As you can already see, this one is not only a Batman story. Nor is it an original tale but is based on the Supergirl storyline of the Superman/Batman comic and functions as a sequel of sorts to Enemies of the State animated feature (also based on a story from the same comic) of a couple of years ago. This brings up of the cooler aspects of this particular series of animated features, the animation. If you were to watch the movies back to back you would be surprised at how different the animation styles are. However, if you were to compare the animation to the art in the comics, you would see that they basically chose to adapt the art styles of Ed McGuiness and Michael Turner to an animated format. Whether this really makes any real difference to the story, I don’t know, but it is kind of a neat thing for nerds like myself.
As for voice talent, this movie brings back many animated series favorites, Kevin Conroy again, Tim Daly as Superman, even Wonder Woman is done by the same actress who portrayed her in the Justice League series. Suffice to say that the voice acting is competent to excellent.
Now for the story. I won’t belabor differences between the movie and the comic, suffice to say that there are several but all the differences seem to have been based on time considerations more than anything.
Things kick off with the arrival in Gotham a very powerful young lady who seems to be the long lost cousin of Superman, Kara. Batman of course is highly suspicious, assuming that she might be part of some elaborate trap. He’s wrong, at least for a while because many people naturally take notice of her and her talent, including Darkseid who is basically the ultimate physical evil in the DC universe. To make a long story short, he kidnaps Kara and brainwashes her (doesn’t say how), turning her against Superman when he, Batman, Wonder Woman and Big Barda come to rescue her. This leads to a confrontation, not just of muscle vs. muscle but of philosophy, how do we know what is right and good? What is the role of the parent or guardian in guiding the development of those in his care? I won’t pretend that there is an in depth discussion of these issues in between punches, but it is there.
Another issue worth considering is how Batman keeps Darkseid out of the fight, allowing them all to escape. Again, keeping the long story short, he rigs the whole planet to go boom unless Darkseid lets them leave and promises to leave Kara alone. Now, is it morally permissible to threaten to blow up a planet of slaves to rescue one girl? And not just threaten, but to actually do it? After all, Darkseid relents because he knows Batman will actually do it. Altruistic or not, he is also a ruthless bastard. Now, many of the slaves are no doubt unwilling and wanting to escape, making them innocent victims. However, many (perhaps a majority) worship Darkseid as a god. This was seen in an episode of the Superman animated series where Supes kicked the crap out of him, only to see him carried away by his slaves, not to be drawn and quartered but to be nursed back to health. It is also a military target. Darkseid, being a comic book villain wants to take over the entire universe. Actually, he wants to destroy all life. Really. For you Marvel fans out there, he is like an amped up version of Thanos. Darkseid would use Kara, who is arguably more powerful that Superman to further his ends. In this case, I would say that this is a Death Star scenario; there are innocent prisoners but the entire purpose of everything and everyone else on the planetoid in questions is to spread fear and terror making the action justified, if not still tragic. \
Conclusion, well animated, acted, and written. Not suitable for the little ones but perhaps mature pre-teens and above.
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