When the Penguin (Tom Kenny) escapes Arkham Asylum in search of stolen loot at Gotham Cemetery, Penguin inadvertently stumbles upon a hidden tomb that holds Dracula (Peter Stormare). Awaken from a cut on Penguin's hand, Dracula continues his reign of terror as he drains residents of Gotham to regain his strength with intent on enslaving all of Gotham as his undead army. Meanwhile Bruce Wayne (Rino Romano) strikes up a promising relationship with news reporter Vicki Vale (Tara Strong) but finds his life complicated balancing this growing romance against his secret life as Batman, as a Bat shaped figure becomes associated with missing persons with Batman at the center of police suspicions.
The Batman vs. Dracula is a 2005 direct-to-video feature that serves as a standalone story related to the animated series The Batman which ran from 2004-2008. Released as a tie-in with the then recent Batman Begins and premiering on Cartoon Network's Toonami, The Batman vs. Dracula was able to go darker than its source TV show thanks to lack of "network standards". Not only are there plenty of scenes of blood and vampires drinking it (though a scene in a blood bank has the lighting altered so the blood looks black) but it's the only time in the continuity of The Batman that we've seen the police use actual guns instead of tasers or tranquilizers. While the movie isn't required viewing with the show and is a very self-contained adventure, it's a solidly entertaining one with some excellent edge.
Peter Stormare is an absolute delight playing the titular Dracula who captures the dark menace of the character as well as the romantic magnetism of the character. Dracula is intimidating in both his "monster" form and his false identity as Dr. Alucard and he's a more than worthy foe to square off against Batman. Rino Romano and Tara Strong do quite well in their roles of Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale respectively, and the chemistry conveyed in their interactions makes me sad the character of Vale never appeared in the actual TV show and only appeared in this film. The action and animation are quite well done playing like a supped up version of the animation you see on the show, but the filmmakers get a lot more ambitious and experimental here as they're allowed to take the macabre elements of their story a lot further than they'd be able to on network TV (see the Spider-Man cartoon's take on Morbius to see how much you had to change for "acceptability"). The sequences of Batman fighting vampires or researching vampire lore strikes all the right notes and gives you every element you'd possibly want from a vampire story (save for some of the racier aspects of vampire war, but it's Batman).
The only real downside is in how detatched the movie feels from the show's continuity and aside from Bruce, Alfred, and supporting appearances by some of Batman's rogue's gallery there's no tie ins to the show's overarching story such as police chief Angel Rojas who served as a staunch opponent of Batman or Detective Yin who was for a time Batman's only ally on the force (though the TV show would give her a similar short shrift in season 3). The ending also feels a bit "too neat" in how things wrap up and it'll be a case of either you buy it or you don't.
The Batman vs. Dracula gives exactly what it promises. With solid animation and voice work the movie gives a more polished version of the already high quality you got from the TV show. Peter Stormare is fun in the role of Dracula and the havoc he wreaks upon Gotham is fun and carries with it the macabre charms we know and love that wouldn't be possible on network TV. The movie does feel like it's maybe too separate from the show as there's no appearances from established supporting players, and while Joker and Penguin show up, the possibilities of this story don't feel as fully exploited as they could've been. Minor nitpicks aside, this is a fun ride that gives you the Batman fighting vampires and delivers on all that entails.
The Batman vs. Dracula is a 2005 direct-to-video feature that serves as a standalone story related to the animated series The Batman which ran from 2004-2008. Released as a tie-in with the then recent Batman Begins and premiering on Cartoon Network's Toonami, The Batman vs. Dracula was able to go darker than its source TV show thanks to lack of "network standards". Not only are there plenty of scenes of blood and vampires drinking it (though a scene in a blood bank has the lighting altered so the blood looks black) but it's the only time in the continuity of The Batman that we've seen the police use actual guns instead of tasers or tranquilizers. While the movie isn't required viewing with the show and is a very self-contained adventure, it's a solidly entertaining one with some excellent edge.
Peter Stormare is an absolute delight playing the titular Dracula who captures the dark menace of the character as well as the romantic magnetism of the character. Dracula is intimidating in both his "monster" form and his false identity as Dr. Alucard and he's a more than worthy foe to square off against Batman. Rino Romano and Tara Strong do quite well in their roles of Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale respectively, and the chemistry conveyed in their interactions makes me sad the character of Vale never appeared in the actual TV show and only appeared in this film. The action and animation are quite well done playing like a supped up version of the animation you see on the show, but the filmmakers get a lot more ambitious and experimental here as they're allowed to take the macabre elements of their story a lot further than they'd be able to on network TV (see the Spider-Man cartoon's take on Morbius to see how much you had to change for "acceptability"). The sequences of Batman fighting vampires or researching vampire lore strikes all the right notes and gives you every element you'd possibly want from a vampire story (save for some of the racier aspects of vampire war, but it's Batman).
The only real downside is in how detatched the movie feels from the show's continuity and aside from Bruce, Alfred, and supporting appearances by some of Batman's rogue's gallery there's no tie ins to the show's overarching story such as police chief Angel Rojas who served as a staunch opponent of Batman or Detective Yin who was for a time Batman's only ally on the force (though the TV show would give her a similar short shrift in season 3). The ending also feels a bit "too neat" in how things wrap up and it'll be a case of either you buy it or you don't.
The Batman vs. Dracula gives exactly what it promises. With solid animation and voice work the movie gives a more polished version of the already high quality you got from the TV show. Peter Stormare is fun in the role of Dracula and the havoc he wreaks upon Gotham is fun and carries with it the macabre charms we know and love that wouldn't be possible on network TV. The movie does feel like it's maybe too separate from the show as there's no appearances from established supporting players, and while Joker and Penguin show up, the possibilities of this story don't feel as fully exploited as they could've been. Minor nitpicks aside, this is a fun ride that gives you the Batman fighting vampires and delivers on all that entails.