Batman Under the Red Hood Blu Ray Review
Tue, July 13, 2010 
The eighth direct to video release from Warner Bros and DC Comics is Batman:Under the Red Hood. Based on a graphic novel of the same name. The plot revolves around Batman's guilt for allowing the second Robin Jason Todd to die at the hands of the Joker. Five years later a new crime lord/vigilante shows up in Gotham dealing his own form of justice. He goes by the moniker Red Hood, a name once used by the Joker before being dropped into a vat of chemicals by Batman. He starts off by taking over the drug trades in Gotham from the current king pin of crime Black Mask. Batman suspects the Joker may be behind the Red Hood, but the problem is Joker is locked up in Arkham Asylum.
When Red Hood first shows up he forces all of Black Masks top men into working for him, and gives them a set of rules to live by. If they abide by the rules and pay up to him he offers to protect them from Black Mask and Batman. Black Mask responds to this firstly by trying to kill him as he tears his operation apart and takes his men from him, but Red Hood changes his motives and begins to mercilessly kill Black Masks men at will. with no option left and nowhere to run to Black Mask breaks the Joker out of Arkham in order to hunt down and kill Red Hood.
When ever you watch an animated film you almost look at it differently than if it were in actual live action, regardless of the subject matter. With Red Hood you get so caught up in the world they've created using a combination of 2D animation and 3D backgrounds, as well as a story gripping enough it could have been made into a feature length live action film. The fact that it's animated becomes irrelevant.
Stepping in for Kevin Conroy the usual voice behind the animated Batman is Bruce Greenwood who does a great Job unlike Billy Baldwin in Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths. Taking over from Mark Hamill as the regular voice of the Joker was Joe DiMaggio (Bender from Futurama), who gives the character a much more sinister approach. His Joker still laughs and acts like a maniac, but sounds unlike anything you've heard before. Neil Patrick Harris is Nightwing aka the original Robin, he adds a slight touch of humor.
Without spoiling anything for those of you who haven't read the book like myself. It's a great film, and not just as an animated feature it's great in general. The tone is much darker than anything you would likely expect from an animated Batman film, but it works for how twisted and dark the story is.
I'm giving Batman Under the Red Hood an overall 7/10
Reader Comments (8)
I've really been looking forward to this one. I sure hope you don't get Mark Hamill acolytes coming after you for daring to suggest that someone else can voice the animated Joker.
I would even go as far as to say that DiMaggio's Joker was better than Hamill! Crazy I know, but once you see it you'll know exactly what I mean.
better than Hamill??!! WOW! I hope you're right because that is like blasphemy to fans of BTAS. great review!
It sounds like they've changed a lot of what happened in the comic. I can't believe you think di maggio is better than hamill, are you a fan of BTAS and Hammill's joker?
great review. The 2D and 3D mix sounds really cool. They didn't really show that off with the trailer.
I loved BTAS, but DiMaggio is that damn good!
I'm with Mitch on this. I'm a huge fan of the story in the comics, and as well as Hamill's Joker, but what they've brought to life so to speak in this film really is something else. I would honestly say its the best DC animated film yet.
As Mitch mentioned, this could easily be a live-action film; once it gets started you become engulfed by the story and really great acting by all involved. The animation is certainly DC's best yet, clean and clear, and everything really pops out like you're watching one of the high-end Disney films before Toy Story came alone . I'm really surprised by the way this one turned out.
Being a fan of the original animated series and Hamill's Joker, I feel like DiMaggio is the only person to step up, take over the role and possibly outshine the former. Very reminiscent of Ledger follwing Nicholson in the live-action films.
I sometimes get agitated and bored because of the overkill with the Batman universe but this really stands above the rest. I will go further than Mitch and give this one a 9/10
Also, I'd like to add that the Jonah Hex short in here is completely better than anything you will find in the recently released live-action film. Not sure why they couldn't make the film almost identical to this.