For once I read the source material before seeing the movie adaption. It left me with a feeling of disappointment I normally don't get when watching WB animated movies and especially the ones with Batman. The graphic novel was amazing in its cruel and non-compromising nature thanks to how it deals with the most famous and twisted villain of the Batman universe, the Joker, and how he came to be. Therefore I had high expectations. Well, we still get great performances from both Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy, but here is my biggest problem, they literally retell the story with nothing added to it. Aside from the completely unnecessary backstory of Barbara Gordon which is tedious to sit through, it could just have been a reading done by the voice actors. The animation was lazy, and it looked awful when there was once in a while thrown in some 3D. I don't know, maybe I'm being too harsh on it, because aside from the backstory-thing, it was a faithful retelling. It just seemed bland, and since it is an adaption of an intense and disturbing graphic novel I just expected more than the rough drafts of potentially the greatest Batman movie ever.

What exactly does the first 30 minutes have to do with the last 50 minutes of this movie, outside of getting batman laid.I guess I need to read the comic, if the comic makes sense, then this movie goes into the abyss of negative tenIf anyone bothers reading this for some reason, do the following, start watching the movie about 20 min in, you literally will not miss anything that has to do with the plot

I really don't mind the concept of starting off with a new Batgirl story, but it was not well executed and did not even portray Batgirl very well. The rest is a solid adaptation, but it still feels like it's missing something. Not sure why it got an R rating, either, it was pretty much PG-13

What an astonishing movie, especially the first half is fun and entertaining. While the original story by Alan Moore turned Barbara Gordon into a mere plot device (after Mister Moore was told to "cripple" her by some immature consecutive named Len Wein), this movie actually goes deeper and makes matters personal, as Batman finally has a reason to hunt the Joker down and stop the maniacal, sadistic and murderous "Clown Prince of Crime" for good...something the Dark Knight has failed to accomplish in all those years, despite having had endless chances and opportunities to do so. Bruce and Barbara have a friendship which goes beyond what the comic canon had established on New Earth/Earth-1 (the main universe in which most of the Batman stories take place). It is for that added romance and backstory which turns a simple retelling of a comic into a television masterpiece. A backstory was necessary, as the viewer had not seen Batgirl in the DC Animated Movie Universe yet, except for a small cameo at the end of some animated movie, and that was the New 52 Burnside- Batgirl, not the more well known one with the yellow and black outfit, so it was very kind of Brian Azzarello and Bruce Timm to add half an hour of pure greatness.It is sad how so many butthurt people crap on a wonderful movie, just because two FICTIONAL adults had sex once. Those people should be ashamed of themselves and consider living in a church for the rest of their lives.