DC had a tough year, not only financially but also quality wise. Blue Beetle was the only movie that we’d say that was good, it was refreshing and an interesting addition to this universe. The Flash and Shazam! Fury of the Gods were incredibly disappointing entries but let’s not talk about that. We still have Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom to come and we really do hope that this one will be great! But for now, Merry Little Batman is the best DC movie I’ve seen this year, not only for its amazing animation and cast but also for being a heartwarming, funny, action-packed and festive Christmas movie that will definitely be loved by audiences.
When young Damian Wayne finds himself alone in Wayne Manor on Christmas Eve, he must transform into “Little Batman” in order to defend his home and Gotham City from the crooks and supervillains intent on destroying the holidays.
You must be thinking: “Okay. But what’s the actual plot of this movie.” Well, Damian is, since the first scene of this movie, a child with an obsession and ambition, he wants to become his dad, Batman, and he won’t give up on that. And on Christmas eve, Bruce gives him a Batman Utility Belt and Damian gets so excited until some robbers break into his house and steal all his presents including the belt. Damian doesn’t want to disappoint his dad so he goes in a journey to get his utility belt back to his hands.
The movie had a lot of scenes that you can easily assimilate to Home Alone, the two robbers breaking into the Wayne mansion was giving Home Alone all the time and in an extremely positive way. This movie also had many references to classic Batman movies which is great to catch and will be something that Batman fans will love.
Damian is so adorable and charismatic and he definitely carries this movie, he was such a well scripted character and his development was really touching and kids will love the jokes. And, as I said, this is indeed a TREAT for Batman fans, there are basically all the major Batman villains here: you have Joker, Bane, Poison Ivy, Riddler, Mr. Freeze and there’s more but you gotta watch it to catch them all!
Many people on social media judged how the animation looks but please don’t worry about this, at all. The animation is magnificent, the designs are just unique and innovative, and there’s a one scene where Damian is running away from an unknown character that had my eyes stuck with that stunning animation. Watching a 2D animated movie feels so good, specially nowadays. I just wish we could come back to that era.
The main villain is the Joker, but he’s not alone here, he has a whole team of villains and that’s one of my favorite parts about this movie, the villains. The villains are great, every time they showed up I’d be like: “Oh look it’s (villain name)!!!” There were even some moments that I was not expecting to see them showing up, totally loved this movie.
And don’t think that this is a 100% family friend movie because it’s not… This movie actually had some really dark moments, with some creepy scenes that will give the kids that little spooky sense. The movie also works really well with the older audience, even though it has a very simple script, it manages to be really well executed and ended up being truly a Christmas must-watch.
To wrap things up, I must say, Merry Little Batman surprised me in the most positive way possible. A action-packed, visually stunning, exciting and funny Christmas movie. A must watch for this Christmas season, everything in this movie works and a really treat for kids and older audiences.
★★★★
Merry Little Batman releases on Amazon Prime Video on December 8
