Beware the Batman 'Hunted' Review

Beware the Batman is the latest in DC's animated programming block. There was never too much hype on this one, not many were impressed by the designs or description. And of course many were still mad at the cancellations of Young Justice and Green Lantern. However, in a recent interview with the team, you can see even they got how comedy is trumping serious action shows. It could have been taken as hyperbole for people to check out Beware, but I was intrigued and ready. The latest Batman show starts out with a very 'okay' premiere. It isn't bad by a long shot, it's just lacking pizzazz.

The story is rather simple. Professor Pyg and Mr. Toad kidnap some very rich people because...thanks to them the animals that once ruled Gotham City have been driven out? A bit strange but more on that later. With the help of Alfred, Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, goes to stop the two fiends. First off you'll notice this is taking place in the early years of Batman's legacy. Gordon isn't even a commissioner yet, he's a lieutenant. I'm personally not a fan of these 'Year One' type things, we want to see a Batman that's fully the character we know from the Justice League and comics. Despite the title, no one really 'bewares' the Batman since he isn't that tough at this point in time. I must jokingly say the title should have been 'Beware the Butler' since Alfred actually does just as much if not more than Batman.

I admire the show's boldness in using lesser known villains, but sadly the two antagonists are pretty generic with no interesting things about them. The biggest crime is Professor Pyg's portrayal. The majority of viewers is not going to have read the comic story which he was in, so they wouldn't know just how sad the portrayal is. Pyg appeared in the first arc of Batman and Robin (2007) and is one of the most sadistic psychopaths the comic world has seen. (I'd go as far to saying he's right up there with Joker.) I was sketchy on how the show would handle this hardcore character, and sadly my sketchiness was justified since he's nothing like his comic counterpart. In fact, you could replace him with a generic thug and it wouldn't have made any difference.

This is by far the most interesting take on Alfred. I'm sure a lot of viewers will dig it, but there are somethings I don't like. He's actually bigger than Bruce Wayne, and I just can't get into his voice. The animation is a change of pace from the previous Bat-shows, being CGI much like Green Lantern. It's solid and the fights look good, though Batman's mask looks way too...feline perhaps? Another character introduced is Tatsu Yamashiro, a young Japanese woman whom is known as Katana. She so far is the most interesting character, I look forward to seeing what she brings to the table.

Overall, an alright start to this new Batman toon. It's lacking the stellar plots and writing of The Animated Series and the fun of The Batman. With a pretty lackluster duo of antagonists, the story came out pretty average. But, this is just the premiere, so I'm assuming it'll get more exciting.

3.5/5

Teen Titans GO! Premiere Review

Teen Titans GO! to many people was going to be a huge slap in the face for two reasons. The cancellation of Young Justice and Green Lantern was met with a pretty big emotional response from fans. The fact that they were replacing these two amazing shows with an episodic comedy was pretty hard to take in. That's the first reason. The other reason is that this would be a 'sequel' to Teen Titans, a pretty great show with really good storylines. So the fact that we'll never know what happened with Terra or other things but instead have to sit through comedies was pretty painful to bear. But, I am open to things, and thought maybe this would be a funny toon with the characters. It has the original voice actors as a plus. Unfortunately almost everything I don't like about modern cartoon comedies is here, this premiere really is slap in the face to viewers of the original show. It's also pretty mindless.

Like Powerpuff Girls or Dexter's Lab, the episode is divided into two segments. The first one, 'Legendary Sandwich,' is easily the better of the two. Here we have Robin, whom claims he makes the best sandwiches. So Raven, to get everyone out of the house so she can watch Pretty Pretty Pegasus, sends the rest of the team on a mission to find the legendary ingredients to making the ultimate sandwich. It's a silly premise, but it works. The main charm is hearing the original voices. Some of the comedy is alright here, such as Robin hating the supermarket. (Where he knocks down a Batman cereal mannequin.) The biggest thing however is definitely the parody of My Little Pony, where we see that Raven is a PegaSister.  It's pretty awesome stuff (Sparkleface is the name of one of the characters,) and hopefully continues to be a running gag like the Star Trek one in TMNT. Besides Raven and maybe Starfire however, the other characters are sometimes painful to watch as seen in the next segment...

Pie Bros. revolves Cyborg's birthday. Beast Boy finds out that his best friend wants an ultra expensive video game, so he tries to get a job. The comedy is painful to watch here. Cyborg is a pale representation of his former self and if you thought Best Boy was annoying sometimes in the original show, picture that ten times increased. The pie song is painfully cringe worthy. There's not too much else to say about it, it's pretty much just slapstick using parodies of the characters.

Overall, Teen Titans GO! is off to an un-impressive start. There are somethings that work, such as Raven, Starfire, the original voice actors and bringing back the nostalgic theme song. But in the end it's just a parody, and not a very good one. I don't see it lasting too long. You want comedy? Go watch The Looney Tunes Show instead.

2.5/5