Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts is a 2015 direct-to-video animated superhero film, directed by Butch Lukic, with voice performances by Roger Craig Smith, Dana Snyder, Chris Diamantopoulos, Laura Bailey, and John DiMaggio. Set as the first entry in the Batman Unlimited series, it follows Batman, with the help of the Flash, Green Arrow, Nightwing, and Red Robin, as they try and get to the bottom of the mysterious robotic animals attacking Gotham.

Plot: The story is below piss poor. Penguin recruits Silverback, Killer Croc, Man-Bat, and Cheetah for one of his money making/destroy Gotham schemes. It’s what you would expect from a two-year-old. It has no interesting side stories, no arcs, and honestly doesn’t make any sense. Why does Penguin recruit animal themed villains? Not explained. Penguin is already rich, why commit such an act to get more money when he could’ve done literally a hindred other smarter schemes. Everything is totally predictable. The climatic battle at the end was a waste of time and really dumb. (1 out of 5)

Characters: As much as I hate the writing and the story, I can honestly say I did like the characters.  The good guys consist of Batman, Nightwing, Green Arrow, Red Robin, and Flash. The bad guys consist of Man-Bat, Silverback, Cheetah, Killer Croc, and Penguin. There’s nothing really about them outside of their designs but it’s nice to see their dynamics. (3 out of 5)

Cast: Voice performances are really good. Fans of the franchise will hear some familiar voices. The wide range of depth gives the characters a unique feel.  We have voices by Roger Craig Smith, Dana Snyder, Chris Diamantopoulos, Laura Bailey, John DiMaggio, Will Friedle, Yuri Lowenthal, Phil LaMarr, Charlie Schlatter, and Keith Szarabajka.  Other performances include Richard Epcar, Alastair Duncan, Amanda Troop, Matthew Mercer, Eric Bauza, Mo Collins, and Keith Ferguson.  (4 out of 5)

Visuals: Loved the various character designs.  The new batsuit design looks great, like a mixture between the traditional  design and the Batman Beyond design. In fact, most of the character designs are really cool. The futuristic setting looks really good. (4 out of 5)

Score: The music was pretty good. It definitely helped with the action, giving it that edgy yet heroic feeling. (3 out of 5)

Writing:  The writing is pretty bad.  Cobblepot as being insecure was a poorly written concept. Even the purpose for Penguin’s actions are piss poor. While watching I realized how cliched the film is. Batman and crew are able to subdue these exceptionally dangerous villains with little to no effort. For example, Batman and Cheetah are fighting and he beats her. There’s no way he can take her in a fight nor would she be dumb enough to get caught in those blast. Man-Bat’s sudden change of heart was rubbish. Batman cracks Man-Bat’s serum in like three seconds and even manages to turn him human again. They diffuse Penguin’s plan in no time. There’s so many inconsistencies that it’s ridiculous.  In one scene Cheetah clearly dominates in the fights then she’s losing all of a sudden, Knightwing is able to beat up Croc when they establish normal blows won’t hurt him, Silverback is all of a sudden a robot.  Look, I know the writers didn’t give a shit about the writing because it’s clearly made to sell toys to kids but come on. (1 out of 5)

The Verdict: In the end, Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts is possibly one of the worst Batman films of all time.  There’s literally no thought as to who, what, why, when, and where that makes any sense.  Yes, the animation style is good, the voice performances are great, and the characters are cool, but the story and the writing are atrocious. I wouldn’t recommend this to the most die hard of fans.  Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts gets a low 3 out of 5.