Batman: Year One to be Released in 2011

[phantom stranger]

Those stills are amazing!

This one may just pass Red Hood as the best DC Animated film yet. Maybe one of these days Marvel will actually start competing with them...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/batman-year-one-first-look-180008

[The Dark Knight]

I approve.

[Paul (ral)]

Those do look amazing. I hope they are screen shots and not concept art - I want an entire movie of that quality!

The only reason I question that is, don't they normally record the voices first (the cast and director have only been announced)? I'm probably way of the mark here though.

[phantom stranger]

Those do look amazing. I hope they are screen shots and not concept art - I want an entire movie of that quality!

The only reason I question that is, don't they normally record the voices first (the cast and director have only been announced)? I'm probably way of the mark here though.

I think it's the other way around. I recall Will Friedle explaining this on the Return of the Joker DVD.

Also, they just recently cast some of the actors who will be doing the voices of CGI characters in the Green Lantern movie, even though it comes out in June.

[Azrael]

It's been a while since an animated Batman movie promised to be great.

[Grissom]

Looks very promising, hope it turns out great, it's one of the best graphic novels ever.

[phantom stranger]

And here's the trailer!

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/07/07/batman-year-one-trailer-animated/

[THE BAT-MAN]

I'm really looking forward to this.

[Silver Nemesis]

I've always felt Batman: Year One was a little bit overrated, to be honest. But this film does look promising.

[BatmAngelus]

 I saw this last night.  Very faithful to the book, right down to dialogue and shots lifted from the comic book panels.  Bryan Cranston was pretty much perfect for Gordon.  The pacing also felt like reading the comic to me and, surprisingly, I don't think the short running time was a detriment to the film.

Unfortunately, I couldn't help but feel a little empty by the end of it.  Maybe since I've read the comic so many times, the film didn't really surprise me or move me past the feeling of "Oh cool, that's just like in the comic/Oh, that's different from the comic, but still works." 
And perhaps that's the problem with panel-to-screen adaptations.  Instead of looking at story structure or themes, you end up noting which lines made it into the movie, which ones were cut ("I shall become a bat" is absent, for example), which characters sound different from what you expected, etc. 

Inevitably, you wonder about the audience who hasn't read the comic and how they'll respond to it.  Does Batman's role seem too small?  Does Catwoman seem extraneous?  Does Gordon's subplot with Sarah Essen feel out of place?  I couldn't help but feel that maybe it would've been better to stray from the comic and give Bruce a bigger role, while cutting down on Gordon's adultery.

Then again, that would've required more of Ben McKenzie as Batman, who, in contrast to Cranston, gave the weakest Batman voice performance I've ever heard.  His voice doesn't feel deep enough to be intimidating and his deliveries are pretty flat (I cringed in the scene when he threatens Skeevers with "I know pain.  Sometimes I share it.  With someone like you."). 
Some people have brought up the fact that since this is a younger Batman, he wouldn't have the standard, deep Conroy voice.  I don't agree with that at all.  Just because he's younger doesn't mean that his voice should be higher.  I'm 23 and my natural voice is deeper than Batman's voice in this movie. 
I wish they had gotten someone else who suited the character just as well as Cranston did for Gordon.  I don't think Conroy would've fit, but I wouldn't have minded getting Rino Romano from The Batman or Jeremy Sisto from Justice League: The New Frontier instead.

The rest of the voice actors are alright.  Eliza Dushku, like McKenzie, has a higher-pitched voice than what I'm used to for the character, but unlike him, she emoted much better as Selina/Catwoman.  Alex Rocco sounded jarring as Falcone to me, but again, that could just be due to the fact that Falcone's voice sounded different in my head when I read Year One and The Long Halloween.  Jon Polito is pretty fitting for Commissioner Loeb, though sometimes I suspected he was secretly being voiced by Ed Asner.

Overall, it's worth checking out if you like the comic, but I'd rank Mask of the Phantasm and Under The Red Hood over this one.  (Which would surprise me about a year ago since I'm not a huge fan of the Under the Red Hood comic, yet that movie made all the right changes, had better voice actors for Batman and the villains, and has my favorite ending to a Batman movie).

Random Thoughts and Observations:
- Years ago, before Batman Begins was even in development, I'd try to tackle a Batman fan script in my free time (ha!) by adapting Year One. 
One of the choices I made was having the opening shot be of Bruce Wayne's plane flying over a birds-eye view of Gotham, instead of Gordon's train coming in like the comic.  I couldn't help but smile when this movie started off the exact same way.  Too bad the obvious computer animation for the plane and McKenzie's voice over took me out of it.

- Another small, but fun change is that the reporter, Jackie, who covers Bruce's return to the airport is now Vicki Vale in the movie (though she's a 100% faithful reproduction of Jackie in the comic, rather than the classic redheaded Vicki or the Kim Basinger style Vicki).

- I know this was a given since it strived to be a faithful adaptation of the comic, but I loved seeing the Year One villains finally getting translated more faithfully than in the Nolan films:  Here, Commissioner Loeb is corrupt, Flass is an ex-Green Beret still in shape, and Falcone is referred to as The Roman.

- One very noticeable change is that Gordon's smoking is completely absent.  While I'm not an advocate for smoking, I did like how, in the comic, it was used to introduce conflict when Gordon first meets Loeb, as well as give the first hint of Gordon's attraction to Essen.  This is a very curious choice since this film still includes prostitutes in the East End, violence towards women (Bruce gives a pretty nasty-looking punch to Selina in the East End), and Gordon cheating on his pregnant wife...yet they couldn't show a character smoking a cigarette?

- Also, all references to Superman or Metropolis have been cut.  A bit disappointing since I like how Alfred's remark on Superman inspires Bruce to make the Bat-Glider.

- The film also answers a few open questions that you may have had in the comic.  Why did Gordon transfer from Chicago?  Why does Gordon bring his wife over to Wayne Manor to interview Bruce?  Even one that I didn't even think about- is Bruce's date during the morning interview an actual date or is she in on Bruce's ruse?