DC has established itself overall for various treasured animated projects ranging from TV and movies. Lately, the latter's become lackluster more often, including Batman adaptations of The Killing Joke and Hush receiving fan ire for their treatment of source material and characters. This summer, The Long Halloween, Part One has looked like a proper return to form for DC's animated slate, at least for the Caped Crusader.
While not quite hitting the highs of the revered The Dark Knight Returns, Part One and Two--at least not yet--fans can surely breathe a sigh of relief that, so far, this adaptation is bolstering a strong set of assets from casting, art, and animation.
7 Jensen Ackles' Batman
The actor made his big splash in Supernatural, but Jensen Ackles has already proven his DC mettle. Over a decade ago, Ackles starred in Under the Red Hood by lending his voice talents to Red Hood/Jason Todd opposite Bruce Greenwood's Dark Knight. It's often regarded as among the best Batman movies, live-action or animated, and he was part of the reason. That's why it's only natural that he moves on to graduating from (former) Robin to taking up Batman's mantle, and does an excellent job doing so in The Long Halloween, Part One.
It's a great pick, as while some would wish the legendary Kevin Conroy would return, this iteration of the character is around two years in his career, making Ackles an ideal candidate with his vocal range. He performs fantastically in portraying a Dark Knight stepping up from his days in Year One, but still trying to grapple with rising, seemingly overwhelming threats. He's a perfect blend of youth and that vintage Bat-brooding and gruffness.
6 Art Style
DC's animation department seems to be favoring this as a new standard to a degree, as Superman: Man of Tomorrow and Justice Society: World War II also used this art style. It's definitely a bit of a disappointment that they didn't attempt to emulate Tim Sale's iconic, moodily stylized art from The Long Halloween comic book like Miller's for TDKR, but this artistic direction works well for this animated adaptation in its own right.
It effectively pays homage to classic noir settings similar to Sale's for the comic. On top of that, it takes its own art-deco inspiration like the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series did in the '90s, which works wonders for the characters and a city in a near-perpetual state of midnight like Gotham. Sale's dauntingly hulking physique of Batman and star-athlete build of Catwoman will be missed, but this style successfully makes its mark.
5 Smooth Animation
In terms of visuals, the animation is the obvious counterpart to art style in making an excellent animated movie of any kind, and The Long Halloween doesn't miss a step here. The animation is slick throughout the movie, leaving little-to-no doubt that it'll follow through in this department in Part Two later this month.
The slower, more dialogue-driven scenes don't cut any corners, and the animation in action sequences--like fights and car chases--matches the intensity of what's happening in the scene. A good example of this is Batman and Catwoman's fight in an alley in Gotham City's Chinatown, with the movement of all combatants involved smooth and each hit feels like it has the proper weight behind it needed to maintain the tension.
4 Blend Of Faithfulness & Originality
When it comes to DC's animated movies, a lot of the quality lives and dies by how much the writing and directing handles faithfulness vs. originality. Other movies, like the aforementioned Hush and The Killing Joke, took dips and dives narratively due to unwarranted alterations to already acclaimed stories. So far, The Long Halloween has implemented a tasteful blend of source faithfulness and original content, with the latter serving as complementary material to the established story.
The comic book is already a lengthy plot and detective thriller as is--and filled with an all-star cast of Batman villains--so it's good seeing things like Harvey's hospitalization, the new origin of the coin, and Selina's supplementary scenes all feeling like refreshing justifications for a movie adaptation of a comic over 20 years old.
3 Substantive Runtime
As good as several of these movies are, they're ultimately still direct-to-video releases. Budget limits are going to be tighter, including runtimes. Year One--another adaptation of a beloved Batman comic book--was overall good but largely suffered due to being barely over an hour long.
That made the reveal that The Long Halloween would be two parts/movies a sigh of relief for fans, suggesting it would allow the plot room to breathe and be handled around as caringly as the TDKR movies. Additionally, for Part One specifically, they didn't skimp out on runtime and made it a solid hour and 20 minutes long. This bodes well for the upcoming second and final movie in this adaptation as well.
2 Supporting Cast
In addition to Ackles' Batman, the supporting cast was also rounded out with great talents, namely for the Harvey Dent, Catwoman, and Joker. Troy Baker's Joker doesn't need much exposition, as he's proven his range in many video game roles--including the Clown Prince of Crime himself in Arkham Origins. Baker picks up right where he left off from that game.
Josh Duhamel puts in a solid performance as the charismatic yet troubled Harvey that's slowly losing grip over his mind. He bounces well off Batman and/or Gordon. The late Naya Rivera also seamlessly accentuates Selina Kyle's suave nature as Catwoman while simultaneously filling out her compassionate personality as the former in original scenes.
1 Easter Eggs
Easter eggs are nice touches in movies and shows about big franchises, and the ones in The Long Halloween, Part One served as loving homages to Batman lore and the source material that inspired it. Some of them were simple--but nonetheless effective--callbacks like featuring Tim Sale's signature artwork from the comic book in the opening credits.
Others, for the sake of being movies, used easter eggs as a way to foreshadow the story to come. When Batman and Gordon went to question Calendar Man, the Penguin, Mad Hatter, and Scarecrow were hauntingly alluded to. Meanwhile, the inclusion of Barbara Gordon--not included in the comic--was a small, but touching addition to Gordon's end of the plot.
source https://screenrant.com/batman-the-long-halloween-part-1-best-parts/
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