simonlegosson

Batman: Year One is arguably one of the greatest and most important Batman stories to have ever been produced. The original comic book is a true classic and an absolute must-read for any fan of the caped crusader. This film basically takes scenes from the comic and makes them into moving pictures. There is little to no innovation going on here, although that's not necessarily a bad thing given the high quality of the material it adapts. The films biggest problem is its pacing. Scenes move on too quickly and there is no time for the story, which takes place over an entire year, to land. The original comic book is also built up of many separate short scenes however I think the comic book medium lends itself better to this form of storytelling. In a comic book, the reader decides the pacing of the story. Therefore the need for slow scenes where the audience can let all the aspects of the story sink in, is not the same. For the movie to work more effectively I think it should have had a longer runtime and let some scenes play out for a few minutes more.

Pacing issues aside, this movie will be great for fans of the comic book. The animation keeps a similar look to the comic and is overall really well done. Sam Liu does a good job directing and adds no unnecessary side plots or creepy sex stuff added this time, thank God (I wouldn't have been able to handle another killing joke). Bryan Cranston gives a great voice performance as Jim Gordon and Ben McKenzie manages to capture both the muted nature of Bruce Wayne and the authoritative and intimidating voice of Batman. The rest of the voice cast is also great, the only exception for me being Eliza Dushku as Catwoman who almost sounds a little too childish for me to really feel her as Selina.

While the movie doesn't quite reach the heights of the comic book, I still found it a really enjoyable experience to see one of my favorite Batman stories brought to the big screen.

This show is up there with Slippin' Jimmy and Santa Inc. As one of the greatest pieces of animated media to ever be produced. The scriptwriting is genius and subtle, the characters feel realistic and lovable, the jokes are funny and never just consist of one of the Scooby Doo characters saying something offensive, gross, self aware or rude.

For real though, stay away from this show unless you really want something to hate-watch. The animation looks bland, all characters (especially Velma herself) are extremely unlikable and have nothing in common with the characters from the original Scooby Doo, the show is full of what I think is supposed to be satire of racial stereotypes however the writers completely forgot about the satire part and just wrote in offensive stereotypes in the show. It's a real shame that this is the introduction we get to a reimagined Scooby Doo where the characters have different ethnicities and sexualities. The Scooby Doo gang have always been a diverse cast of characters so letting that diversity show in things like skin color or sexuality is not a bad idea, it's just beyond horribly executed. I think this is the worst animated show I have ever seen in my entire life, and I watched both Santa Inc and Slippin Jimmy.