Review: 'Batman: Under the Red Hood' - WB/DC Scores with Animated Film

Released earlier this week (July 27), Batman: Under the Red Hood is one the finest works to come from Warner Brothers/DC and stands out alongside releases such as Mask of the Phantasm in the '90s and Green Lantern: First Flight last year. 
The animated film is based on the comics story arc and graphic novel collection by writer Judd Winick, who adapted his tale, with some adjustments and the results are stunning for an animated comic book film, on par in its own way, with Christopher Nolan's two Bat movies. More comics writers should write these, adapting their own work.  

This is a story of failure and an attempt at revenge with no redemption. It's about the greatest loss The Batman has ever faced since the murder of his parents as a child. 
The movie begins in Sarajevo where the Joker has kidnapped Robin - the second Robin in the comics, Jason Todd. Aware of it all is semi-immortal mastermind Ra's Al Ghul full of regret for setting such violence in motion. The Joker savagely beats Robin with a crowbar - but not quite to death - but leaves him locked in a building with a bomb set to go off.  The Batman is racing there on a motorcyle, but doesn't make it in time and in a variation of a scene out of the tale Death in the Family in the 1980s, Jason Todd is dead. 

We flash forward five years to a meeting of Gotham mobsters, attacked by the Red Hood, who tells them he's taking control of all crime. Who is he? Most comic fans already know, but that doesn't make the story any less compelling.  Enter Batman, and the first Robin, now Nightwing. The Red Hood challenges crime boss Black Mask with a plan that involves freeing the Joker.  The revelations begin to drop: what happened to Jason, the involvement of Ra's, and Batman faced with killing to save a killer. it's a dark tale with layers also built through flashbacks, Jason going from a kid hijacking the Batmobile's tires (!) (guess the anti-theft devices were shorted out that day?), to an enthusiastic Robin who becomes more cynical, reckless and angry, unlike Dick Grayson, who found himself while staying true to Bruce's guidance.

The film is rated PG-13 because it is violent, so parents should be cautioned that it may not be for some pre-tweens (depends on the child, of course). But it's not mindless violence, it's part of what drives the story, which at its core is about a (surrogate) father and his sons/mentor and his students (Dick Grayson, Jason Todd). 
A final flashback, with a young Jason as Robin is the final heart-tugger that further registers the pain felt by Bruce Wayne when he lost far more than a partner in his war. 

The casting is - no pun intended at all - super.  Bruce Greenwood  (Captain Pike in Star Trek) voices Bruce Wayne/Batman with authority, a reading close to the greatest Bat-voice of all from TV and other animated features, Kevin Conroy.  Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) is the "Red Hood," 
Neil Patrick Harris is Dick Grayson, grown up post-Robin as Nightwing and also does a fine job balancing his light and serious tones. Nearly stealing the film is John Dimaggio as the Joker in a portrayal that visually owes to both Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson, while the voice is a bit Jack, yet far more sinister, a killer clown to match Mark Hamill's longtime work on the character on various DC Universe animated shows. Who's/what's missing?  The inclusion of the third Robin, Tim Drake, who in comics brought Bruce/Batman out of his plunge into darkness following the death of Jason Todd. But perhaps Winick tried to but thought it too much to work into the story. 

A short feature on the first disc is also stellar: a "DC Showcase" looking at western anti-hero "Jonah Hex" that's far superior to the live-action film earlier this year. Written by Hap and Leonard author Joe R. Lansdale, the 12-minute story is drawn from the adult-oriented comics in recent years and features the voices of the voices of Thomas Jane, Linda Hamilton, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Michael Rooker. 
Disc one also offers a terrific sneak peak of sketches and voice performances of the next DCU film due this fall, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, based on Superman/Batman: Supergirl by Jeph Loeb and the late Michael Turner.  Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy will again voice Superman and Batman, as they did for Public Enemies.
Disc two's special features include "Robin: The Story of Dick Grayson," as well as a pick from producer Bruce Timm, the two-part, excellent "Robin's Reckoning," from Batman the Animated Series, telling Robin's origin. 
Also available on Blu-ray and in various special editions with litho cells, and as a single-disc DVD (but no Hex short on it), Batman: Under the Red Hood is without a doubt, a winning release and makes one look forward to the next upcoming animated film with uber-villain, Darkseid.