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" Director: Sam Liu, Lauren Montgomery; Screenwriter: Tab Murphy; Starring: Bryan Cranston, Ben McKenzie, Eliza Dushku, Jon Polito, Alex Rocco, Katee Sackhoff; Running time: 64 mins; Certificate: PG-13 Ask any long-time Batman fan to rank their favourite stories featuring Gotham&amp;#039;s Dark Knight and Frank Miller&amp;#039;s Year One is sure to rank near the top every time. For this reason alone, DC and Warner&amp;#039;s latest animated feature arrives amid great expectation. It&amp;#039;s a faithful adaptation of one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, but it fails to do justice to the source material. Batman: Year One takes place during Bruce Wayne&amp;#039;s early days as the Caped Crusader, dividing its focus between the title character and Lieutenant Jim Gordon as he begins his ascent through the ranks of the Gotham police force. It&amp;#039;s a classic tale of two men making a stand against corruption and battling injustice, whether it comes in the shape of crooked police officers or high-level crimelords. Gordon is a far more interesting character than Wayne, or even his crimefighting alter ego. The lieutenant is depicted as a flawed hero bound by a strong sense of duty, despite his own shortcomings. He&amp;#039;s not afraid to get his hands dirty either. Helmers Sam Liu and Lauren Montgomery have pillaged Miller&amp;#039;s graphic novel for all it&amp;#039;s worth. This is practically a scene-for-scene interpretation with chunks of dialogue lifted directly from the book. Some fans will say that this is its best quality, but what of creativity? Anyone who&amp;#039;s read the comics will be able to tell you what&amp;#039;s going to happen next as this feels more like a regurgitation than an adaptation. In this regard, the co-directors have failed to put their own stamp on the story.  If there&amp;#039;s one thing that really lets Year One down it&amp;#039;s the voice acting. It&amp;#039;s hard to tell if Bryan Cranston is doing a decent job as Gordon, or whether he just sounds passable compared to the horribly miscast Ben McKenzie, who struggles to sound even remotely like Batman or Bruce Wayne should. Where&amp;#039;s Kevin Conroy when you need him? The supporting cast range from competent to inconsequential. Battlestar Galactica&amp;#039;s Katee Sackhoff is reliable as Gordon&amp;#039;s bit on the side, Detective Essen, but Eliza Dushku lacks the vocal presence to pull off Catwoman. Her character also features in a bonus short  on the same disc. It lays on the action and sex appeal in heavy doses, yet it&amp;#039;s difficult to get past the fact that casting is all wrong. Year One&amp;#039;s animation cannot be faulted. Bruce Timm and co. have a strong grasp of what works on screen, and their latest feature fits in with their other superhero projects, though the tone is a little darker. This essentially makes it happy middle ground between David Mazzucchelli&amp;#039;s original artwork and the previous collaborations between Warner and DC. Batman: Year One is ultimately unfulfilling, let down by below-par voice acting and a lack of creativity. The key to an effective adaptation is putting your own spin on the source material, tailoring it for a new medium, and presenting it to the audience in a unique way. The film fails in all of these areas and will leave fans of the graphic novel feeling unmoved.  &amp;gt; What do you think of the film? Share your views Watch a trailer for Batman: Year One below:   Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/comics/news/a347309/batman-year-one-dvdblu-ray-review/>