Batman fans i've reviewed quite alot of films and TV shows that feature the caped crusader over the years and i'll no doubt be reviewing more in the future however the one thing that those Batman films have in common is that they are all feature length films. Well there's a technically new Batman film out that's just over thirty minuets long and well since we have a tradition of reviewing each new DC direct to DVD animated when it comes out I present to you my review of "Batman: Death In The Family" enjoy the review everyone.
This is honestly the first DC project animated or live action TV show or film where I actually cannot tell you what the story of the film actually is. That's because while this film does indeed feature a framing story of Bruce talking to someone in a cafe the film mainly features clips from Batman: Under The Red Hood which makes it very hard for me to tell what the plot of this shorty film even is and thus it makes me wonder why the hell this short film was even made in the first place.
Almost every actor that's starring in this film is reprising their roles from Batman: Under The Red Hood as such it would be pointless for me for to split this section up. As such starring in the film is Bruce Greenwood as Bruce Wayne / Batman , Vincent Martella as Jason Todd / Robin and John DiMaggio as The Joker. Since this is an interactive movie and so depending on which choices you make you'll also hear Gary Cole as Commissioner James Gordon and Two-Face and Zehra Fazal as Talia al Ghul and in the newly animated scenes we have the great Nolan North as Clark Kent.
As for what I thought about the acting in the film it was honestly alot better then what I was expecting it to be. The acting in the newly animated footage is really good with both Bruce Greenwood and Nolan North giving solid performances as these iconic characters and the same could be said for the archive footage with the actors in that footage being really good as well and John DiMaggio in my opinion nails it as The Joker.
Now I did contemplate not talking about the animation for this short film since the film mainly uses archive footage and so i really didn't see any point in talking about the animation but I thought that I could just talk about the animation in the newly animated scenes instead. Which I believe features animation by Studio Mir but I could be wrong about that and the animation in those newly animated segments is honestly pretty solid and it blends in really well with the archive footage and so there's no disconnect which for me is a huge plus.
It's hard for me to say where this film takes place in terms of Under The Red Hood since the film features clips from all over the film and the main framing scenes are set after the events of Under The Red Hood. So you could argue that this is a mini sequel to Batman: Under The Red Hood which I guess makes sense but then you have to take into account the fact that the main bulk of the story takes place during the events of Batman: Under The Red Hood.
Not really helping matters is the fact that this film was promoted as a prequel to Batman: Under The Red Hood. Which doesn't really work because the whole idea behind this interactive film is that you get control of the fate of Jason Todd if anything this short film should have been a mini sequel to Batman: Under The Hood and not feature of clips from Batman: Under The Red Hood but instead feature an original storyline with those characters.
This is I believe the first interactive project DC has done be it animated or live action or movie or TV show. Now then since I used "other methods" to watch this film I cannot say if the interactive element is any good nor can I say what's added to the film due to that element but I can say an interactive DC direct to DVD animated movie is an interesting idea and it's one that could work but only if it's given to an actually good film since yeah this short film isn't that good or in my opinion this shirt film isn't that good anyways.
This is so far the longest short film that DC has put out with the film's running time being thirty one minuets long which makes it six minuets longer then Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam. I honestly don't see why this film had to be thirty one minuets long at all if anything they could have done this film in about twenty to twenty five minuets since there not really telling a new story there just hitting bullet points from the plot of another film.
Just like with the action I did contemplate not talking about the action in this film for the exact same reason because all of the action if seen in clips from Batman: Under The Red Hood but i'm going to do it anyway just because it would feel odd me reviewing a superhero movie and not talking about the action in the film. Which I honestly feel is really good and is where the archive animation really does come to life with lot of fluid movements and each punch really looking like it hurts which for me is always a good thing.
Overall this short film is not only pointless since it adds nothing to Batman: Under The Red Hood but it's also a bad film. Yes there are some good things that are in the film as i've listed in this very review but having a few good things doesn't make the whole film good and if i'm being honest outside of either Warner Bros or DC trying to see if an interactive movie could work with DC's group of character I don't see why this short film had to be made as such I give Batman: Death In The Family a 4 out of 10 please note that just because I gave this short film a bad score doesn't mean I feel the same way about Batman: Under The Red Hood it's just how I feel about this short and this short film only and who knows maybe when I do review Batman: Under The Red Hood I might like it but only time will tell and if you want to watch this film it comes out on DVD and blu-ray on October 13th 2020 which means it's out next Tuesday.
All of the images that I used in this review were gathered from either Google Images or the official Batman fandom wiki page. Since the overall majority of images that I used in this review came from Google Images I have no choice but to recommend that you use Google Images for images from this film however if you want high quality / high definition images for anything to do with Batman then I recommend that you use the official Batman fandom wiki page but that's just me tho if you guys know of any better websites to get high quality / high definition images then please let me know in the comments below.