‘Merry Little Batman’ Review: The Caped Crusader’s Kid Gets His Own Adorable Animated Adventure
The now-retired Batman is merely a supporting character in a film that finds his eight-year-old son Damian battling an array of classic supervillains.
‘Merry Little Batman’
Warner Bros.Fatherhood apparently has a way of slowing you down. Take Batman, for instance. He’s clearly not at his fittest in this new Amazon Prime animated film, in which he looks more like a burly lumberjack than a superhero, wearing dad jeans, a flannel shirt and a heavy beard. Fortunately, he’s not the hero tasked with saving Gotham City yet again in the Yuletide-set Merry Little Batman. That would be Damian, his eight-year-old son, who clearly takes after his old man when it comes to fighting supervillains.
Damian (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) displays the typical energy of a pre-adolescent, chasing his cat around the expansive confines of Wayne Manor as if they were in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. His father Bruce (Luke Wilson) is essentially retired, having gotten rid of all crime in Gotham City. But he’s still on call, meaning that when he gets a message from the Justice League to deal with a “weather anomaly” in Nova Scotia, he reluctantly leaves little Damian in the hands of his trusted servant Alfred (screen veteran James Cromwell).
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Merry Little Batman
Eager to be left alone, Damian tricks Alfred into going on an errand to pick up marshmallows for hot chocolate. Cue the break-in by a pair of hapless burglars (Michael Fielding, Natalie Palamides), which results in Damian, now clad in a makeshift Batman costume, fending them off with a series of pain-inducing traps indicating he’s watched Home Alone many times.
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But when they manage to escape with his Utility Belt, Damian springs into action, borrowing one of his father’s real Batsuits (they’re apparently size-adjustable) and riding his Batcycle into Gotham. There he encounters an all-star gallery of Batman villains, including The Penguin (Brian George), Poison Ivy (Therese McLaughlin), Bane (Chris Sullivan, This is Us), Mr. Freeze (Dolph Adomian) and, of course, The Joker (David Hornsby), whom no Batman movie, animated or otherwise, should be without.
Fortunately for the pint-sized Damian, his father was wise enough to provide an AI version of himself, dubbed “Batdad,” installed in the suit in the event of his death. He’s thus able to provide much-needed assistance to his son when dealing with the nefarious villains, even if for some of them their best days are behind them (at one point The Penguin gets really insulted when referred to as “incontinent”).
The film directed by Mike Roth is clearly a labor of love for all concerned, with enough Easter eggs and in-jokes to please even the most ardent Batman enthusiasts, including one referencing George Clooney’s nipple-featuring Batsuit and Bruce and Damian happily scatting the Batman TV show theme. Geared very much to younger audiences, it’s fast-paced to the point of freneticism. But it boasts an arresting visual style, its animation heavily indebted to the satirical drawings of Ronald Searle. Its wildly stylized representations of Wayne Manor, Gotham City and frequently grotesque villains are similar in their underground comic feel to such recent animated films as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (I got a particular kick out of the Joker wearing what looks like a zoot suit). The rocking musical score combining Christmas classics with originals by Patrick Stump adds further to the rambunctious energy.
There’s also plenty of the sort of sly humor pitched to adults, such as Batman, during a dark moment, reminding himself, “Remember what the therapist said about your brooding.” Or a fed-up Joker announcing, “That does it! I’m moving to Metropolis!” Not surprisingly, The Joker gets the best lines, offering Batman this backhanded compliment: “Gotta say, love the beard. Really takes the intimidation game up a peg.” As for Bane, well, he’s just as intelligible here as when Tom Hardy played him.
Serving as an unofficial pilot for Bat-Family, an upcoming animated series also on Prime, Merry Little Batman is a fun introduction to the Caped Crusader for pint-sized viewers.