The Batman Vs Dracula (2005) Revisit
We have seen a plethora of the Caped Crusaders' depictions whether it be the cheesy and campy tone of Adam West or more darker and gritty feel of Tim Burton’s Batman. The Batman mythos is the most explored domain when it comes to the adaptations of comic media to the big screen and small screen. Well nowadays we only bring up Robert Pattinson, Christian Bale, and Ben Affleck’s portrayals of the character, the small screen does not make the cut much but that doesn’t mean that does not have any great outings. Well, today we are going to glide on just that looking at many aspects of Batman when it comes to animated medium and why I think The Batman vs. Dracula is still an underrated Batman’s animated venture.
You guessed right people, IF you were guessing the topic at hand. The Batman Vs Dracula was released way back in 2005 when Batman Begins was talk-of-the-town. Not many people got to experience it as it was part of a very underrated Batman show very conveniently called The Batman. It had its spotlight on direct-to-video format and premiered on Cartoon Network on 22 October three days before its direct-to-video. The story of this movie acted as a tie-in to the show and had a mix-mash of tones.
To have a look at this uncanny duel of the creatures of the night, first, we have to look at the show from which it is coming. The Batman was released in 2004 to a ‘mostly good reception’ however it was criticized for character designs and it pretty much speaks for itself. JUST LOOK AT THE JOKER. But it grows on you if you invest your time in the first season. This is a Batman where a serialized approach takes center stage in terms of storytelling whereas Batman: The Animated Series took a more episodic approach resetting its state after the ending of each episode. This one has an overarching narrative chronicling Batman’s early years in the crime fighting gig. Even though, he is less experienced he more than makes up for it with his gadgets and detective skills. Talking about gadgets, this Batman is a more modernized take on the character relying heavily on his unique gadgets and the ever-present intellect and wits. This show ran for five seasons before being cancelled due to low ratings but it had a pretty good and established run. This Batman really develops and keeps evolving from his every encounter. From all of its positive aspects, negative aspects were mostly targeted to the character designs where every villain of Batsy looked like a 2000s techno version of themselves. This applied to every villain except Penguin who got fat again after his redesign in The New Batman Adventures.
This tie-in movie took place between season 1 and season 2 of the show but it is debatable as most of the show’s supporting cast was absent and that can be its negative point. The movie took sort of a horror route with Dracula masquerading as an elite-class citizen crashing our big boy Billionaire’s party and abducting the populace at night then turning them into ghoulish creatures. All of the cues are taken from the legendary work of Bram Stoker and its many derived storytelling. All of this is executed perfectly but the pacing really falters in the intermediate parts where the plot races to the conclusion with rushed tension scenes and it hinders the overall experience not to mention Bruce’s inner struggle with his own symbol of terror and the colliding terror of the Dracula should have used more work and time to make it more nuance and believable. The storyline overall presents an intriguing aspect but it crumbles as it turns out more cliche in the end as it makes the use of old tricks and the episodic format. Do not get me, the presentation and the visuals along with its concept it pretty great but it could have worked well as an episode as the most substance of its narrative structure can only be found in its concept alone as a feature-length adaptation it was dragged a lot to fit the runtime. To recommend this flick in this day and age: YEAH, it can be a one-time watch if you run out of Batman content or want to try something different but it can be lackluster. So, the choice is yours…..
