Batman: Soul of the Dragon

This was a mediocre Batman movie. Apart from the fact that Batman is barely in it (there's much more screen time with Bruce and the rest of the team), I didn't really care about the characters and story.

The one positive is that it shows some background on Bruce's martial arts training and elaborates on why he can beat up a lot of bad guys, but other than that it was pretty generic and forgettable.

It seemed like they just wanted to team him up with Bruce Lee and Jim Kelly, so they set it in the 70s. There's a move Richard does in the movie that makes it obvious they modeled him after Bruce Lee (with a bit of James Bond thrown in).

Ultimately I didn't care about the good guys or the villain, or even Batman himself, which is a shame because there have been much more interesting Batman animated movies.

Give this one a pass unless you're a hardcore Batman animated fan and want to watch them all.

Batman: Soul of the Dragon is direct by Sam Liu and written by Jeremy Adams. Batman, Bronze Tiger, Lady Shiva, and Richard Dragon join forces when they come to realize that they share a common acquaintance. The Martial Arts Master that trained them has been missing for a number of years and under mysterious circumstances. When a cursed relic resurfaces, the mystery of their dead master re-opens and Batman and his former classmates must face-off in the ultimate test of their Martial Arts skills to gain control of this dangerous relic. This movie set in the 70s and I love Asian Martial Arts. This movie is more focused on Bruce Wayne than Batman. This feels like a mix of James Bond and Bruce lee's movie. There are a lot of action-packed scenes but a lack of character development and feelings, which is one of the main negative points. Also, the story is very predictable and flat. When comes to Asian movies or dramas they heavily focused on feelings and this movie lacks feelings, live adaptation of Mulan also had the same problem. I do not strongly recommend this movie. If you are a fan of batman and animation it's ok.

As a Batman movie this is a two star experience at best. If you strip off the costume it isn't half bad. They shouldn't misuse the Bat brand this way - especially when the movie could stand by its own right.

Watching this, ask yourself...if it was a different character than Bruce Wayne/Batman, would you even notice? I don't think so. It's like they just decided to make one of the protagonists Batman as an afterthought. The animation is up to par, the voice acting is good, the choreography of the fights scenes is excellent. The cast is, quite frankly, awesome! Especially Michael Jai White. He channels Black Dynamite, all over again. James Hong is, as always, a treasure. Mark Dacascos proves he is wonderful as a voice artist, and still sounds youthful. Kelly Hu ads a 70's self-sufficient women's lib vibe that is perhaps the most bad ass character in the ensemble. The only misstep is David Giuntoli (Grimm) as Batman/Bruce Wayne. Oh, he's good, but not a good fit for Batman. Or maybe it's that the Batman character is not a good fit for this story? Either way, something feels off about it. Don't get me wrong, it's a good animated movie, and a fun diversion in these trying times. But is it really a Batman movie? I don't really think so.

Just read the other positive reviews, they sum it up well. This was really a surprise homage to all the 70's kung fu and spy flicks. Not something you see in live cinema anymore thats for sure.

Sure it wasn't perfect. But for anyone thats watched enough films from the 70's early eighties.. will dig this enough that its a good once watch. Some DC animated films I've rewatched a few times. But the stories were much more complex than this and they were better films. I've seen them all.. so in comparison from the worst DC animated films to the best this one sits at a solid 6.5 But I'll give it an edge to push back a little against negative reviews. Tho i can understand why a younger generation wouldn't like this one or understand the context as much unless they were a kung fu film fan. Also, No idea why this was rated R.. I've seen so many PG-13 films with tons more blood and violence than this had.. And I think if they did add more to the violent aspect of sword fights and killing by beating to death, it would have shown this was a film meant for the older DC animated film viewers. So far none of the R rated DC animated films have really taken advantage of that yet.. The Killing joke being the best example and the worst example of animation.. This film had the classic 90's animation but spruced up for the quality of animation standards today, same style tho.