Batman Ninja (2018) attempts to revitalize a franchise running on fumes, drawing parallels to Spinal Tap in its approach. Like that film, Batman Ninja is silly and over the top—at least, the English version is. A time displacement machine mishap involving Gorilla Grodd sends Arkham Asylum, along with Grodd, the Joker, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, The Penguin, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and Deathstroke, to feudal Japan. Batman arrives two years later, commenting that Grodd’s interference altered his arrival. This delay also gave everyone else time to either learn Japanese or force the locals to speak English. It's amusing to consider that Bruce Wayne might have taught himself 15th-century Japanese simply for amusement. Things initially seem promising, but then characters appear seemingly at random whenever the plot needs a boost. A number of Batman’s former and current sidekicks, along with his butler, are also transported. It turns out “Alfred was in the Batmobile that night,” conveniently making the vehicle available as well. It's strange that Batman brings Alfred on crimefighting missions—what purpose does it serve? Is he now a getaway driver? And what could they possibly escape from? What about the other sidekicks? Were they attending a Batman Sidekick Support Group meeting nearby? At one point, Batman asks who else made the time jump. The answer, as Gary Oldman might say, is everyone—anyone needed to advance the plot whenever it stalled. These aren’t cameos; they function more like convenient plot devices. Even the Penguin's penguins appear, despite not being native to Japan and likely not being permitted by Arkham authorities. This raises a fundamental question: why did some individuals, animals, and objects travel through time while others didn’t? According to the film’s logic, the entire city should have been transported to ancient Japan. The villains transform Edo into a steampunk (or perhaps dieselpunk?) paradise, each residing in a castle/Transforming Mecha and battling for control of Japan. The climax reveals that these castles are components of a giant Combining Mecha accompanied by a theme song. How could this be possible if each villain built their castle independently? Grodd used a mind control device to manipulate them into constructing the fortresses—but where did they get the technology? While it doesn’t explain how they obtained materials, it's best not to dwell on it. Grodd’s abilities extend beyond mere manipulation; he can turn the villains into automatons under his command. He wasted two years of infighting when he could have had them working together all along—but that would have ruined a later plot twist. The movie prioritizes surprise over logic. By the time Grodd’s “army of monkeys” transforms into a “giant samurai” that merges with an army of bats to form a “mighty batgod,” it's clear that taking this seriously, even within animated superhero conventions, is impossible. But is the film intentionally humorous or simply misguided? There are moments of self-awareness—the Joker remarks, "Poor Bats… He’s always risking his life to save ordinary people. If you had just let them die and gone after me instead, maybe you wouldn't find yourself in such terrible shape.” Batman responds dryly, “I have no regrets.” However, if this were a true “Bat-roast” like The Lego Batman Movie, the film would acknowledge its inconsistencies rather than ignoring them. For example, Catwoman convinces Batman to disguise himself as a Christian missionary so he "won't look too suspicious as a westerner." While it’s true that many missionaries visited Japan during that era, it's disappointing that this isn't revealed as a setup. On the positive side, Batman Ninja is relatively short—though it feels longer than its 85-minute runtime due to the sheer amount of content crammed in, including a subplot where the Joker and Harley hypnotize themselves to trick Batman before snapping out of it—and looks visually appealing, likely because traditional Japanese animation doesn't require translation.

Source on TMDB