THE Batman vs Dracula (2005)

the final cartoon in "The Batman" universe is this fine movie.  and yes, one more time I will admit I was wrong about the series.

a convict in Arkham talks to the Penguin and tells him about a treasure he's hidden in Gotham Cemetery.  trouble is, he's also told the Joker.  both end up breaking out of Arkham, and eventually join forces, though naturally the Joker betrays Pengy and then "falls to his death" during a fight with Batman.

Pengy gets away and accidentally revives the  vampire lord Count Dracula with the blood spilled on the decayed heart bit.  Drac puts Pengy under his spell and then sets out to take over Gotham.

Eventually, the Joker returns and gets bit by Dracula. this leads him to Batman and we get a bit of a flaw in the movie here.  see it?  well, they used the old "vampires don't cast reflections" bit early on and seemed to forget it halfway into the movie. the Joker didn't even really need to be in the movie, but I suppose the producers wanted people to see "vampire Joker" so there you have it.

spoilers ahead!

no biggie.  the whole thing is a lot of fun, if a bit grim.  Pengy gets the funniest lines, as does Alfred.  the acting is fine, and it's nice to see Vicki Vale making her animated debut.  they also dust off the old "Dr. Alucard" bit as well.

it dawns on me that perhaps I've just watched far too many Dracula movies and most of the cartoon viewers wouldn't have seen old Universals or Hammer movies with all these things in them.

and then the movie ends with this awesome image.  I had to rewind it just to get to it again for the shot.  gotta love it.