Understandably, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns was just lifted straight from the graphic novels I haven't read, but damn, this "movie" was random.
Obviously, it was a stunt to make more money releasing this in two parts, but on the other hand, it was basically two movies – albeit, short ones at an hour apiece – with two completely different moods.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 sort of resembles what we know about the Batman legend and felt, at first, like it took place following the events of the motion picture, The Dark Knight Rises. Once it's learned that it's not, you get a few random events that only conclude barely enough to leave open for Part 2.
Part 2, although still random at spots, is much darker and more adult than most animated features I've seen. And when finished, a couple dozen questions appeared in my brain:
(This next paragraph is chock-full of spoilers. Skip if you don't appreciate those.)
How does everyone know who Clark is, or namely the President and FatWoman, er CatWoman? Why even mention the brief background of the Justice League and leave holes in that story? How can the Joker withstand a dagger in the eye #1, and #2 continue fighting and navigating, hell, thinking? Why was it set back in the 1980s? Why was Batman so evil at times, actually shoots guns and randomly beats up police? Since when did Batman murder people (he admits this to the Joker)? What happened to the old Robin – or, for the love of God, stop brining up something only insiders would know! Why were Superman and Batman such enemies? And why did Bruce hate Clark so much, other than the fact Superman fought for peace? Why was it was a bad idea for Superman to detonate a bomb in space – sort of? – verses in the city? Further, since when would a nuclear bomb – which he's survived before, make him turn into James Wood's Hades from Disney's Hercules? Where did the "Mutants" come from and why were they even called that since, all-but-one, were perfectly normal idiots with red Cylon-style glasses? Why did Batman go out of his way to make sure the new Commissioner hated him and later, why would she all-of-a-sudden refuse to attack him when given the (15th) chance? When did Batman begin using (the absent) Scarecrow's hallucinate gas? And finally, not really a question, but a nice observation: It's good to know that if a multistory apartment building's on fire, the quickest and most effective way to put it out is with just a few buckets of water. An entire room's fire seemed to get extinguished with one bucket of water!
(End of Spoilers. You can resume now.)
Perhaps, I am taking all this too seriously, but that was the idea I got from the filmmakers: a deeper, darker and most realistic animated Batman feature.
And although this was definitely an alternative (DC) universe, much like TV's Smallville, this cartoon felt like 15 animated features were created before this, much like what Marvel did to lead up to The Avengers. But, at least in that great movie, I didn't have to question every aspect when a new plot line formed.
As much as this review, so far, has looked like a bashing, I actually did have a little bit of fun – from time to time. If you can put away everything you know about these characters you might have grown up with, i.e. completely forget they've ever used to stand up for good and justice or even existed at all, then you might enjoy the whole experience.