DVD Throwback- Batman: Under the Red Hood

I'll admit it as a kid I freaking loved Batman. I would be another 5 or so years when I was sent a free copy of Ultimate Spider-man in the mail and fell in love with comic books to become the bizarre comic nerd I am today.

I assume most people are aware of  "Batman the animated series" made in the 90's, that redefined the character and brought him back into the public's eye or at least introduced him to a whole new generation of kids who hadn't seen the two movies with Michael Keaton. Well Batman TAS ran for 4 seasons spawning a Superman TAS that wasn't bad and Batman Beyond, in my opinion a very under rated show and under used property of DC. Eventually Batman and Superman ran their course and suddenly Justice League hit Cartoon Network. JL was also a really good show but I assume DC thought they could get more out of the concept so JL ended and Justice League Unlimited started with shorter run time and a bigger cast. JLU was also amazing, but when that show had run it's course DC decided to do start a line of animated movies targeted to young adults and teens that focused on specific characters, be it their Origins or just stories (taken from Graphic Novels).

Now that you have the back story I can review a straight to video release from last year that I didn't have the chance to see until today. Batman Under the Red Hood is a story of a new crime boss who comes to Gotham under the guise of "The Red Hood" he begins to steal business from other crime bosses which means they send goons after him which means Batman takes notice. Red Hood gives Batman the chase and Batman feels there is something familiar about him.

One thing that shocked me a little in the opening of the movie is the voice work. Growing up with Batman TAS Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamil are the only voices I hear when I read Batman and the Joker (respectively). Once I got used to it I enjoyed John Di Maggio's performance as the Joker (voice of Bender in Futurama). Also I find Bruce Greenwood a suitable replacement for Kevin Conroy, but what I really enjoyed was Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing. Well more just that Dick Grayson was there at all. I always feel that Nightwing has a lot of potential as a character and that DC under uses him a lot and often mistreats the character. (Wally West was Flash for 25 years before Barry Allen came back and Dick Grayson was Batman for less than a year before DC dug Bruce Wayne back up!)

Another thing I'd like to mention is the level of detail they put into the back story of this, from Jason Todds death to the Joker's Origin I was just astounded. Being a comic nerd that I am I enjoyed the call backs to previous stories and as a reviewer I felt there was enough detail that I could show this to some one who didn't read Batman comics at all and they would still understand.

Also something that impressed me, the fight scenes were done beautifully. Normally in an animated movie I expect fight scenes to be choppy and done as quick as possible, but here I felt that everything flowed nicely.

I would recommend this only if you're interested in Batman. Batman Under the Red Hood is available on DVD and is currently available for streaming on Netflix.