Dave Gray
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« on: January 19, 2021, 12:32:57 pm » |
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The Heart of Batman (2018)
Premise: Chronicling the making of the groundbreaking Batman: The Animated Series.
Rating: Only as good as your connection to the source material.
Great documentaries are great, despite their subject matter, not necessarily because of it. I can recommend The King of Kong to anyone, whether or not they give a crap about Donkey Kong or not, because there's a larger human story there.
This documentary isn't that.
There are some lessons about art and television, the biggest of which is that when you don't know what you're doing, you can make genius choices because you don't know enough to say that you shouldn't. Things that we take for granted now, like the look and feel of the series, the departure from traditional superhero (and specifically Batman) cartoons, a move to an orchestral score, and bold casting made this show great. It's influenced a generation of material, no doubt. But the larger theme of taking a different path than what was laid before you is better told by other documentaries.
I love Batman. On top of that, I love Batman: The Animated Series. Because of that, I enjoyed what was here. I liked seeing the actors describe their process, hearing about how censors influenced cartoons and how they found ways to break from the norms, I liked hearing about creating Gotham as a 1940s noir, but with modern technology. These are things that I always knew in the back of my head, but they exist in the background of your thoughts and you don't realize it until it's pointed out. I liked hearing about influences and giving villains a deeper look and agency.
Much of what I know about Batman, many of the characters and my understanding of their interpretation comes from that show, so I hold it dear.
If you're like me, this film will be a good walk down the nostalgia lane and make you miss the series and pine for its return; perhaps you'll want to share it with your kids. But if you're not a rabid fan of the character or even generally unfamiliar with the source, there's not much here to recommend.
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