Movie Talk - Batman vs. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

One movie I’ve been meaning to get to here is one you know I might like: Batman vs. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You have one of my favorite superheroes mixed with one of my favorite hero teams. It’s a winning combination! Yet, I actually haven’t read the miniseries that was based on this movie. I'm behind on a lot of stuff, okay? I actually just started to read it on DC Infinite, so I can’t tell ya how accurate the movie is to the book. I do know that some licenses were taken (the turtles are apparently in the same universe as Batman is one example, but all you need to know is that a lotta fighting is happening.

The movie was released in 2019, and this was one rare occasion where I actually bought the movie outright. I had to see this. I even rewatched it last year with Liz, and she enjoyed it as well. The voice talents include some recognizable voices like John DiMaggio, Tom Kenny, Eric Bauza, and Troy Baker. One surprise is that Baker’s back as Batman… and the Joker. Talk about pulling double duty. Heck, the dude’s done both voices in other properties before, so I say go for it.

In the movie, the Foot Clan come to Gotham City at the behest of some hidden party to steal machinery from certain companies. Batman, along with Batgirl and Robin (Damian), do their best to take on these “new” ninjas. What they don’t know is that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have also come to chase down the Foot. A clash happens between Bats and the TMNT at first, but they do end up joining sides. The hidden party ends up being revealed to be Ra’s al Ghul and his League of Assassins. Their ultimate plan is to destroy Gotham City by using the mutagen that created the Turtles. Insert a lotta awesome action, a mutated rogues gallery, and some pretty decent humor into all that.

They all look good here.

OPINION

One way to sum this all up would be to say that this rocked. As I said above, these are some of my favorite properties. It’s possible that this could’ve been a big misfire, but thankfully, it wasn’t. While I wouldn’t call the movie perfect, it does a lot more good than bad. First off, the story was pretty good. While it’s not anything I could call deep, it works to bring these two properties together. Since their biggest enemies involve Ninjas (the foot clan and the LOA), this seemed to be a nice mix-up. We even get other mutants and even mutant variations of Batman’s rogues gallery. I also liked that the tone wasn’t too kid-friendly.

I thought both teams got to shine pretty well. Batman was bada$$ as usual along with his allies and his villains. The Turtles also came off as pretty cool here. While they were more or less based off of the IDW Turtles, they felt like a mish-mash of all the TMNTs that came before. Leo’s the leader, Raph’s the hardhead, Donnie’s the genius, and Mikey’s the funnyman. It all worked here. The villains were also treated pretty well with the Shredder looking pretty awesome. You don’t see too many folk taking down Batman at his own game.

You don't see the Shredder being this cool.

The animation was pretty good. The designs for everyone were pretty good. It was nice to see Batman’s old-school blue-gray combo again. I also liked that each Turtle was made to look unique kinda like how they were in more recent iterations. It’s like the creators took everything cool thing from both franchises. The animation was pretty cool. All the fight scenes were pretty cool. Of course, the highlights were seeing Batman face down the Shredder and the Turtles. The final fight where everyone is taking on both evil teams was awesome.

While it was fun seeing them act out, I wasn't the biggest fan of the designs for the mutated rogues gallery.

While I did like the movie, there were a couple of things I did thought could’ve been better. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the mutant designs for the rogues gallery. They worked for the most part, but I wasn’t feeling them. I also thought that some of the humor could be a bit much especially with Michelangelo. While I liked him here, he could be a little too annoying at times too. Lastly, while I did like the story, I do wish a little more was done. I would’ve liked to see Splinter crossover here too. It’s weird because he actually appeared in the original comic mini, so I guess they’re saving him for a sequel? Either way,  Splinter was missed. Oher than those things and small nitpicks, this was pretty fun.

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In the end, this was a pretty cool crossover. If you're a fan of either franchise, definitely add this to the watch list or your collection. I really need to catch up on some interesting crossovers out there. I even haven't read that Star Trek/Planet of the Apes crossover from a few years back. Yes, that actually exists! Anyway, I'm off to eat some breakfast and not freeze. It looks like "The Week of Ice and Snow" has come to an end. While I'm not sad to see it go, I loved the company. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there. 

Heresy!