New DVD review: Batman - Gotham Knight

I wasn’t too sure what to expect from this direct-to-DVD offering going in, as the stated intentions of the project seemed somewhat at cross purposes, combining influences and creative forces from many different areas — comics, animation, and film — in such a way that ‘too many cooks’ syndrome could easily have been a fatal flaw.   Ostensibly, Batman: Gotham Knight bridges the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and is thus set in that continuity, but with scripts contributed by comics writers and then handed over to a variety of Japanese animators to render as they saw fit I was worried the end product would be disjointed beyond comprehension.  Fortunately, while the individual episodes stand alone there is enough of a throughline connecting them to keep the viewing experience fairly cohesive despite the fact that Bruce Wayne looks like a teenage Asian boy in one episode and a 30 year old Caucasian man in the next.  Over the property’s 70 year history the Batman has stood up to hundreds of differing interpretations, so none of the liberties taken here were too disturbing, though a few of the stylistic choices do beggar explanation, and the welcome presence of Kevin Conroy as the voice of the Dark Knight throughout was an absolute comfort.  While not completely satisfying as a piece unto itself, many of Gotham Knight’s segments are pleasantly successful and overall the work is of a piece with the dark tone of Nolan’s movies.  This isn’t a must-buy by any means, and nowhere near the quality of DC’s recent awesome animated offering The New Frontier, but it’s a worthwhile attempt to try something different with Batman and company and a good way for viewers to get themselves good and hyped for the impending premiere of The Dark Knight itself.

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