Say what you will about DC's cinematic output; the company has always ruled animation. Starting with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992, DC's animated offerings have always been equal parts cerebral and bombastic, and can be seen as true classics of the medium, rising above simple comic book adaptations and transforming animation as a whole.
While the quality has dipped in the last few years, these movies have been constants for fans to devour as they wait for the company to finally get it right on the big screen. Unfortunately, the company's latest offering, Batman: Bad Blood, is further proof that the glory days of DC animation might be further in the rearview mirror than most people care to admit.
Based on bits and chunks of Grant Morrison's Batman run - in particular, Batman and Robin and Batman Incorporated - Bad Blood starts off well enough, with the Caped Crusader and Batwoman taking down a group of C-list villains, including Electrocutioner, Killer Moth and Firefly. This leads to a confrontation where Batman is believed to be killed, forcing Dick Grayson to take on the mantle, as Damian Wayne's Robin and the newly christened Batwing join him and Batwoman to discover Bruce Wayne's true fate.
That's a lot of characters, right? Well, Bad Blood's 75-minute runtime certainly doesn't help matters, as it condenses the story to such a degree that villains like Talia al Ghul and The Mad Hatter barely have enough screentime to be considered cameos, despite playing a huge role in the story. And while there is a decent chunk of time spent on Batwoman's story, a character like Batwing just comes across as a two-dimensional rip-off of Iron Man, complete with a "suiting up" sequence that is so on-the-nose they might as well have been playing AC/DC the whole time.
Ironically, while the biggest problem with Bad Blood is the size of the cast, it's actually the lack of a character that really drags it down. Of course, I'm talking about Batman himself, who is believed to be dead throughout most of the movie, leaving the Bat Family to try and replace him. Unfortunately you can't just slap a pointy-eared mask and scalloped cape on a cardboard cutout and expect to one-up a pop culture icon.
No Bat stand-in comes close to the Caped Crusader's depth or energy, so when a movie hinges on this "new blood" and falls so flat, the entire thing just doesn't quite work. Jason O'Mara (Batman), Yvonne Strahovski (Batwoman), Stuart Allan (Robin) and Sean Maher (Nightwing) do decent work with the voices, as does the supporting cast, but there are times when lines are incredibly forced or stilted, with pauses that undercut the drama.
Still, Bad Blood does come through in the animation department, as fight scenes are choreographed with style, and small standout moments, like Batman's strobe light gadget, manage to sneak sharp visuals in from time to time. The character designs are all fairly spot-on, too. Even Batwing looks pretty sleek, despite the Stark Tech thievery.
Chances are you've seen a lot worse superhero cartoons than Batman: Bad Blood. Hell, there are some live-action superhero movies that aren't even as good as this one. However, the biggest sin here is that the whole thing winds up uninspired and inconsequential. With so many characters and so much plot to wade through, Bad Blood doesn't do justice to any of it. There are worse ways to spend 75 minutes, but for fans of the DC Animated Universe back from the Batman: The Animated Series days, the fall from grace of the past few years just seems to continue.
