Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
review by Bobby Blakey
When the first Batman/TMNT comic series was announced in 2015 I loved the idea, but honestly couldn’t see how it could work beyond a gimmick. Now after three successful series and an off shoot for one in the animated style aptly titled Batman/TMNT Adventures, DC and Nickelodeon gave the unlikely team up the animated treatment with the all-new feature film Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles based on Tynion IV and Williams II’s first volume of the successful comic series featuring the voices of Darren Criss, Tara Strong, Rachel Bloom, Tom Kenny, Kyle Mooney, Baron Vaughn, Eric Bauza, and Troy Baker.
Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles follows Batman, Batgirl and Robin who forge an alliance with The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to fight against the Turtles' sworn enemy, The Shredder, who has apparently teamed up with Ra's Al Ghul and The League Of Assassins. While I have loved just about every DC Animated film that has been released over the years I think this is the one I was most eager to see. While not a fan of some of the turtle designs here, the film itself is still a blast. They brought all the crazy action and characters you could want from both franchises and slapped them together to perfection.
Much like the comic series I loved the interaction between Batman and the turtles. It is a unique dynamic that just works in a way it has no business working and makes for some great fun. Seeing a variety of Batman’s rogue gallery alongside Shredder taking on the heroes was something that was great in the comic, gut even better in animated action. The attention to detail in the action sequences was pretty cool despite some of the body movements being a bit off, but that is just my martial arts OCD talking and nothing that affects the films execution.
Once again DC has knocked it out of the park and with two follow up series to this story I hope this is not the last time we get to see this team up brought to animated life. In addition to the film this release includes bonus content including featurettes and a sneak peek at the next animated feature Batman: Hush. Be there when icons clash when Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles available now on digital and then on 4K Ultra, Blu-ray and DVD on June 4th from Warner Bros. Animation and Nickelodeon.