Merry Little Batman

• Directed by Mike Roth
• December 8, 2023
• Amazon Prime Video

Voice Cast

• Damian Wayne/Little Batman-Yonas Kibreab
• Bruce Wayne/Batman-Luke Wilson
• Alfred Pennyworth-James Cromwell
• The Joker-David Hornsby
• Mr. Freeze-Dolph Adomian
• The Penguin-Brian George
• Poison Ivy-Theresa McLaughlin
• Bane-Chris Sullivan
• Vicki Vale-Cynthia McWilliams
• Terry (one of Joker’s minions)-Michael Fielding
• Francine (one of Joker’s minions)-Natalie Palamides
• Commissioner Gordon-Reid Scott
• Carmen Infantino-Carmen Infantino (archive footage)

Bruce’s son Damian protects Wayne Manor from the long dormant villains of Gotham during Christmas.

A DC Christmas movie? Sure. I’m game. I figured it would be SOMETHING different. Maybe not a holiday classic yet still worth a view. I recall the Batman: TAS episode Christmas with The Joker and it was quite good so I figured this could be as well.

Merry Little Batman was one of those movies that was originally shelved during the many permutations of leadership at Warner Bros. and DC film. For whatever reason they decided to unshelve it and release it on Amazon. Who am I kidding? They found somebody willing to fork over money for it and figured the tax write-off was no longer worth it.

I went in not expecting anything too serious. And that’s exactly what I got but they were far too not serious to the point of mocking-intentionally or not-Batman and everything that went with it. I think they leaned a little bit too far into the silliness. Merry Little Batman borders on camp frequently and I found myself thinking that some of the stuff they showed was more dumb than funny or intentionally humorous.

The SuperSons film or even the Batman: TAS episode Christmas with The Joker were crafted as a humorous story in a serious world. I feel Merry Little Batman might’ve worked a little better as a kid’s adventure in a serious world. It could have highlighted the ludicrous nature of superheroes and Batman but not came off as if it were mocking it all.

Let’s start with Batman who is now fully Bruce Wayne due to a lack of crime in Gotham. The character is meant to be an overly protective father but he’s just crushingly inept and you’re wondering how he ever was Batman. Much if not all of what we get in this takes its cue more from the classic ‘66 series but only from a surface view. Batman ’66 was a comedy but one that appreciated the material and found the humor in it as well as paralleled how the stories in the comics were done.

Going off on a tangent I admit in my youth I didn’t quite like it, but I have grown to appreciate Batman ’66 over the years. I find entertainment value in it. It’s an appropriately goofy take on the concept of Batman. But the appropriateness with which it handles the material in its comedic way is very tough to copy. It became its own animal. Merry Little Batman doesn’t quite get that. 

That might not be so bad if Bruce was less prominent, but he is as significant as Damian. His general nature brings down the whole film. If he were much more of a supporting character in his son’s story it would be much less harmful. The story’s focus should be Damian and his adventures dealing with the return of crime to Gotham City with Batman/Bruce showing up minimally. In the story before Damian was born, Batman took the time out to eliminate all crime. That alone might have been okay but with the exceeding focus on Batman it just took things down.

The Joker returns and his plan is to steal Christmas much like the Grinch and then he comes up with the idea to use Damian to ruin Christmas for Gotham as well as steal Christmas and get the kid to become a super villain. Okay… I’m not sure how that all works, but again this isn’t a serious movie.

Damian for his part is chafing under Bruce’s parentage because he wants to be a superhero even though there’s no crime and nobody from the Justice League has bothered Bruce in about 10 years give or take. Huh? Where does the inspiration come from? Even in humor you need logic.

The animation style is much sillier and more stylized than many other DC films. It’s done like a humorous Christmas card. I am curious if the people behind those Shoebox Greeting Cards could sue for copywrite infringement. I expected a cameo from Maxine.

I am not sure who this was exactly aimed at. Is it aimed at the casual person who knows Batman from films? Is it aimed at small children? Is it aimed at the hardcore comic book fan? Is it aimed at the broader DC fan? I’m not sure. I’m not sure if those that made this were even sure. Thus it comes off more as a mockery of Batman and everything. It’s not a loving poke at Batman or at Christmas. It is as if these people feel it’s all silly and they’re trying to knock it down a few pegs.

I can’t quite recommend Merry Little Batman. If you have some very young kids who have barely experienced Batman they will certainly enjoy it but it’s hit or miss for anybody else so proceed with caution.