Batman Unlimited: Mech vs. Mutants

Plot

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The Dark Knight is back doing what he does best - protecting the citizens of Gotham City - in the third installment of the Batman Unlimited series, Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants. When evil scientist Mr. Freeze activates his latest invention on two of Gotham City's most formidable criminals - Killer Croc and Bane - things go from bad to worse. Turning them into super-sized mutant monsters, the Super-Villains start bashing through the streets of Gotham City with no end in sight. It's up to the Caped Crusader and his Super Hero team to save the day by putting the giant robot mechs in their place - but it will be an uphill battle as they face off against enormous foes

Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Each of those were able to tell sophisticated stories while not overstepping the boundaries of standards and practices.

The direct-to-video Batman Unlimited series of films debuted in 2015 with its first two entries beingAnimal Instincts and Monster Mayhem. Spun from a toy line, these tales placed Batman and his closest allies in sticky situations that many older viewers scoffed at – but many kids probably loved it. And that was the point from the start. Yes, watching Batman riding a cybernetic T-Rex that shoots lasers was quite absurd, but I found those two movies to be enjoyable for what they were.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Mechs vs. Mutants.This particular film could best be described as “Pacific Rim with Batman,” only there isn’t much of a story. In fact, it felt like an almost non-stop slugfest from start to finish. I understand that kids want to see action, but it’s those little character moments that stick with us no matter what age we are. To be quite honest, there’s nothing memorable on that front.

On the positive side, Batman himself fires on all cylinders as Roger Craig Smith once again returns to lend his pipes to The Dark Knight. Ever since he debuted as the character in the video gameBatman: Arkham Origins, he always felt like a natural fit and is possibly one of the best voice actors to ever inhabit the role.

Fans will likely be excited to know that Will Friedle, who voiced Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond, reprises his role of Nightwing, but he takes a backseat to the likes of Green Arrow, The Flash, and Robin.Yes, you read that last sentence correctly; Red Robin/Tim Drake is out and Robin/Damian Wayne is in. It makes sense because Damian currently dons the Robin costume in the comics, but his characterization feels anything but right. The mature line of animated films released over the past few years nailed it: He’s arrogant, entitled, highly intelligent, and absolutely deadly. You know, everything you would expect from someone raised by the League of Assassins.

This Damian, unfortunately, is none of those things. While he grows into the role of junior detective, he seems very unsure of himself and makes rookie mistakes. In fact, one of the first things you see involving him is when he takes a dive off a roof, much to the amusement of The Joker. The way his “voice” is written is more akin to Tim Drake in The New Batman Adventures and it just didn’t feel proper. What’s possibly even worse is that the father-son relationship between him and Batman is pretty much glossed over.

The villains that are utilized are a mixed bag. As Penguin manipulates a morally ambiguous Mr. Freeze into taking over Gotham City and, well, freezing it, they employ the likes of Bane, Killer Croc, Clayface, and Chemo, each of whom are inflated to Kaiju-like proportions. No doubt selected because of their brutish nature, it’s up to Batman and Green Arrow to don giant mech suits to combat these baddies, hence my earlier Pacific Rim reference. Just don’t count on the fight scenes to be too exciting.

Quite frankly, the most entertaining moments to come from villains were by way of cameos. When Penguin and Mr. Freeze stroll through Arkham Asylum near the beginning of the film to assemble their crew, we’re given brief glimpses at the aforementioned Joker, Two-Face, and Hush, who makes his surprise debut in animation. I will continue to hold out hope the storyline that bears Hush’s namesake one day gets adapted to a PG-13 animated movie.

The animation itself can be a bit spotty at times, but I think the visuals are quite robust and I do like how the Unlimited series has established its own tone. The fact that Gotham City’s look is a wonderful homage to Batman Beyond has put a smile on my face since the opening minutes of the movie that began this series.

Overall, I think Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants should be rented before buying for those looking to gauge if their children will truly be into it. If you absolutely need it to complete your Batman home video collection, I won’t stop you. Just know that if you are reading this, you likely aren’t the target demographic.

At least it does have the benefit of having this absolutely insane concept that’s right in the title where Batman is in a giant mech suit fighting a giant lizard (who you may or may not realize is Killer Croc until the movie tells you so) in the middle of Gotham City. Eventually we find out that Mr. Freeze is experimenting with creating giant creatures in the Arctic (or Antarctic, I forget) with Penguin along because of reasons. When they are foiled by a group of oil riggers with a giant drilling laser, they decide to pick up and head to Gotham City because that makes sense. Along the way, they pick up Croc, Bane, Clayface, and lesser known villain Chemo from Arkham and apparently use the chemicals of the latter to perfect his growth serum and use it on Croc.

All because Freeze wants a cold city to feel normal in.What was more bothersome about this film where some of the characterizations that felt very inconsistent, either compared to other DC animated films or even other films in the Unlimited universe. Penguin, for instance showed up in the first Unlimited movie where he was very scientifically inclined with a high tech monocle that acted like a view screen slash computer. During that film he reprogrammed a series of animal-like mining robots to work for him, but here he’s essentially just comic relief with his puppy dog-esque pet penguin that follows him around. Even Croc was featured in that film and while his character in general wasn’t very memorable, he did have a metal jaw there that is absent here.

There’s also the matter of Robin, in the first two films it was Red Robin paired up with Batman, and while it was never explicitly stated who was behind the Red Robin mask, here it makes it clear that it was Tim Drake. But Batman has switched Robins to Damian who gets to be just plain ol’ Robin. But this is a far cry from the Damian Wayne who has been trained by Ra’s Al Ghul to be a highly skilled assassin in the League of Shadows that we’ve seen in several other animated movies starting with Son of Batman. Instead, he’s slightly older, but also much more insecure and untrained, embarrassed by getting tripped up by the Joker and having video of it land on YouTube. He is a laughable rookie who feels much more like a fresh Tim Drake where he isn’t sure of himself as a hero and has to have Batman literally explain to him that the business suits they wear are their costumes while their costumes are their work uniforms. He even slips up and calls Oliver Queen by Green Arrow and shortly afterward almost calls Bruce by Batman.

Main Cast

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Roger Craig Smith as Batman/Bruce Wayne

Carlos Alazraqui as Bane

Chris Diamantopoulos as Green Arrow/Oliver Queen

Dana Snyder as The Penguin, Buzz

John DiMaggio as Killer Croc, General Sam Lane

Lucien Dodge as Robin/Damian Wayne

Richard Epcar as Commissioner James Gordon

Oded Fehr as Mr. Freeze

Will Friedle as Nightwing/Dick Grayson

Phil LaMarr as Dr. Kirk Langstrom