The Batman vs Dracula

Plot

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The Joker and the Penguin break out of Arkham Asylum and race each other to find a stash of stolen money hidden within a crypt in Gotham Cemetery after an inmate, who had hidden it, told them about it. The Joker is quickly intercepted by the Batman and is electrocuted when he falls into a river by his super-charged joy buzzers while the Penguin takes the opportunity to enter the cemetery himself. While searching through a crypt, the Penguin accidentally cuts his hand while using his umbrella-sword to open a coffin he hopes contains the money, finding a body instead. Blood from his hand drips on the corpse's heart, which brings it to life; it is none other than the vampire lord Count Dracula, his body having been moved from Transylvania to Gotham City after his "death." After attacking and turning a watchman at the cemetery into a vampire, Dracula hypnotizes the Penguin into becoming his non-vampiric servant so that he may lead him through Gotham to feed and guard his coffin during the day while he regains his strength.

While patrolling the city, the Batman witnesses a vampire attack, but decides to put the incident at the back of his mind and, as Bruce Wayne, proceeds to host a corporate party at his manor. Dracula appears at the party, disguised as a cultural anthropologist under the name Dr. "Alucard" ("Dracula" spelled backwards), claiming to be visiting to study the Batman (believing his legacy had an influence on Batman's existence), and takes an interest in Vicki Vale, a reporter who is interviewing and dating Bruce.

After failing to turn Bruce into a vampire to quench his thirst, Dracula turns a waiter into a vampire that assaults Bruce's butler Alfred. Realizing the imminent danger, Bruce immediately deduces "Alucard" is Dracula. Upon further research, Bruce learns that Dracula is behind the disappearances of several Gotham citizens, who have been dubbed "Lost Ones" by the media and turned into vampires, and attempts to find a way to synthesize a vaccine for the victims. Due to eyewitnesses claiming to see a bat-like figure during the attacks, however, it is mistakenly reported the Batman is behind the disappearances instead. When Batman goes to Gotham Cemetery to look for Dracula, he is chased down by a SWAT unit, all of whose members are taken by Dracula as they chase him back into the city. During a fight with the Batman, Dracula offers him to join him in his conquest of Gotham, though the Batman naturally refuses.

Just as Dracula has the Batman at his mercy, the sun rises and Dracula is forced to retreat, vowing to kill Batman for rejecting his offer.At the cemetery, the Joker reappears alive and well and confronts the Penguin, saying the shock to his head helped. He asks where the treasure is, thinking Penguin has already found it, chasing him into Dracula's tomb. However, despite Penguin's warning to not open Dracula's coffin, Joker ends up "breakfast in bed, freshly-squeezed" for Dracula, much to Penguin's discomfort.

The Batman tracks down the vampire Joker as he feasts in a blood bank and captures him. While the Batman attempts to concoct an antidote from the Joker's infected cellular structure, Alfred discovers that Dracula once had a vampire bride, Carmilla Karnstein, who met her demise when she was exposed to sunlight. During his research, however, Bruce stands up an understanding Vicki, who is soon kidnapped by Dracula. Finally, the Batman is able to cure the Joker of his vampirism and ascertain the location of Dracula's lair in Gotham Cemetery before returning him to Arkham. He then proceeds to mass-produce the vaccine to defeat Dracula and cure his victims.

Dracula attempts to sacrifice Vicki's soul to reanimate his bride Carmilla. Upon learning Vicki has been kidnapped, the Batman rushes to Dracula's lair with his anti-vampirism vaccine and arsenal of weapons, defeating and curing all the "Lost Ones" that attacks him in the catacombs beneath Gotham Cemetery. The Batman then frees Vicki, disrupting the reanimation ritual. Dracula sends the Penguin to recapture Vicki while he fights the Batman, who lures Dracula into the Batcave and towards his prototype solar energy storing machine. In an attempt to aid his master, Alfred injects Dracula with the anti-vampirisim vaccine, but it is useless as he was always a vampire.

Dracula knocks out Alfred and goes after Batman. But Batman incinerates him with the solar energy storing machine by striking him with the sunlight that was stored within, reducing Dracula to a pile of ash and bones. This also frees the Penguin from his control, who, while chasing Vicki, finally finds the hidden treasure that caused all the trouble in the first place. Sadly, for Penguin, he is arrested and blamed for Dracula's kidnappings, causing the media to think he was forcing people to find the treasure. Having defeated an ultimate evil, the Batman triumphantly continues his duties to defend Gotham against anyone who may threaten its safety.

When it comes to my own personal taste of the Batman world, I don’t particularly like any inclusion of the supernatural, the macabre, or fantastical villains. But hey, that’s just me. So having The Batman battle Count Dracula didn’t sound like my cup of tea.But being the Batman fan that I am, I went ahead and bought the DVD soon after it was released. In fact, my 8 year old son saw it before me on The Cartoon Network and gave it a big thumbs up. I value his Bat-opinion (I raised my kids “Bat-right”) and decided to view it with an open mind.

BATMAN VS. DRACULA has a good premise as well as two of the best literary characters ever created. The Prince of Darkness has been entombed in Gotham for many, many years and is released by accident at the hands of one The Batman’s classic rouge -- The Penguin. Cobblepot then becomes sort of a “Renfeld” to Count Dracula.

In no time, citizens start disappearing in Gotham, and become sort of a walking vampire/zombie -- fangs, super-strength, thirst for blood, etc. A clever plotline develops as The Batman uses his detective and scientific skills to deal with the “disease” of vampirism.

Batman fans will be happy -- I think -- to know that The Joker figures heavily into the story. This is both good and bad, as I was happy to see the character -- because I dig The Joker -- but he does some particularly gross things that were a little much for me.

TBvD finishes up with a nice “battle to the death” between The Dark Knight and The Prince of Darkness. It should be noted that the storyline shows the long historic similarities between the two characters.Rino Romano, Alastair Duncan, and Peter Stomare stand out for their voice work, as The Batman, Alfred, and Dracula respectively.

Oh, and another big positive: Alfred plays are large role in the movie. That should also make the die-hard Batman fans happy.There are negatives. The Vicki Vale storyline is almost a carbon copy of the one from 1989’s live-actionBATMAN. There’s some dialogue that’ll make you roll your eyes from time to time (Dracula: “I’ll use your cape for a dinner napkin!”). The Batman getting chased by the Gotham PD is a tired storyline (The Batman is blamed for Dracula’s work in Gotham) and a bit cliché’. And The Penguin character -- who is important to the plot -- is a bit annoying.

Overall, I enjoyed THE BATMAN VS. DRACULA. If you group all the animated Batman movies together, this is one of the better ones. I give it a grade of B- and would tell any Bat-fan to add it to their Bat-DVD collection.

Main Cast

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Rino Romano as The Batman / Bruce Wayne

Peter Stormare as Count Dracula

Tara Strong as Vicki Vale

Tom Kenny as The Penguin

Jason Marsden as Firefly

Kevin Michael Richardson as The Joker

Alastair Duncan as Alfred Pennyworth

Jeff Bennett as Arkham Asylum inmate

Trailer

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