You've seen Jman and Johhny Love's hilarious video review(and if you haven't, check it out
Here), but I only just got to see this, and I have to say, ladies and gentlemen we have a winner! Under The Red Hood is THE best animated movie from either DC or Marvel I have seen yet.
The story is sort of an amalgam of
A Death In The Family and
Under The Hood, with a little bit of
The Killing Joke thrown in for good measure. It focuses on a mysterious new vigilante emerging in Gotham known as The Red Hood, an alias previously used by The Joker among others. This guy takes no prisoners, he doesn't hold back like Batman, a caught crim is a dead crim. Batman and Nightwing(Dick Grayson, the first Robin) team up to try to stop him and uncover his true identity. Of course, as every Bat fan should know, Red Hood turns out to be Jason Todd, the second Robin, brutally beaten to death by The Joker years before. So whats he doing running around Gotham with a plan for his revenge which involves The Black Mask? Well if you don't already know the rest of the details you'l have to watch to find out.
This really is great stuff. Dc animation has always pushed the boundaries of the pg13 rating but here I think they blow em out of the water! Not just with the violence, but the themes of loss, betrayal, vengeance and the line between good and evil are all taken to a very dark place. Aaaaand the violence! Throats are cut, eyes gouged, crowbar beatings..at times I thought I was watching a Tarantino flick. The voice acting is also taken to a new level. These guys do a terrific job. Bruce Greenwood manages to sound a bit like Kevin Conroy, but puts his own twist on it as Batman. Jensen Ackles is outstanding as Red Hood, albeit really only getting his teeth into the dialog in the last act. And although sometimes I did hear a bit of
Futurama's Bender, John Dimaggio gives us a very interesting, gruffer take on The Joker. It takes a bit of getting used to, but by the end I loved it. Neil Patrick Harris voices Nightwing and is ok, he doesn't really get much to do. and Wade Williams is a punch happy Black Mask. He's pretty good but I was never a huge fan of the character. There are also cameo appearances from Rhas Al Ghul, Amazo and The Riddler. Of course the best voice acting in the world won't make a difference if the script isn't up to speed and thankfully here its top notch. All of the dialog sucks you in and gets your emotions going, the plot is paced just right. Its pretty solidly an action flick of course, but there are enough quieter moments to even things out nicely.
My only real problem with the film is how short it is. These animated films are always 90 mins or under, but this clocks in at around 75 and it just didn't feel long enough. They manage to tell the story in the alloted time, but if there had of been just one or two more scenes to round out the characters it would have really benefited the movie. Watching how well they did this makes me wish WB would turn their animated attentions to one of the real classic Batman stories. There are references to
The Killing Joke in this, as Todd mentions The Joker "crippling their friend", and some of the dialog is straight out of Frank Miller's
The Dark Knight Returns. Lets see THEM! Or
Hush, or
The Long Halloween. These stories are more than likely never going to end up on in live action so why not give them to us animated?
Anyway, as much as I have been getting a bit sick of seeing DC use Batman in these flicks, when the quality is this good there can be no complaints. Buy this when its released on th 27th, you won't regret it.