Ok, so I picked up Son of Batman, and the return of Batman parts 1 and 2 yesterday and needless to say I was not disappointed with these animated films! For the past 3 years I have delved pretty deep into the Dark Knight's lore and have grown to respect him much much more than I did when I was a kid. Son of Batman has an awesome story involving, you guessed it, the son of Bruce Wayne better known as the 4th Robin, Daymian Wayne. The mother is Taliah Al Ghul and well as to how that happened lol... well lets just say it was some what of a wild night for Bruce. Anyways Bruce's son was trained under the League of Shadows as an assassin... so all he knows is how to kill and we all know how much Batman doesn't want to kill any body. This creates an awesome contrast as well as a development arc for Daymian. The kid is portrayed as a total brat, really arrogant and feels entitled to anything and everything : P but there is also a sense of loyalty in him towards his mother, his father and his grandfather (Ra's Al Ghul). As the movie progresses Daymian is introduced to Bruce and slowly starts to develop an interest and somewhat respect towards his father's methods of taking on a mission. Needless to say I found a new respect for the 4th Robin whom I had assumed to be a total waste of a character gathering from what I heard before. Also Robin holding a katana sword is pretty freakin badass. Nightwing also makes an appearance in the movie and the main antagonist is Slade Wilson, better known as Deathstroke. lol all we need are Star Fire, Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg to have a free for all Teen Titan's bout. Definately a must watch for Batman fans.
Next I watched Return of Batman, which was divided into two parts, and from what I gather based off a graphic novel. In this animated film, we see Batman much older, and out of action. I think he stopped after the justice league disbanded or something along those lines. Crime is running wild in Gotham and no one is doing anything to stop it. Bruce tries to ignore it for a while but after witnessing an event much similar to how his parents died, he finally snaps and puts on the cape once more. The art style in this one does take a little more getting used to... they draw Batman really bulky, fitting I suppose... but at the same time it makes him look kind of overweight... but as the movie goes on I got adjusted to it. It's really interesting watching how he combats the new enemies and at the same time combats his old age. I found myself totally absorbed and pretty excited watching these two parts as well as the return of Superman and Oliver Quin (green arrow).
I also watched Under the Red hood a couple months ago but I'll do a little review on that another time... Too much Robin lore to dive into there lol.
I can't wait till the new animated Batman film comes out... apparently it's going to take place in the Arkham Asylum world *drools* it's going to be awesome.