Our retrospective takes a curious turn, as I was perplexed to hear the next DC DTV feature was to be a team up between Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I anticipate that nobody could have predicted that this would’ve been one of the DC DVDs due to the presumable legal nightmare of getting DC and Nickelodeon characters in the same feature. The Ninja Turtles and Batman previously teamed up in a well received comic book series and the Ninja Turtles somehow appeared in the Injustice 2 video game as downloaded characters. However I did not personally see how the two would be able to legally coincide for the sake of a direct to video feature, given how long requested crossovers between DC and Marvel characters has been met with a strict "Nope" for 20+ years. I can only assume that Jim Harvey himself has some kind of stroke at Warner Bros and Nickelodeon to make this team or happen. This is a joke people, do not ask Jim to commission of another series of Batman The Animated Series, he cannot do it, I have already asked.
Bamboozling as the announcement was, I was curious to check this film out despite the fact I haven’t watched anything to do with the Turtles since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III way back in the mid 90s. All of the recent Ninja Turtle cartoons have completely passed me by, and my knowledge is limited to a handful of memories of the original film series and animated series none of which I believe would’ve fit well in Batman‘s world.
I did originally have concerns that this would simply be another toy inspired feature, given the characters involved and how heavily influenced action figure sales have been upon all Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchises in recent decades.
I confess my curiosity got the better of me and I did indeed watch is this one on opening day (my Brother bought it and I invited myself over to watch it with him, much to his delight). Beyond a handful of images and news that Troy Baker would indeed voice both Batman and The Joker I knew little about the feature, so essentially sat down and watched it with an open mind and must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.
The feature does not take place in any known continuity so it’s completely fresh which I believe was required for this piece. Had this been a simple continuation of a prior existing Ninja Turtles Series or even Batman series, I believe it would’ve put the mainstream audience off, and limited its audience to those familiar with either the Turtles or that particular incarnation. In hindsight it might have fit in well in the Batman: The Brave And The Bold world, but overall I think setting this as its own individual piece was indeed the correct decision.
My original concerns them is maybe a kiddie orientated piece we quickly put out to past as the film early on shows that it is not afraid of a little blood, or in this case quite a lot of blood and even murder. Murder is usually tuned out of a film aimed at the younger audiences regardless of how integral it is to the plot. I am not sure how adult orientated the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise is, but this one seems to skew slightly older, than I would expect the traditional Turtles franchise to.
The designs are very well done, quite unlike any of the other DC movies I have seen previously, they animate well and managed to make a classic feel of the majority of modern designs with the exception of Batman himself who bares his classic grey and blue suit, which is always appreciated by this old school Batman fan boy. Robin and Batgirl are adorned in their current quite book costumes, which I admit I like less than the classic Tim Drake and 80s Batgirl suits, but given how these films work I understand it why they chose to use the more modern suits. The turtles themselves look very classic and their models fits in with the look of the film. Thankfully they are not like the recent live-action Turtles from producer Michael Bay which looked hideous and grotesque and completely put me off seeing them. I have no desire to watch Michael Bay ruin another childhood franchise (looking at you Transformers.)
The plot has a large amount of characters from both Batman and the Turtles, but even someone who has not seen much of the Turtles in past 30 years I recognised the majority of them. Many Batman villains appear, even if only briefly, and in a cool twist they are muted by the Ooze that turned our 4 normal turtles into the teenage mutant ninja variety. I don’t know enough about The Turtles to confirm if anybody was truly missing beyond Master Splinter and April O’Neil. Splinters ommision can be explained that the Turtles travelled from New York to Gotham to chase Shredder and bringing him along to the fight probably would’ve meant another character that needed included in the fight scenes and therefore creating a lot more work for the production team. I imagine this is also why Casey Jones did not feature. That’s for O' Neil? One could simply say that she is not a Gotham journalist. Job done.
I did appreciate seeing the various Arkham rouges as Batman does indeed have the greatest DC rogues gallery without question. It must be said that some of them are little more than villains for the heroes to fight, it does make sense in this incarnation given that they have been muted by the Ooze. The missing villains I would traditionally expected to see are Catwoman and The Riddler. Riddler omission makes sense as there is nothing for him to transform into that would’ve played into the feature, and Catwoman and I assume is simply an admission due to time. The film is paced very well, has a few genuinely decent twists and never feel slow, plodding, or rushed. It gets from beginning to middle to end nicely, which is a very impressive feat considering the number of characters that must be developed. Even Alfred gets a few moments to shine in a 80 minute picture and film does well in establishing chemistry between the Bat family and the Ninja Turtles. Having known little about The Turtles before watching the feature, by the time it was done I managed to get off something of a handle on each of their characters, which again is a credit to the writing given the sheer number of characters involved and the fact that my knowledge of the turtles could probably be pinned down as knowing their names and their weapons. Any significant character develop i knew probably came from the awesome theme tune to the 80 cartoon. "Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines, Raphael is cruel but crude, Michelangelo is a party dude." Never underestimate the power of an awesome theme tune!
The plot sees Shredder and the Foot Clan travel to Gotham City to steal various pieces of scientific equipment and ultimately leads them to Arkham Asylum to release The Joker in order to gain the secret is Joker Venom which is a final, vital piece of the chemical formula they require. In exchange for his release The Joker is given the Ooze that allows the transformations. His ultimate goal is to take over Gotham and transform Batman into a freak like him. The mutated rouges made for some spectacular fight scenes with the Turtles and the Gotham Knights, which I believe was needed as essential they were fighting seven highly trained crime fighters and it upped the ante.
As previously mentioned, the designs are well done and animated excellently throughout. Casting was done from top to bottom. I will spare you my usual rant about Tara Strong and her irritating Harley Quinn on this occasion, I feel you as readers have suffered enough! The curious piece of casting is that Troy Baker voices both Batman and The Joker having previously betrayed both roles in previous projects. I admit to prefer his Batman to his Joker and I feel he actually does a very good job as Batman where is his joker is a bit… too overdone. It’s again feels like he’s trying to hard to be Mark Hamill and comes across as more of a pale imitation rather than something he has made his own.
This has turned out to be something of a general review of the piece rather than focusing solely on The Joker hasn’t it? I did enjoy Joker here and felt he added to the story even with the large amount of villains and the main villains of the film actually turn out to be Ra's Al Guhl and Shredder. Out of all the Direct to Blu Ray features in recent years, I feel this is one of the stronger entries into the DCDVD collection and would not hesitate to recommend it to anybody who enjoys a good animated Batman film. I even purchased it myself instead of borrowing my Brother's copy when I wished to see it again.
Sadly a sequel is yet to be announced despite a very good stinger setting up a follow up. I do not know if sales were lower than anticipated, if the contract was simply for one animated film between Warner Bros. and Nickelodeon, or if the crew involved decided the story was essentially completed and they had no wish to do another (but why do the stinger if this is the case?) Where a sequel to be released I would have nohesitation in parting with my coin to purchase the same. Action figures of the film were released and actually looked really cool, I have no idea if they sold well enough to consider a second film, but I certainly do hope to see another one. This is a franchise I would happily invest in.
Next: It’s time to play a game.
Bamboozling as the announcement was, I was curious to check this film out despite the fact I haven’t watched anything to do with the Turtles since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III way back in the mid 90s. All of the recent Ninja Turtle cartoons have completely passed me by, and my knowledge is limited to a handful of memories of the original film series and animated series none of which I believe would’ve fit well in Batman‘s world.
I did originally have concerns that this would simply be another toy inspired feature, given the characters involved and how heavily influenced action figure sales have been upon all Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchises in recent decades.
I confess my curiosity got the better of me and I did indeed watch is this one on opening day (my Brother bought it and I invited myself over to watch it with him, much to his delight). Beyond a handful of images and news that Troy Baker would indeed voice both Batman and The Joker I knew little about the feature, so essentially sat down and watched it with an open mind and must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.
The feature does not take place in any known continuity so it’s completely fresh which I believe was required for this piece. Had this been a simple continuation of a prior existing Ninja Turtles Series or even Batman series, I believe it would’ve put the mainstream audience off, and limited its audience to those familiar with either the Turtles or that particular incarnation. In hindsight it might have fit in well in the Batman: The Brave And The Bold world, but overall I think setting this as its own individual piece was indeed the correct decision.
My original concerns them is maybe a kiddie orientated piece we quickly put out to past as the film early on shows that it is not afraid of a little blood, or in this case quite a lot of blood and even murder. Murder is usually tuned out of a film aimed at the younger audiences regardless of how integral it is to the plot. I am not sure how adult orientated the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise is, but this one seems to skew slightly older, than I would expect the traditional Turtles franchise to.
The designs are very well done, quite unlike any of the other DC movies I have seen previously, they animate well and managed to make a classic feel of the majority of modern designs with the exception of Batman himself who bares his classic grey and blue suit, which is always appreciated by this old school Batman fan boy. Robin and Batgirl are adorned in their current quite book costumes, which I admit I like less than the classic Tim Drake and 80s Batgirl suits, but given how these films work I understand it why they chose to use the more modern suits. The turtles themselves look very classic and their models fits in with the look of the film. Thankfully they are not like the recent live-action Turtles from producer Michael Bay which looked hideous and grotesque and completely put me off seeing them. I have no desire to watch Michael Bay ruin another childhood franchise (looking at you Transformers.)
The plot has a large amount of characters from both Batman and the Turtles, but even someone who has not seen much of the Turtles in past 30 years I recognised the majority of them. Many Batman villains appear, even if only briefly, and in a cool twist they are muted by the Ooze that turned our 4 normal turtles into the teenage mutant ninja variety. I don’t know enough about The Turtles to confirm if anybody was truly missing beyond Master Splinter and April O’Neil. Splinters ommision can be explained that the Turtles travelled from New York to Gotham to chase Shredder and bringing him along to the fight probably would’ve meant another character that needed included in the fight scenes and therefore creating a lot more work for the production team. I imagine this is also why Casey Jones did not feature. That’s for O' Neil? One could simply say that she is not a Gotham journalist. Job done.
I did appreciate seeing the various Arkham rouges as Batman does indeed have the greatest DC rogues gallery without question. It must be said that some of them are little more than villains for the heroes to fight, it does make sense in this incarnation given that they have been muted by the Ooze. The missing villains I would traditionally expected to see are Catwoman and The Riddler. Riddler omission makes sense as there is nothing for him to transform into that would’ve played into the feature, and Catwoman and I assume is simply an admission due to time. The film is paced very well, has a few genuinely decent twists and never feel slow, plodding, or rushed. It gets from beginning to middle to end nicely, which is a very impressive feat considering the number of characters that must be developed. Even Alfred gets a few moments to shine in a 80 minute picture and film does well in establishing chemistry between the Bat family and the Ninja Turtles. Having known little about The Turtles before watching the feature, by the time it was done I managed to get off something of a handle on each of their characters, which again is a credit to the writing given the sheer number of characters involved and the fact that my knowledge of the turtles could probably be pinned down as knowing their names and their weapons. Any significant character develop i knew probably came from the awesome theme tune to the 80 cartoon. "Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines, Raphael is cruel but crude, Michelangelo is a party dude." Never underestimate the power of an awesome theme tune!
The plot sees Shredder and the Foot Clan travel to Gotham City to steal various pieces of scientific equipment and ultimately leads them to Arkham Asylum to release The Joker in order to gain the secret is Joker Venom which is a final, vital piece of the chemical formula they require. In exchange for his release The Joker is given the Ooze that allows the transformations. His ultimate goal is to take over Gotham and transform Batman into a freak like him. The mutated rouges made for some spectacular fight scenes with the Turtles and the Gotham Knights, which I believe was needed as essential they were fighting seven highly trained crime fighters and it upped the ante.
As previously mentioned, the designs are well done and animated excellently throughout. Casting was done from top to bottom. I will spare you my usual rant about Tara Strong and her irritating Harley Quinn on this occasion, I feel you as readers have suffered enough! The curious piece of casting is that Troy Baker voices both Batman and The Joker having previously betrayed both roles in previous projects. I admit to prefer his Batman to his Joker and I feel he actually does a very good job as Batman where is his joker is a bit… too overdone. It’s again feels like he’s trying to hard to be Mark Hamill and comes across as more of a pale imitation rather than something he has made his own.
This has turned out to be something of a general review of the piece rather than focusing solely on The Joker hasn’t it? I did enjoy Joker here and felt he added to the story even with the large amount of villains and the main villains of the film actually turn out to be Ra's Al Guhl and Shredder. Out of all the Direct to Blu Ray features in recent years, I feel this is one of the stronger entries into the DCDVD collection and would not hesitate to recommend it to anybody who enjoys a good animated Batman film. I even purchased it myself instead of borrowing my Brother's copy when I wished to see it again.
Sadly a sequel is yet to be announced despite a very good stinger setting up a follow up. I do not know if sales were lower than anticipated, if the contract was simply for one animated film between Warner Bros. and Nickelodeon, or if the crew involved decided the story was essentially completed and they had no wish to do another (but why do the stinger if this is the case?) Where a sequel to be released I would have nohesitation in parting with my coin to purchase the same. Action figures of the film were released and actually looked really cool, I have no idea if they sold well enough to consider a second film, but I certainly do hope to see another one. This is a franchise I would happily invest in.
Next: It’s time to play a game.