Movie Review: Batman: Year One

Director: Sam Liu, Lauren Montgomery
Studio: Warner Brothers Animation
Release Date: October 18, 2011
Availability: In stock, buy the DVD here; buy the Blu-Ray here

In Batman: Year One, the animated movie, an adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel, James Gordon moves to Gotham City, hoping for a better life, but finds the police are corrupt, meanwhile Bruce Wayne takes up the cape and cowl and becomes Batman.

If you’re wondering whether the movie is good, it is pretty good.  The story is nearly a perfect replica of Batman: Year One by Frank Miller except some small lines have been omitted, you won’t notice unless you read the comic and watch the movie at the same time.

They did change one scene from a drug dealer using cocaine to him counting money, and they omitted Jim Gordon smoking, but other than that, it is a direct adaptation of the graphic novel.

The animation does look great and the art is designed a lot like the comic book and it looks pretty good.  Not the best animation, but it’s pretty good.

The voice acting is good.  Some roles are better than others, but the voice acting isn’t particularly memorable.   Benjamin McKenzie as Bruce Wayne/Batman, but he’s just an okay voice actor.  There was one scene where he sounded really good, other than that, his performance is rather forgettable.  Bryan Cranston is the standout performance as Lieutenant James Gordon.  Katee Sackhoff is also good as Detective Sarah Essen. 

This movie is rated PG-13 for language and violence.  The drug use and the smoking have been removed; this is definitely for an older audience though.

I recommend this to anyone who is a Batman fan, but the movie isn’t quite as good as the others that I’ve watched.  It’s definitely worth a rental or borrowing it from your local library if they have it.  If you’re a diehard Frank Miller fan, you’ll definitely want to buy it.  It is worth your time, but to decide if you want to spend your money on it by renting or borrowing it first.