The Batman vs Dracula is an cartoon movie that was released in 2005. This movie is based on the Batman animated series that came out in 2004 and was aired on Kids WB. This movie has a much darker tone then the TV series because of the fact that there is blood and violence, this movie was mostly geared for teenagers, since the show was targeted for kids. The movie starts out at Arkham Asylum. We see one of the villians in the Batman universe, The Penguin, and he was told by one of the prisoners that a large amount of gold has been hidden in Gotham Cemetery, in a crypt behind a tombstone with a cross. However, that certain prisoner told this to the Joker first and because of that, the Joker escaped the Asylum, as well as the Penguin.
Penguin meets up with the Joker to make a deal for going to the graveyard as a team. But Joker refuses and shocks him with a hand buzzer. That's when Batman ,a.k.a. Bruce Wayne, comes in and he chases the Joker and tries to catch him so he can go back to prison. Meanwhile, Penguin has arrived at the cemetery and notices that there was a door behind one of the crypts. He breaks the door, enters a cave and sees what appears to be a coffen. While in the process of opening the coffin, Penguin accidentally cuts his hand and the blood that was from his hand drips to the corpse in the coffin and the corpse's heart starting beating and gains new flesh and organs. Penguin finds out the corpse is Count Dracula himself. Dracula hypnotizes Penguin into becoming a servant and he shows the Count that he is in now, so he can feed on the people of the city.
The story tends to get a little deeper later on, but I'm not going to spoil it. You're going to have to watch the movie yourself if you want to learn more of the movie's story. But what I can say is that the story is pretty good, for an animated flim that is set on the Dark Knight himself. There are a couple of problems I have with the movie. First of all, why did the batmobile drove on its own, after Batman got out of it to head to the cemetery to kill Dracula? I mean, the batmobile nevers done that in the live action movies or the animated cartoon seires back in the 90's. And I don't think Batman wouldn't even think about putting an autopilot on his car. Second of all, I've always wondered why is the movie called "The Batman and Dracula." I've never seen a Batman movie that has the word "The" in the beginning before Batman. Either call it "Batman and Dracula" or if you really want to keep "The" on the title, call it "The Dark Knight vs. Dracula".
Batman or Bruce Wayne, Alfred, Penguin and the Joker are the only characters in the Batman franchise that appear in this movie. Dracula is great in this movie and has always been in past Dracula movies. The new character that appears in this movie that is part of the 2004 Batman animated series is Vicki Vale. She is this news reporter who makes these reports about certain citizens of Gotham missing, who were apparently victims of Dracula. She is a good character.
The artstyle and animation looks great in this movie. I do have a couple of problems though. First of, I really don't like the design of the Joker, where they gave him long hair. It looks out of place and I'm more used to the classic design of the Joker in the mid 90's cartoon series. I also don't like the design of Gotham City all that much. I prefer the design in the 90's cartoon series then this, because this one looks like it came out of a comic book and it doesn't look too good that way. But overall, the animation and artstyle in this movie looks great. The characters look good and animated very well. The action scenes are executed rather well in this movie.
The voice acting for great, for the exception of the guy that plays the Joker and that's Kevin Michael Richardson. Kevin was known for a bunch of stuff. He was known as Goro in the first Mortal Kombat movie, Crunch Bandicoot in the Crash Bandicoot games, Tartarus in Halo 2 and Barney Rubble in the modern-day animated series and movies based upon The Flintstones. The reason why I don't think Kevin doesn't do a fine job for doing the role of the Joker is because the actor is black and it doesn't work and sound right for a character like the Joker. Bruce Wayne and Batman is voiced by Rino Romano, who was known as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the animated TV series, Spider-Man Unlimited and Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon and he does a fine job at voicing his character.
The best performances come from Peter Stormare, the man who played Lev the russian astronaut from Armageddon and the wood chipper guy from Fargo, plays Dracula and he is great for doing the role of everyone's favorite vampire lord. And the other best performance in this movie comes from Tara Strong, who plays Rikku in Final Fantasy X, Bubbles in Powerpuff Girls and Timmy Turner in Fairly OddParents, and she plays Vicki Vale in this movie and she is great. The music is great, like in most Batman movies live-action or animated.
Overall, The Batman vs. Dracula is a great Batman animated flim. It might not be as good as other animated Batman movies like Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, but it's really neat to see everyone's favorite superhero representing a bat facing off everyone's favorite vampire lord. If you love Batman and if you Dracula, then this movie is worth a look.
8.5 out of 10