Review of Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts (2015) by Michael M — 25 Jun 2015

No more than 5 minutes into this movie, I could tell something was off about it. The futuristic Gotham that bordered on Batman Beyond while still having Bruce Wayne instead of Terry McGinnis, the odd and almost forced assortment of many characters who hardly go together (Cheetah? Really?), and the bizarre costume designs that seemed overly flashy and clunky. I quick google search explained it all: the movie is based on toys. More specifically, a toy line categorized as Batman Unlimited, all of which bears a unique style. Suddenly it all made sense. That's why the Flash wears a lightning-bearing helmet and that ape villain (who is for some reason an original character rather than the pre-existing Gorilla Grodd) shoots discs from his arms, those things look good for the toys. In a movie though, they come off a bit awkward and forced. Not as forced as something like the Beast Wars cartoon, but still noticeable. The dialogue is also noticeably simplified, and sort of reminded me of the opening scene of Toy Story with Andy playing with his toys. This seeps into the main conflict involving Penguin's plot to destroy Gotham, which works for a child's play time with action figures, but in a movie creates a multitude of plot holes that are immediately noticeable to any higher thinking viewers. In the end, this movie was made to sell toys.

However, in terms of things designed to sell toys (and there are a lot of them) it's really not that bad. Most of the recent DC Animated movies have had a profoundly dark tone that isn't very appropriate for kids, so it's nice to see something come along that works for them. As for the adults, if you lower your expectations a bit and are willing to just go along for the ride, it's a fun movie. Not a masterpiece, but fun. It's got a goofy Saturday morning charm to it that I can't fault it for. Not great, but enjoyable enough for what it is.