If you are an avid reader of Blazing Minds you will have seen many reviews of the DC Animated Movies and today I bring the latest release, Batman Death in the Family.
This new release from Warner Bros. is a little different from the previous releases as it part of the DC Showcase Animated Shorts and the Blu-ray release in the first interactive release in the series.
Many of you will have seen interactive films, there have been a few on Netflix such as Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch. Batman Death in the Family is based on the iconic comic and includes much of 2010s Batman Under the Red Hood.
But with this interactive release you make the decisions to guide the outcome of the film, after a great looking credits sequence we are taken into the world of Batman and Robin with scenes from Under the Red Hood which takes us up to the iconic scene of Robin being almost beaten to a pulp by the Joker, shortly after we are given three options, Robin Cheats Death, Batman Save Robin and Robin Dies, depending on your choice which you pick via your Blu-ray players remote we are taken of different storylines that the characters take.
Obviously one of the options follows the original comic book route, but you’ll have to find out which option that one is for yourselves.
I have to say that I found it strange interacting with the film, I’m so used to kicking back and enjoying the DC Animated Movies, with the Batman ones being my all-time favourites, but after a while, you get used to making the options, although some of the options will give you a longer watching experience and one of them being very short indeed, which I was surprised by.
When it comes to the animation of Batman Death in the Family I really enjoyed it, yes some of it is from Under the Red Hood, but these are used very well to bring the story of Death in the Family to the interactive release.
I found myself just wanting more and going back through the various choices to get the various parts of the story and seeing how a choose can change the outcome of the characters involved, it would have been nice to have the option to watch it without the choices, the only way you can seem to do this is by watching Batman Death in the Family with the commentary as the options aren’t available with this option.
The voice cast sound great with Bruce Greenwood as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Vincent Martella as Jason Todd/Robin, John DiMaggio as Joker and Gary Cole as Two-Face and Commissioner Gordon. When it comes to the sound the 5.1 mix works very well in certain scenes such as moments of action with bullets bouncing around the surround sound and explosions putting you in the middle of the action.
But overall I enjoyed the interactive experience of the release, it’s an interesting option to bring out for the Blu-tray release and I suppose you could say that it’s a sort of interactive comic as it is inspired by the comic that when that came out readers were given the choice of Robin surviving or dying by phoning a number to vote the outcome.
The Blu-ray also comes with four additional Showcase Shorts, these are Sgt. Rock, Adam Strange, The Phantom Stranger and Death, all of which are great to watch on Blu-ray.
Batman Death in the Family is a certainly another of the DC Animated Movies that fits in nicely with any Bat-fans Blu-ray collection, it’s probably going to be a great party piece when friends get together (when they can after the coronavirus pandemic) to watch and discuss the options they have made and the outcome.
Become part of the interactive experience
Movie title: Batman Death in the Family
Movie description: In this very first interactive animated DC movie, you get to decide Jason Todd's fate.
Date published: October 26, 2020
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 36min
Director(s): Brandon Vietti
Actor(s): Bruce Greenwood, Vincent Martella, John DiMaggio
Genre: Animation, Action
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
