Batman Ninja is an Entertaining and Ridiculous Journey with DC’s Most Traveled Hero

The first two minutes of Batman Ninja is a pretty faithful prelude to the movie it opens for. While Batman fights his way through aerial objects in hopes of stopping a cataclysmic machine from activating, the direction and action is a gorgeous kinetic feast. While the 3-D animation isn’t everyone’s favorite, it does make the action pop. This is on display with the close-up navigation of Batman’s athleticism and willed determination. Catwoman drops a corny pun to set the stage before Batman finds himself transported back in time, to a foreign land. Having to make a quick getaway, he pulls out his trusty grappling hook… and finds that none of the Japanese huts are tall enough to escape to. There is a confused point of view from the grappling hook, not knowing where to aim. This, is Batman Ninja in a nutshell. Fun often. Gorgeous, mostly. And absolutely directionless. No, this isn’t going to make it into the pantheon of Batman animated films such as Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker or Batman: Under the Red Hood. What Batman Ninja succeeds in doing is giving us a different kind of Batman film that still has enough Batman characters and hallmarks to make it familiar and fascinating. Samurai…and whatnot The story of Batman Ninja finds the Caped Crusader transported back to feudal Japan along with much of the Rogues Gallery and some allies as well. Having entered into this timeline two years later than everyone else, Batman finds himself playing catch-up to the villains. Conse…