 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Batman: Gotham Knight
- Review Date: July 14, 2008
- PG-13
- Genre: Action/Adventure
- 2008
Common Sense Media says
Dark, bloody, animated flock of Bat-stories.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this is a cartoon anthology, not to be confused with the Batman movie The Dark Knight. It's also unlike the various Batman children's TV cartoons over the years. The approach goes for a more "grown-up" Batman viewership/reader demographic, mainly via bloody PG-13 type violence, and not much humor. No Robin or Batgirl, and Gotham City is depicted as overwhelmed with gangs and bizarre evildoers.
What's the story?
BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT is like an animated-movie equivalent of a comic book (hey, Batman in a comic book -- imagine that), with six separate directors/artist teams (with lots of CGI) handling different segments, as loosely linked storylines covering Batman's adventures in Gotham City. Most telling (and effective) is the opener, in which a bunch of skateboarding kids see Batman's running battle with a bad guy. Each has a different POV of the caped crime-fighter. One beheld him as a mighty robot, another as a supernatural shadow-being, and so on, until the real Batman shows up -- a vulnerable, flesh-and-blood man whose life is saved by one of the kids. Ensuing stories relate Bruce Wayne testing new gadgets, plunging into the freakish world of Arkham Asylum villains to save a kidnapped bishop, and going to India to learn the inner-strength secrets of the fakirs. In the finale he faces a hired sniper targeting Commissioner Gordon.
Is it any good?
The effect is not unlike The Animatrix -- uneven, disjointed, sometimes baffling, with some mesmerizing visuals, and not for all tastes. Batmaniacs have proven very accepting of bold, revisionist takes on their hero, and the cartoon Batman here was obviously meant to be taken seriously. The striking, protean animation is strongly influenced overall by Japanese anime, though it's a bit strange when Bruce Wayne looks like a tousle-haired Tokyo teen, ready for a round of Yu-Gi-OH! cards, more so than combating scoundrels like Scarecrow and Killer Croc (no Joker, no Riddler, no Penguin, not even a Robin or Batgirl to bring this one into more juvenile territory).
The flashback to India is the most emotionally satisfying episode, while the finale tries to tie various strands together. Naturally the shorthand-narrative format limits most of the material to action and terse dialog, only paying lip-service to, say, Batman's attitude toward guns (his parents were shot to death) instead of going into depth. The appeal is for those with a strong background in Batman-ology, rather than newcomers.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the unconventional style and approach. What do kids think of this more "mature" Batman, in both late 20th-century comics and movies, vs. the earlier, more lighthearted Bat-antics, most infamously represented on 1960s TV. Is an animated Batman more effective than an actor in a live-action epic? Do you like Batman a psychologically tortured character or a straight-up high-tech crimebuster? You can discuss Batman as the dark counterpart to Superman and what makes him special among superheroes.
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AGE
good of kids 13 and up.
way too violent for little kids.
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AGE
Awesome Batman cartoon. Too much language and blood for young kids
This is an okay batman movie. It's not my favorite. It's got a lot of blood and language. But it is a PG-13 cartoon.
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AGE
Very Blood, Shoddy Artwork, and Underuse of Great Villians
I have to say, I was severely disappointed. After the fanboy hype about this movie, I was expecting a masterpiece, but only the short about Deadshot was any good (the Scarecrow short could have been better if it was longer - everything is better with Scarecrow!) and, for something that was supposed to plug the gaps between Batman Begins and the Dark Knight, it ran surprisingly free and loose with the Nolanverse canon. The artwork in most of the shorts was also rather shoddy. I have literally read better fanfiction.
Parent-wise, there wasn't any strong language that I recall or any sex - but the violence was appalling. I'm shocked commonsensemedia put it at iffy for 11+, animated or not - I'm a grown woman and I almost threw up during two scenes - in one, Bruce Wayne is volunteering in an emergency room and witnesses an extremely graphic surgery, and in the very first short when a kid imagines a vampire-like version of Batman taking an unidentified bad guy's head off - again, very graphic. Blood spatters in literally ever single story - but those were the worst two examples. Thank God these shorts didn't feature the Joker - I can just imagine how blood-drenched his short would have been. For this reason, I put it at much higher age group, and feel that, animated or no, it should have gotten a stiffer rating from the MPAA.
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AGE
perfect... if your 14
this is bloody and gorey in one secene fake batman gets his head choped off on ages 14 and up
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AGE
Trashy!
This movie is the trashiest Batman film ever. The animation for some of the segments are cheap and while I usually love anime, it just didn't work well. Oh, well! At least Kevin Conroy played as Batman. KIDS SHOULD NOT SEE THIS FILM! It has tons of blood, even a beheading.
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AGE
Part of the Batman movie universe?
Rip off of Batman: The Animated Series episode, and I don't see how this fits in with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
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AGE
This Dark Batman anime if full of blood and violence.
This has blood, guns, fighting, and bad language like as*, son of a bi*ch, hell, dam*-it. The violence was bloody, people are shot and blood gushes out, a man is shot straight through his head and blood pools under him, a guy is punched in the stomach and throws up, when people are punched they will often bleed or spit out blood, batman is shot twice with alot of blood shown, a guy get's his head cut off with blood and the severed head shown but it is later learned that it is fake. So I recommend this for teens.
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| Topics: | superheroes |
| Studio: | Warner Home Video |
| Directors: | Brian Azzarello, David S. Goyer |
| Cast: | Kevin Conroy, Pariminder Nagra, Rob Paulsen |
| Genre: | Action/Adventure |
| Run time: | 76 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | July 8, 2008 |
| DVD release date: | July 8, 2008 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | stylized violence, including some bloody images. |
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