Animation Monday: Beware the Batman / Rabbids Invasion

By Nathan Young on August 5, 2013

This week on Animation Monday, I am talking about two new animated series that are drawing a lot of interest. And yes, both shows are computer animated. The traditional way of animation is dying for sure! Let’s talk about Beware the Batman and Rabbids Invasion.

Beware the Batman

Yes, the Batman series has been rebooted once again. This time, we get to see Bruce Wayne and Batman during his younger years. New villains in this series includes Professor Pyg, Mister Toad, Magpie, Anarky, and others. And did I forgot that Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred, is more involved with Batman in this series. You see him sporting a gun often.

The first thing I thought about this show is the animation. Of course, more and more creators and animators are moving toward computer animation. And this show is no exception. Batman looked very weird in a computer animation form. The clothing of all the characters looked too shiny and were made out of spandex. It looked like all the characters were made out of dolls. But the worst part, was the face of Batman.

Batman’s face looks like a modified yield sign just like what you see while driving. Am I right ladies and gentlemen?

Another worry about this series is the lack of familiar villains from the Batman franchise. I give the creators credit for using some original villains that no one heard of before. But admit it, when someone watches a Batman cartoon or show, you are expecting to see a familiar villain.

And let’s talk about Alfred. In this series, he is really bulked up and fighting along with Batman at times. In past Batman series, Alfred worked behind the scenes helping Batman with computer and technology stuff. But in this series, he loves to carry his gun and has used it a few times. The creators had to be careful to not have Alfred overshadow Batman in this series. But in some scenes, Alfred is really powerful.

I thought the writing was good in this series, but the animation was sub-par. I found this article from Screen Rant that says action cartoons are nearing extinction. Yep, Mitch Watson, one of the creators of the show, said that action cartoons are nearing the death bed. Here’s my opinion on that, when you make action animated shows that lack substance and animation quality, the show will not last. Want to look at an action cartoon that is doing well, look at The Legend of Korra.

I hope Beware the Batman will survive, if Cartoon Network gives it the chance. I find the Batman cartoon Batman: The Animated Series from the 1990’s as a perfect animated show. Of course today, animation studios lack time and money. But that is still not an excuse to make a great show!

Rabbids Invasion

In the intro to this series, you can tell that this series is not from America. Actually, this series is a French animated television series that airs on Nickelodeon. Rabbids Invasion is based off of the Raving Rabbids game series produced by Ubisoft. Here’s video of that game if you have not seen it yet.

Okay, after watching the first episode, I formed some opinions very quickly. First, there is little actual human language in this series. All you hear in this series outside of the music, is the Rabbids speaking some type of gibberish language. The Rabbids almost looks like a cross between a rabbit and a minion from Despicable Me. In fact, I would consider the Minions to be better than the Rabbids.

The Minions actually work for someone and of course, does some crazy things. But the Rabbids only likes to do crazy things, and when they try to do something productive, they screw it up. Just like my life! In one of the episodes, the Rabbids makes a gentlemen and wife angry when the Rabbids keeps throwing starfish onto the windows that were clean. But hey, the Rabbids will laugh uncontrollably when an octopus is covering a head of someone.

The worst part of this show was the screaming done by the Rabbids. Their screaming, especially at the opening of each episode got very annoying. I had to mute the openings to avoid the screaming at times. Three minutes into the first episode, and I was already bored. There is very little creativity and the show follows the same formula. Do something crazy, laugh hard, and repeat. I found Rabbids Invasion as a cute cartoon that young kids with nothing to do will enjoy. For us adults, this show is going to be boring and annoying. Why doesn’t Nickelodeon come out with something that both kids and adults would enjoy? Hey, their ratings would do better!

Images copyright from Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon