Description

If you liked how THE ANIMATRIX allowed a troop of top-shelf anime talent to add amazing new dimensions to a solidly established American pop-culture phenomenon, and thanked Genedy Tartovsky for filling in the gaps of the second STAR WARS trilogy with his animated CLONE WARS, you’ll be doing donuts in the Batmobile over BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT. It’s the latest of the DC Universe Original Animated Movies, after SUPERMAN: DOOMSDAY and JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER (next up: Wonder Woman!).

Six short animated films, set in the space of time between the live-action films BATMAN BEGINS and the forthcoming, much awaited THE DARK KNIGHT—six vivid re-imaginings of the brooding, nocturnal crimefighter and his hunting grounds, the vast urban jungle called Gotham City. They’re fashioned each in their own way by up-and-coming Japanese creators, guys who cut their teeth in key positions on such works as GIANT ROBO and Fantasia favourites TEKKON KINKREET and MIND GAME. Bruce Timm, the champion talent of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, gets his two cents in too! Likewise, the caped crusader and his alter ego, playboy millionaire Bruce Wayne, are voiced by Kevin Conroy, keeping BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT linked to the flagship television series. Other voice talent includes UGLY BETTY’s Ana Ortiz, BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM’s Parminder Nagra and Ilya Kuriyakin himself, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.’s David McCallum, as Alfred!

—Rupert Bottenberg