Let me start off by saying that I've always been a huge fan of both batman and Dracula. I've seen pretty much all of the batman movies, TV shows, and played all the video games. I have read the Dracula novel, and have enjoyed watching many of the film adaption's. Since I've enjoyed batman through my entire life and have also been a horror movie fan, I was delighted to hear of this original idea of putting the two legendary bats in one movie. I must say although not the best batman nor the best Dracula movie it definitely did not disappoint.
Gotham is as usual, full of villains and Bruce Wayne continues to struggle balancing his personal life with his duty as the batman. It's an ordinary night until suddenly Batman gets the call that the Joker and the Penguin have escaped from Arkham Asylum and the chase is on. Following the events of the night the trail of the Peguin has gone cold and he has strangely disappeared. As the nights continue to come and go, people mysteriously disappear without a trace, and all of a sudden a dark and grim man arrives and everything is not well as the man turns out to be the Batman's greatest challenge of them all, the one and only...the legendary...Dracula.
The first thing I noticed about this was the originality and cleverness of placing these two famous bats in one movie in a really interesting storyline. we see how Bruce is having difficulty in finding time for his personal life as he never gets to spend anytime with his love interest Vickie Vale as every time he does get time he gets time with her duty calls. The best part of this story is how we see Batman be met with such a challenge, that even he thinks he can't over come, but he never gives up and continues to drive for the answer to the question on how to defeat the indestructible Dracula. One thing I found disappointing in the story was the lack of twists and turns, of course there was a few but not near as many as I had hoped for. The biggest let down I felt was the number of stand offs between Batman and Dracula, I was hoping for more but in the end the climax of the film really made up for it.
The voice over cast did a wonderful job in this cartoon such as: Rino Romano as Bruce Wayne/The Batman, Peter Stormare as Dracula, Tara Strong as Vickie Vale, Tom Kenny as Peguin, Kevin Michael Richardson as the Joker, and Alastair Duncan as Alfred. Each actor does a great job as there character especially Kevin Michael Richardson as the Joker, I've always found he does and excellent job although not as good as Mark Hamill but he is not far off. I found myself mildly disappointed with Peter Stormare as Drcula it seems as though his accent keeps changing in different parts of the movie, given this he still does a good job but it could have been better. All other voice actors do and excellent job.
I love the character designs in this cartoon, I'll always prefer the Batman: the animated series design but this one never disappoints me. I like the Dracula in this, although it mainly follows the original movie design it adds a new original spin on Draula as when he attacks his prey he seems to turn into a gargoyle looking creature which really looked cool in my opinion. My all time favourite design in this cartoon was the vampire Joker, the fangs, the more sinister looking eyes, the way he goes crazy over blood, everything about the vampire Joker really put the biggest smile on my face.
When the movie came to an end I was not disappointed, although I seen many places for improvement, I seen many more things that made a good enjoyable movie. From the great storyline, originality, great voice over cast, and pretty good action sequences, this movie is fun and great for anyone who is a fan of Batman and Dracual. So make sure you rent or buy the Batman vs. Dracula.
Overall rating: ******* out of **********
***1/2 out of *****
Gotham is as usual, full of villains and Bruce Wayne continues to struggle balancing his personal life with his duty as the batman. It's an ordinary night until suddenly Batman gets the call that the Joker and the Penguin have escaped from Arkham Asylum and the chase is on. Following the events of the night the trail of the Peguin has gone cold and he has strangely disappeared. As the nights continue to come and go, people mysteriously disappear without a trace, and all of a sudden a dark and grim man arrives and everything is not well as the man turns out to be the Batman's greatest challenge of them all, the one and only...the legendary...Dracula.
The first thing I noticed about this was the originality and cleverness of placing these two famous bats in one movie in a really interesting storyline. we see how Bruce is having difficulty in finding time for his personal life as he never gets to spend anytime with his love interest Vickie Vale as every time he does get time he gets time with her duty calls. The best part of this story is how we see Batman be met with such a challenge, that even he thinks he can't over come, but he never gives up and continues to drive for the answer to the question on how to defeat the indestructible Dracula. One thing I found disappointing in the story was the lack of twists and turns, of course there was a few but not near as many as I had hoped for. The biggest let down I felt was the number of stand offs between Batman and Dracula, I was hoping for more but in the end the climax of the film really made up for it.
The voice over cast did a wonderful job in this cartoon such as: Rino Romano as Bruce Wayne/The Batman, Peter Stormare as Dracula, Tara Strong as Vickie Vale, Tom Kenny as Peguin, Kevin Michael Richardson as the Joker, and Alastair Duncan as Alfred. Each actor does a great job as there character especially Kevin Michael Richardson as the Joker, I've always found he does and excellent job although not as good as Mark Hamill but he is not far off. I found myself mildly disappointed with Peter Stormare as Drcula it seems as though his accent keeps changing in different parts of the movie, given this he still does a good job but it could have been better. All other voice actors do and excellent job.
I love the character designs in this cartoon, I'll always prefer the Batman: the animated series design but this one never disappoints me. I like the Dracula in this, although it mainly follows the original movie design it adds a new original spin on Draula as when he attacks his prey he seems to turn into a gargoyle looking creature which really looked cool in my opinion. My all time favourite design in this cartoon was the vampire Joker, the fangs, the more sinister looking eyes, the way he goes crazy over blood, everything about the vampire Joker really put the biggest smile on my face.
When the movie came to an end I was not disappointed, although I seen many places for improvement, I seen many more things that made a good enjoyable movie. From the great storyline, originality, great voice over cast, and pretty good action sequences, this movie is fun and great for anyone who is a fan of Batman and Dracual. So make sure you rent or buy the Batman vs. Dracula.
Overall rating: ******* out of **********
***1/2 out of *****