Review

DC Comics might not be good at making live action movies but there animated movies are really good and on the flip side of that both there live action and animated shows are also really good heck one of those shows was good that it spawned an entire universe of shows some of much are online shows and here is my review of one such such Freedom Fighters: The Ray.

The set up for this show is Ray Terrill gains light based powers after Ray from Earth-X gets transported to his earth and dies and now it's up to Earth 1 Ray to become The Ray. Yeah there's no real plot to this series at all outside of that set up there's really nothing there in terms of plot which is a shame because this series could have been really good if it had a good story behind it.

Returning from other Arrowverse shows are Megalyn Echikunwoke as Mari McCabe , Echo Kellum as Curtis Holt , Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow , Melissa Benoist as Overgirl , Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon and Russell Tovey as Ray Terrill. Together they are joined by Jason Mitchell as John Trujillo Dilshad Vadsaria as Jenny Knight , Matthew Mercer as Black Arrow and Scott Whyte as Blitzkrieg (that's the Earth-X version of The Flash FYI).

Honestly the acting in the show was pretty good for the most part all of the arrowverse actors do deliver good performances but for some reason they chose to replace Stephen Amell and Grant Gustin not that the replacements are bad but if your doing a show set in an established universe it would make alot of sense to bring in the actors that viewers are used to seeing.

Honestly it's hard to say who did the animation it's either Warner Bros Animation or Blue Ribbon Content it is most likely Warner Bros tho and I do have to say that the animation for what is basically a web series is pretty good I didn't notice any animation errors and none of the characters limbs got any longer but you can tell that this was done on a budget and i'm guessing that the budget wasn't that high since the DC animated movies have better animation then this show does.

Now I did watch this show when the first season came out in December but the reason why I didn't do the review then is because there wasn't a story in those first six episodes which was a shame because I did like the show but watching it now that both seasons have been released I can say that it's not that good it's a prequel to the Crisis on Earth-X crossover but outside of The Ray and a few characters none of the characters that appeared in those episodes make an appearance.

To add to the confusion Cisco in those crossover episodes makes to reference to the fact that he knows The Ray nor knows of the existence of Earth-X (which for those who don't know is a world where the nazis won) so as a prequel it doesn't make any sense since the only thing it really explains is why and how Earth 1 Ray is there and how he got his powers and that's it.

The series does start of strong with the first two episodes mainly being set on Earth-X and basically setting up that it's a bad place to live (insert New Jersey joke here) and I do like that we get to spend some time with Earth 1 Ray before he suits up as The Ray since it does make us care for him alot more when he does get into a fight but tho Ray kinda feels like a side character in his own show often taking the backseat to either the villains on Earth-X or the other arrowverse characters it's something that could have been fixed if they wrote this series after the crossover episodes came out and not before.

I've seen alot of people complain about the fact that each episode is around five to eight minuets each and for me that's not really a problem since most cartoons these days are around eleven minuets per episode so having a show or in this case a series of shows be a bit shorter then that isn't an issue but at the same time I do see where they are coming from since if it's a good show like Vixen then of course you'd want the episodes to be longer but this is first and foremost a web series so chances of us getting twenty two minuet episodes aren't as likely.

Like I said before the first twp episodes of this show are set on Earth-X and there also one of the few action filled episodes and I have to say that the action in this show is pretty well done we get to see alot of The Ray's powers as well as other members from the Freedom Fighters and it's when those action scenes are on that I wish the episodes were longer because there one of the few good things about this show.

Overall this is not the best show that is based in the arrowverse heck it's not even the best animated show set in that world that honor to me goes to Vixen and what I found out is that like Vixen this show is getting both of it's two seasons edited together for a home video release this show does have a lot of flaws and I mean alot so it gets a 6 out of 10 from me.

Things I Want From The Rugrats Reboot

Just a few days ago it was announced that the greatest ever Nicktoon ever made was coming back for twenty six more episodes as well as a live action / CGI hybrid movie but i'm not going to focus on the movie in this post since honestly that alone could make up a future post but for this one I want to talk about some things that I want to see in the new series.

Bring Back The Original Cast

Honestly this should go without saying but if the reboot is to connect with older fans they should bring back the original voice cast since there the voices that those fans are more used to hearing and since Christine Cavanaugh is no longer with us why not have either Nancy Cartwright or Tara Strong play Chuckie since both are great voice actresses and both worked on the original series.

Just to add to this point imagine if the characters were all voiced by totally different people sure to younger fans the voices would sound fine since they didn't grow up with the original but if your like me and you did grow up with the original the sudden change in voices would be jarring and thus the show wouldn't be making a great first impression and I know that people are thinking that this is just a kids show which is true but it's also a show that alot of us grew up with and so with any new reboot there going to have adults watching regardless if it's aimed at them or not.

Update The Animation

I'm not knocking the animation in the old show with this but shows today have better animation then shows from the 90's sure there are shows from that time period that had great animation but the vast majority didn't so if you want the show to do well this reboot should have great looking animation.

If you look at shows like Steven Universe , Adventure Time , Ducktales , The Loud House and Spongebob one of the things that they have in common is the fact that the animation is always topnotch they also have something else in common but i'm going to mention that later on the animation in an animated show should be one of the things that is at the forefront of every production meeting and if the animation isn't that good then the fans will notice and they'll turn on this show pretty quick.

Great Writing

Now I have no idea if this is true or not since I havn't watched the series in a long time but I can't recall the writing for the show being that great I might be wrong and if I am please do feel free to let me know but due to how good the writing is in the shows I mentioned in my last point kids today have become used to shows with great writing and this is something that Rugrats will need if it wants to keep up.

Don't Be Shy To Not Be PC

There's no denying the fact that we are living in a time where everyone is offended by pretty much everything which is why I want this show to not be afraid to not be PC because weather this is something people want to believe or not but the world isn't PC there are people out there who will say racist things and while having a racist on the show would be a step to far I would want this show to show the world as it is not as people want it to be but do it in a way that the kid audience would understand.

Guys I know that my last point might upset people and if it does upset them then I apologize but that's what I personally would want to see in this reboot and so far it is of to a good start by having the original creators on board as executive producers but do we really need to see Dee Dee in live action.