Batman: Year One is the new direct-to-DVD animated movie from DC Comics and Warner Brothers Animation and is based of the critically acclaimed, and often borrowed from, story by comic book legend Frank Miller.

Batman: Year One follows two main plots over a selected period of time during the first year of Bruce Wayne’s run as the Batman and Jim Gordon’s fight for justice within the Gotham Police Department. Both plots were used within the two Chris Nolan Batman films and actually gave more flesh to the story and the characters then what we get to see here. Just like in the Nolan films we get to see a young Bruce Wayne come back to Gotham City and start his crusade against crime by becoming a terror in the dark known as the Batman. Jim Gordon and his wife Barbara arrive from Chicago to Gotham as a place for Jim to start over and reset his police career. While working for the Chicago Police Department, Gordon’s “sense of honor and duty” landed him in the middle of internal issues due to his involvement of Internal Affairs and police corruption.

Batman: Year One chronicles the rise of the Batman and how he helped cleanup Gotham from the crime bosses while Jim Gordon, from the inside, helped cleanup the Gotham Police Department. There is a small subplot that focuses on Catwoman toward the end of the movie and this plot could have been left out. It just made the pacing of the movie feel more out-of-order then it already felt and really did nothing to forward the two main plots.

I’ll be honest, I like the DC Animated universe and have been very happy with what has been churned out over the past few years with the direct-to-DVD movies. Bruce Timm (the Producer) and Andrea Romano (Voice Director) have been doing this for close to 20 years and each outing just keeps getting better and better between stories and casting. However, Batman: Year One feels rushed as if plot elements were left out so they could squeeze the story into a 64 minute package. As I said earlier the plot of Year One has been used in the Nolan films and to me, this animated entry didn’t need to happen. Timm could very well have used this entry into the DC Animated Universe to showcase some other heroes within the DCU or even focus on another Batman story such as “The Long Halloween” or “Hush”.

Voice casting is always a big issue as the fans only want Kevin Conroy to be the voice of any animated Batman. I have to say that Ben McKenzie (The O.C., Southland) did an outstanding job as a young Bruce Wayne and when he got into Batman mode he sounded like a young Kevin Conroy and did the part proud. Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) was the gruff Jim Gordon and managed to capture the gruff, and often tired, sound of Jim as he struggled with cleaning up the Gotham PD. Eliza Dushku (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) played Selina Kyle better known as Catwoman. I’m not sure why Catwoman was even in the movie as there was no reason to add her…except as a way to introduce the character to then showcase her in the Catwoman animated short that is also included on the DVD.

Did I like Batman: Year One? I liked the animation and the voice work of the cast, I liked the look and feel of the story, but overall the plot has been used too much recently in Batman lore and because of this I have to give this 2.5 out of 5 rating.

Rent it!

Batman: Year One is rated PG-13 for animated violence.