BATMAN UNDERWHELMING

AS A BIT OF HALLOWEEN VIEWING, I THOUGHT I'D TAKE A PEEK AT THE NEW "BATMAN UNLIMITED: MONSTER MAYHEM".  

At least it doesn't feature appalling CGI animation (as in the previous animated series "BEWARE OF BATMAN" which was quietyly cancelled and which this new series replaces).  Sadly, the Halloween quotient in "BATMAN UNLIMITED:  MONSTER MAYHEM" is practically nil; a brief mention of it being Halloween at the beginning is about all the connection that is evident.  This movie could otherwise take place at any time of year and has nothing really to do with Halloween.  The premise is that a group of "spooky" villains led by the Joker takes over Gotham City by controlling all of it's technology and power by taking control of the superhero Cyborg.  Batman, Nightwing, Green Arrow and Red Robin battle King Clown and his minions (Solomon Grundy, Silver Banshee, Clayface and Scarecrow).  

The look of BATMAN UNLIMITED is futuristic; it appears to take place in the future but I'm not too sure about that as references are vague.  Also, the look of the show is more "candy-coloured" than we're used to seeing in the Batman universe; this in itself isn't a necessarily bad thing, though.  Character designs are also different but not unpleasing.  There is also use of 3-d animation (mostly for the vehicles) a la FUTURAMA.  There isn't much going on in this direct-to-video movie that is new and refreshing, however.  And there are more lapses of internal logic than you can shake a batarang at.  

The end result being that BATMAN UNLIMITED:  MONSTER MAYHEM isn't bad but it isn't great either.  As an innocuous time-waster, it will serve.