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Batman Vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4K UHD Review

“Batman Vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” is joyous fun.

Based off of the IDW/DC comic series of the same name, “Batman Vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” finds the turtles heading to Gotham City to track Shredder (and his Foot Clan soldiers) to see who he is in leagues with and what he is up to. It turns out Shredder and an infamous Batman foe (won’t reveal who) are teaming up. The deal? Shredder gets immortality via the Lazarus Pit while the villain gets a deadly machine that could spell doom for the citizens of Gotham. Eventually, the Turtles team up with Batman, Robin, Batgirl, and Alfred to try and stop the two villains at large. Of course, those aren’t the only villains they have to deal with as a key plot involving ooze causes more headaches for the heroes.

Along with “Star Wars,” Batman and TMNT are two franchises I’ve been a lifelong fan of. As you can imagine, this crossover Nickelodeon/DC animated movie was right up my alley and, boy, did it deliver. To say this is easily one of the best DC animated films is an understatement. Even with the clunky animation that is not up to snuff (the slow-mo scenes are quite funky), everything happening on screen is a joy to behold. You truly get the best of both worlds here whether it be foes from both franchises, humorous interactions (loved Mikey being wowed by Penguin’s umbrella), Raphael talking to Batman about family, Batman facing off against Shredder in epic fights, homages to “Batman: The Animated Series” and the B&W TMNT comic, and more surprises which I won’t reveal here. One would think it might be difficult to meld these two worlds together, but it works like a charm. They even nailed the tone as there’s plenty of dark (and even violent moments) mixed with seriously funny doses of humor (Mikey is on fire in this movie).

Voice cast wise, I was impressed by Troy Baker’s work here as he does a spot on impression of Kevin Conroy’s Batman and Mark Hamill’s Joker. The 4 actors playing Leonardo (Eric Bauza), Raphael (Darren Criss), Donatello (Baron Vaughn) and Michelangelo (Kyle Mooney) perfectly capture the characters as well.

If I had any criticisms, I would say that the battle with mutated villains (again, won’t say who) goes on a bit too long. It really slows down the pacing and story momentum despite delivering big action that will surely please many fans.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 1.78:1 2160p. How does it look? It looks as good as can be given the underwhelming animation quality.

Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? The audio fares better here with a layered 5.1 track that does the action justice.

Extras:
* Blu-ray copy
* Digital copy
* WB/DC trailers
* A sneak peek at the upcoming “Batman: Hush.” This one has been a long time coming. Hopefully it lives up to the source material.
* “Cowabunga Batman! When Comic Book Worlds Collide”- A 12 ½ minute featurette about this superhero team-up that contains cast and crew interviews.
* “Fight Night In Gotham”- A bonus feature about the fights in the film (of which there are many).

June 5, 2019 - Posted by nicklyons1 | 4K UHD Review | Batman, Batman Vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4K UHD Review, DC Animated Films, DC Comics, IDW Comics, Nickelodeon, Shredder, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Joker