Note: Alan Moore hated this graphic novel after it was made, but DC Comics (as well as the rest of the world) liked it enough that they [DC] made it canon, even though it was a one-shot.
Smile. 😀
Was ‘Batman: The Killing Joke’ faithful to the source material? Yes and no. This is the “official/most popular” story of how the Joker became the Clown Prince, and who he was beforehand. It did it’s best to keep the story from the graphic novel intact (some scenes are line-for-line accurate), but they had to add content into the film because if they didn’t this movie would’ve been 40 minutes long.
Let’s not forget that EVERY comic-to-movie adaptation has big changes but it doesn’t make the film bad. For example: Under the Red Hood, Superman Doomsday, Justice League War, Justice League Flashpoint Paradox, etc.
It’s about to get serious….. Go fish!
I feel like there was so much emotion and excitement tied to The Killing Joke that the hype was too big (or maybe the expectations superseded) the obstacles that came with making this film.
People were excited to finally get an R rated animated Batman film without realizing that, what they wanted was just superfluous gore and nudity. Unfortunately for those fans the DC animation team wanted to try and tell a story that fit the 1 hour and 16 minute runtime. This didn’t go over well with some fans. Adding what some would call “depth”, or a “prequel” to Barbra Gordon came off as pointless and a bit distracting from the story of ‘Batman: The Killing Joke’, which in turn changes the vibe for most of those who are big fans of Alan Moore’s work.
Is this a bad movie? No. Is this a great movie? No. For people who never read the book, I can see the majority of them loving this animated tale. Is it worth owning on Blu-Ray? Of course, especially with the voice cast of the original animated crew returning for the film. We’re talking Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as Joker, and Tara Strong as Barbara Gordon. What a voice acting masterpiece! I have to give points to the visual team for matching the panels of the original book so well. Good Job!
Animation (left) to comic (right) comparison.
It’s available now digitally and will be available on DVD and Blu-Ray on August 1st 2016.
