BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE Review

As a young man growing up in the nineties it was next to impossible to not be infatuated with Batman: The Animated Series. Whether you'd seen any of the Adam West series or not there was something immediately intriguing about Batman and his alter-ego, billionaire Bruce Wayne. While the animated series that ran from 1992-1995 would more or less become the definitive Batman of my generation little did I know that at the same time I was celebrating my first birthday author Alan Moore and illustrator Brian Bolland were releasing what would become something of a seminal piece of work in the bat universe that would forever influence the tone and depiction of Jerry Robinson's creation. I am of course referring to the 1988 graphic novel, The Killing Joke, which has now been adapted into a DC original animated movie. While I consider myself a pretty big Batman fan that fandom is more in regards to the cinematic incarnations of the character rather than his origins in comic books which I, unfortunately, don't tend to read much. To say that is to say that despite being aware of the Moore story I didn't really know the specifics of it and for some reason had not corrected that lack of knowledge even when in 2008 there were rumors Heath Ledger's version of the Joker in The Dark Knight would draw heavily on the Moore/Bolland interpretations. Having finally caught up with The Killing Joke I was anxious to see what an animated feature of the story might be able to offer or bring to the table what the comic couldn't. In other words, it would be tough-comics and books alike allow readers their own time with the material and their own time to consider the full ramifications of the actions that take place whereas movies are more prone to tell you how you should feel. Given the typically well-respected and regarded Warner Bros. Animation was at the helm of this long-awaited adaptation though, there was great hope in seeing justice done to this iconic story being brought to the screen. Unfortunately, there simply isn't enough in Moore and Bolland's comic to justify a feature length film and by adding a forty-minute prologue that concerns Barbara Gordon/Batgirl (Tara Strong) doesn't help in this case. It doesn't help that the animation feels cheap and rushed either with the only redeeming quality being that fans of that animated nineties series will once again be able to hear Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy reprise their iconic roles as The Joker and the Caped Crusader.

THE BOXTROLLS Review

In some ways Laika studios is becoming the indie animation factory where alternative childrens films go to flourish and are received with almost guaranteed better reception than anything the likes of Dreamworks, Disney or even Pixar puts out at this point. Don't get me wrong, those studios still make more money and get more attention and of course don't put out bad products (How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Frozen were critical successes as much as they were commercially and the upcoming Inside Out looks insanely ambitious),but at this point critics turn to Laika for something a little off the beaten path, something not so conventional in the realm of animation and typically, they are handsomely rewarded by the stop-motion studio. This kind of elitist, pedigreed status may already be hurting the studio though as with only its third feature out I came away feeling rather indifferent about the whole experience. This may be due to the fact my expectations were rather high given I really enjoyed, dare I say loved, Paranorman and thought it to be an exercise in both nostalgia and expert craftsmanship that resulted in a thoroughly entertaining and weighted film. The techniques used to bring the characters and worlds to life typically serve only to enhance the tone and intended darkness of the stories being told while keeping the overall facade light as if all a masquerade for the children with deeper meaning behind the mask for their parents. This works to a certain extent with our titular characters in Laika's latest film, but never do we find the connection to our human surrogate that we did to Norman whilst on his quest to prove he could rid his town of its age old curse. This lack of connection is odd because both characters are essentially outcasts, people who don't integrate into society seamlessly and thus require and adventure for some type of initiation and acceptance to be felt. In The Boxtrolls our surrogate is a young boy adopted into a society believed to be monsters based on appearance alone (is it easy to see what the moral of the story will be yet?). Eggs (Isaac Hempstead Wright), as he is so lovingly referred, is both charming and naturally intuitive given his strange predicament and his plight is at least endearing if not all that interesting while the biggest let down overall is that this is just what you expect it to be and little more.