Random Movie Review - Batman VS Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

So this year (2019 in case you are reading from the future) marks the 80th anniversary of Batman and naturally there are a lot of things that help celebrate this milestone. Newer versions of his best stories are made and we are getting not only re-releases of the 90s Batman films (mainly to mark a milestone anniversary with Batman Returns), but two animated films based on some of his best stories are getting released this year as well. This is just one of them and it's a moment in history in which Warner Bros. and Nickelodeon collaborate for the first time and brings one of the best Batman crossovers to the small screen even though many would think that him working with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would be seen as pretty bizarre. But there have been many comic stories of the two franchises working together so it must be good to have gone so long. So grab your batarangs and pizza and let's dive into this film of dark and mutant proportions:

Set entirely in Gotham without being based on any particular version of the heroes, settings and villains, Barbara Gordon (voiced by Rachel Bloom while having a striking resemblance to the absent April O'Neil) goes touring at Powers Industrial in which she witnesses a powerful generator being stolen by the Foot Clan as well as seeing four mutant creatures she mistakes for being metahumans. Reporting the incident to Batman (reprised by Troy Baker), he learns that they plan to infiltrate Wayne Enterprises and sets up a trap in which he battles them before coming across their leader Shredder (voiced by Andrew Kishino). Meanwhile on a nearby building, Penguin (reprised by Tom Kenny) attempts to infiltrate Wayne Enterprises himself but gets his a** handed to him by Leonardo (voiced by Eric Bauza), Raphael (voiced by Darren Criss), Donatello (voiced by Baron Vaughn) and Michelangelo (voiced by Kyle Mooney) otherwise known as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Soon after these fights, both sides come into conflict before the Turtles and the Bat Family learn of Shredder and the Foot Clan teaming up with Ra's Al Ghul (voiced by Cas Anvar) and his League of Assassins to transform Gotham into insane mutated animals by combining mutogen with venom from the Joker (also reprised by Troy Baker). Putting aside their differences, both teams must work together before Gotham falls to the combined forces led by Shredder and Ra's Al Ghul.

As mentioned already, the best thing about this crossover is that neither side is based on any particular version and instead attempts to do its own thing. Honestly when you have franchises that always have different versions of characters, having a film featuring those characters without being based on any particular version makes the film very accessible to those who may not know the franchises well or they do and are not really following any version at the time of watching it. The animation is pretty good if not a bit simplistic, the story is as expected which as a fan of both franchises is fine. The two things I really liked were how the heroes all worked together and just seeing the Arkham inmates in a whole new way that probably has been done before but never on screen. Its a fun action packed film that brings the best of both franchises even if they miss out a few fan favourite characters. 9/10