Saturday, December 9, 2023

Merry Little Batman

Featuring the least murderous version of Damian Wayne (Yonas Kibreab) ever designed, Merry Little Batman is a nice little holiday special unfortunately stretched into a feature film. In a world where Batman (Luke Wilson) is called back into action outside Gotham City, where he eradicated all crime years ago, Daiman gets his chance to play super-hero by dressing up in a Batsuit and taking on a pair of thieves robbing houses at Christmas time.

You can feel the film pulling from other projects as we get Damian's Home Alone sequence before sending him into the world chasing the utility belt his father gave him for Christmas now in the possession of our baddies. The story will eventually work in several more recognizable Bat-villains and, before all is said a done, bring father and son back together for a warm and fuzzy holiday ending.

Damian is the best thing about the film, starting with his homemade Batman costume and moving to a more professional model later in the movie, completely oblivious to the chaos he's causing chasing the belt before ultimately learning the lesson his father has been trying to teach him. Batman as a helicopter parent is unexpected but also works quite well. Cut down to half its length, Merry Little Batman would make a nice edition to yearly holiday specials. However, at 92 minutes, the film flounders during large stretches, with some fun sequences here and there, before getting to the finale.

Watch the trailer
  • Title: Merry Little Batman
  • IMDb: link

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