This was a downer year for DC animated studios. If you have been keeping up with the blog series, first off thank you because this has been a blast to do. Second is that there were a lot of 5 star movies up until this year, where I only saw one movie that fully earned five stars and one that barely got it. Peeking at the slate of movies ahead however, I believe it will only go up from here.

Batman: Year One (2011) 64 minutes ***

Starring: Bryan Cranston, Ben McKenzie, Eliza Dushku

The movie covers a whole calendar year of Bruce Wayne’s return to Gotham with the adjacent storyline of Lieutenant James Gordon’s arrival. With a movie carrying the title of Batman, he is only on screen for 10:37 minutes. The movie is way too focused on Gordon’s storyline and not enough on Bruce Wayne’s ascendance to Batman. Ben McKenzie does the best he could with the role but takes an obvious backseat to Bryan Cranston’s performance. 

All-Star Superman (2011)*

Starring: James Denton, Christina Hendricks, Frances Conroy

Completely forgettable. James Denton’s Superman is low and mono toned  giving him none of the classic superman tropes that make the character iconic. The storyline is also forgettable as it does not draw me in and all the major plot points are random with no lead in. Superman is dying and while it is well explained, visually they barely do nothing to draw in the audience. The highlight performance of the movie is Anthony LaPaglia as Lex Luthor. His voice is sharp, dark, intelligent and gives the movie the only positive note. Everything else about the movie is easily forgettable. 

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 (2012) *****

Starring: Peter Weller, Ariel Winter, Paget Brewster

This movie barely got 5 stars for me. It had everything a die-hard Batman fan would want in a movie (dark and edgy) but the one aspect of the movie I disagreed with was how they introduced the new Robin. It was nonsensical that a little girl that Batman saves, scrounge together a pretty accurate Robin outfit, fighting crime in one scene and becomes the next sidekick to Batman in the next. I slightly understand Batman’s thinking when it came to taking her in but as a fan, I will side with Alfred as he called Batman “insane.” 

Justice League: Doom (2012)****

Starring: Kevin Conroy, Michael Rosenbaum, Paul Blackthorne 

If you are a fan of conspiracy theories, the animated Justice League and Justice League Unlimited series, and seeing the main superheroes get broken down mentally and physically, then this movie is for you. Vandal Savage is the headlining villain of the story and he hires Mirror Master to steal Batman’s contingency plans to neutralize each member of the freshly assembled Justice League. Batman is not wrong to have these plans as his reasons are revealed towards the end of the movie and any logical person would side with him. I was left wanting more from Vandal Savage. With the bulk of the movie focusing on each league member being broken down then taking revenge on their specific villain, Vandal Savage was just….there..

Superman vs. The Elite (2012)*****

Starring: George Newbern, Pauley Perrette, Dee Bradley Baker

Oh man, this movie was the gem of 2012 DC animated movies in my opinion. The writing is superb and the story deals with a conflict that is prominent within the superhero genre (any brand). What if the heroes murdered the villains vs just putting them in jail to escape later? The writers of the comic and the movie build up the tension throughoutvery well to the last third of the movie where it makes you perk up. The leader of the “pro-murder” group of The Elite in Manchester Black was very well developed and very well performed by Robin Atkins Downes. I didn’t even notice that George Newbern was voicing Superman because he sounded very similar to Tim Daly and that made feel like I was watching the animated series.