"Catwoman: Hunted" Animated Feature Talkback (Spoilers)

[Yojimbo]

Everyone’s favorite felonious feline takes action, adventure and theft to new heights – and in an entrancing anime style – in Catwoman: Hunted, an all-new DC Animated Movie.

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Catwoman: Hunted
Studio: Warner Bros. Animation
Release Date: 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, Digital - February 8, 2022

Synopsis: In the all-new original Catwoman: Hunted, Catwoman’s attempt to steal a priceless jewel puts her squarely in the crosshairs of both a powerful consortium of villains and the ever-resourceful Interpol, not to mention Batwoman. It might just be enough to contain her. Or not.

Elizabeth Gillies and Stephanie Beatriz lead the cast of Catwoman: Hunted as the voices of Catwoman and Batwoman, respectively. Also featured is Jonathan Banks as Black Mask, Steve Blum as Solomon Grundy, Lauren Cohan) as Julia Pennyworth, Keith David as Tobias Whale, Zehra Fazal as Talia al Ghul and Nosferata, Jonathan Frakes as King Faraday and Boss Moxie, Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Barbara Minerva/Cheetah, Kelly Hu as Cheshire, Andrew Kishino as Mr. Yakuza and Domino 6, Eric Lopez as Domino 1, Jacqueline Obradors as La Dama, and Ron Yuan as Doctor Tzin.

Catwoman: Hunted is directed by Shinsuke Terasawa from a script penned by Greg Weisman. Producer is Ethan Spaulding and Executive Producer is Sam Register.

Catwoman: Hunted Bonus Content
-When The Hunter Becomes The Hunted (New Featurette) – When does the hunter become the hunted? In this case it’s when Selina Kyle steals the “Cat’s Eye” emerald and Batwoman informs her, “Congratulations, Selina, you just became Leviathan’s No. 1 target.” Those targeting Catwoman include wave after wave of assassins, ninjas, and Super-Villains – from Tobias Whale, Black Mask, Cheshire and Nosferata to Solomon Grundy, Talia al Ghul and Cheetah. In this all-new featurette, our experts break down the backstory of each integral villain.
-Catwoman: The Feline Femme Fatale – Watch the documentary on Catwoman’s history.

Please note this talkback is for both the Catwoman: Hunted animated feature and its home media release. Basically, discussion for both the feature and its home video release/bonus content can be found right here. Spoilers are also allowed, so those who have yet to see the movie may want to avoid this thread until they have!

Discuss the Catwoman: Hunted animated release here!

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[James Harvey]

For those interested, The World's Finest has posted its review of Catwoman: Hunted. Click here to check it out!

 

[Orangesilentplanet]

Haven't seen it yet, but from the lack of extras, (no promo for the next DC Animated movie). Maybe WB is going to stop producing them.

--jthree

 

[Yojimbo]

Haven't seen it yet, but from the lack of extras, (no promo for the next DC Animated movie). Maybe WB is going to stop producing them.

--jthree

I think it's just an overall effect across home entertainment releases with budgets shrinking because of covid.

 

[M.O.D.O.K.]

This was a fun movie overall. I wouldn’t say it’s the best from this line, but it was a (mostly) light-hearted rump that I envisioned when it got announced.

Selina was a fun character, and I was pleasantly surprised at how they mixed her roles as a flirty, playful thief who seeks fun and a more altruistic anti-hero who wants to help those who need it. Elizabeth Gillies does a fantastic job with the character and quickly became one of my favorite actresses in the role. Kate works as a straight (wo)man to Selina and I liked her brief moments of vulnerability. Though I did find Stephanie Beatriz’s Batwoman voice a bit too stoic and flat.

Lady Barbara Minerva is essentially the main villain of the movie, and I thought she was fantastic. Making her royalty and a powerful mob boss are interesting changes, even if she ends up being a decoy to the true leader of Leviathan. Her final fight as Cheetah was also impressive, making her a formidable foe for Wonder Woman and a downright terrifying one for Selina and Kate. The other villains were also fun, but they didn’t shine as much. Keith David as Tobias Whale was fun, but he’s only Minerva’s goon. Cheshire was pretty familiar from Young Justice, and Nosferata is an interesting addition to the League of Assassins. The other mob bosses were also fun and each had individual flair that made them stand out. I was bummed about Talia’s role, though, as someone who isn’t a fan of her more overly villainous turn in the comics.

Negatives? I enjoyed the fun heist vibe the first half of the movie had, especially with the jazz soundtrack. Unfortunately, after Selina makes her deal with Kate and Interpol, the movie devolves into non-stop fight scene after fight scene. Some of these encounters are great (especially versus Grundy and Cheetah), but the plot essentially disappears and so does the premise that made it stand out from other DC animated film offerings.

I’m curious to see what elements from this movie are canon to Young Justice and which ones aren’t. The most obvert stuff involves shared voice actors for Cheshire and Talia, Cheshire’s design, and the inhibitor collars used on Grundy and Cheetah at the end. I hope if we ever meet YJ Cheetah, she is closest to this one. I also hope La Dama is around Earth-16, since Blue Beetle/Jaime Reyes needs more enemies of his own, and it hopefully means he’s friends with Brenda too. Mr. Yakuza’s past with Lady Shiva and Sensei, and Catwoman’s own training with Shiva, stands out as elements YJ would add.

This script was ridden with Easter eggs. There’s Selina and Kate defeating 52 League of Shadows ninjas, with them counting 16 on-screen, both being recurring numbers in DC content and Young Justice, respectively. All the Leviathan mob bosses are from the comics, even Mr. Yakuza/Obayun Noguri from Batman and the Outsiders. Moxie Manheim is Bruno’s dad and Dr. Tzin (Tzin) is an obscure Batman villain. Selina talks to Holly Robinson on the phone and Kate’s conversation with La Dama about her demons is a reference to her solo run’s supernatural focus, an element that’s been increasingly ignored in the comics and other adaptations. Black Mask has a goon he dubs Number One, a reference to The Batman, where he’d have a Number One henchperson that would meet an untimely end, only for Sionis to promote another one with the title. Number One dies, but the mob boss is arrested before he can promote someone else.

Overall, this was a fun movie and one of my favorites in the DC animated line. A tighter plot and some improved voice performances could have improved it, but I enjoyed myself otherwise.

 

[Orangesilentplanet]

Does anyone know yet what the next DC Animated Movie might be?
--jthree

 

[Yojimbo]

Does anyone know yet what the next DC Animated Movie might be?
--jthree

If Teen Titans Go & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse is being released on Blu-ray/DVD, then that. If not, no we don't know. From this point on, please defer questions of this nature to the general movie news thread.

 

[Classic Speedy]

Just got done watching it. I liked it, and it was definitely a better movie than the previous largely Japanese-produced Batman Ninja. Will offer more thoughts later.

 

[Yojimbo]

Like everyone else, I loved it for being a fun light-hearted romp. Kudos for whoever gave Catwoman a shot at a title lead with Batwoman to boot. Catwoman fit pretty well into the Lupin III style, not to mention all the other anime tropes they threw in. And course, a welcome change of the usual genre and starting it off as a heist movie. Elizabeth Gillies straight up killed it. They have done some really great casting for Catwoman in the past couple years.

As M.O.D.O.K. pointed out, my only real critique is it was no longer a heist movie once the deal was made and became a non-stop battle royale. But that's not even really a complaint.

Definitely noticed one thing one the first view that makes it YJ-adjacent. Like Batwoman. She starts out in Team Year Six. Cheshire parts ways with the League in Team Year Four when she runs off with Red Arrow. Here in the movie, she notes she's with the League. I would guess the YJ version of this story would take place between Year Six and Year Nine, definitely before Artemis' arc in Phantoms and with a simple change that Cheshire was just a freelance hire. Likely before Damien is born. I suppose there would be a question of would Boss Moxie be replaced with Ugly and I suppose a minor question of would Leviathan still work on Earth-16 under the auspices of the Light or as a rival (probably the latter, plus we've seen Ugly try to operate outside of the Light in Invasion).

In an interview, Weisman did hint he's got a trilogy planned and well, having seen the ending, now it's pretty clear Talia plays into that since she wasn't found out and got away undetected.

Broken record here but bummer they didn't have a commentary reel with Weisman and Spaulding at the least.

 

[khuddle]

A fun movie that was a tad too long. They should have ended it right when Cat and Batwoman defeated the Warlock and her minions. All the fights and introductions of new villains after that felt tacked on.

Still, a lot of fun. The first half the movie was a blast. The anime style was fresh and interesting.
A solid 7 out of 10

 

[Spider-Man]

A really fun movie but it is was pretty light in content. Makes for a good watch and I'll likely watch it again but the story could've been a bit more packed. When it comes to Young Justice do we know the connections between that and this outside of Cheshire?

 

[Yojimbo]

A really fun movie but it is was pretty light in content. Makes for a good watch and I'll likely watch it again but the story could've been a bit more packed. When it comes to Young Justice do we know the connections between that and this outside of Cheshire?

Besides Cheshire and the League of Shadows, there are other parallels with Young Justice/Earth-16.
-King Faraday is an Interpol agent.
-Cheshire uses jellyfish toxin.
-At the end, the Interpol commandos are seen administering inhibitor collars.
-Kelly Hu voices Cheshire
-Zehra Fazal voices Talia (but uses a different accent for this movie's version)
-16 comes up when Catwoman and Batwoman are counting the Shadows they take out
-Catwoman alluding to the Batcave being full
-A couple one liners I could have sworn were re-used from YJ.

Some differences or things up for debate
-Cheshire is still a member of the League of Shadows in this movie. In Earth-16, by the time Batwoman is operating, Cheshire had gone rogue since May-ish Team Year Four. (But she was freelancing for the League during the events f Legacy in Team Year Five)
-League of Shadows agents have more traditional ninja costumes.
-Moxie Mannheim is the leader of Intergang (unless on Earth-16, Moxie was always the leader or took over while Bruno is incarcerated)
-Lady Shiva trained Catwoman (does she train non-League of Shadows members?)
-The costume party - one was dressed as Supergirl (but then again, for Halloween, Mal did his own take on Superboy) and the original Black Lightning costume (likewise)

And of courses, it'll be fun to see if any characters' analogue appears on YJ like Catwoman, Leviathan (Black Mask, Tobias Whale, Barbara Minerva, Mr. Yakuza, Doctor Tzin, La Dama, and Boss Moxie), Nosferata, Abbadon, Morax, Solomon Grundy, Julia Pennyworth. And Harley Quinn since she got name dropped at the end.

 

[M.O.D.O.K.]

The Catwoman/Shiva connection (and I guess Mr. Yakuza/Sensei/Shiva) seemed way too specific to not do something with it down the line, either in a sequel or in YJ.

 

[Zentron]

Got myself the steel tin edition Blu-Ray. I enjoyed the movie overall, though the voice acting was a little too stilted and somewhat flat, definitely not the best performances I've heard from a DC animated movie.

It was definitely too short a movie, but it seems they kinda ran out of things for them to do, plus it also felt like they had left it the way that they did so they could leave it open for a sequel... which I am all for, the animation was nice, the character designs were very great, they just need to work on the script a bit more!

I give it a solid 3 1/2 stars

 

[Dallas Kinard]

So did Cheetah actually die?

 

[M.O.D.O.K.]

So did Cheetah actually die?

No. She is dragged away in a bed and with an inhibitor collar on. Though I think many people (including those editing the DC fan wikia) missed that scene since they keep insisting she's dead.

 

[Yojimbo]

No. She is dragged away in a bed and with an inhibitor collar on. Though I think many people (including those editing the DC fan wikia) missed that scene since they keep insisting she's dead.

Plus, y'know she has magically endowed powers so no doubt they kept her alive after she was impaled and there's some accelerated healing going on once she was removed from the construction site and the collar was probably only capable of suppressing her enhanced physical attributes (i.e. super strength). And in addition, as established on Young Justice with these collars, they're programmed to suppress known abilities. They may have just guessed on what abilities to suppress and so she's healing on the down low. And we're talking about a movie with a headless zombie will regenerate eventually so... I agree she ain't dead.

 

[Fone Bone]

Catwoman: Hunted

I was looking forward to this, and ultimately I was very disappointed.

There are some individual elements I liked, but on the whole, I was getting tired of the proceedings as they progressed. The movie is 20 minutes too long. Once Catwoman takes down Leviathan that should be it, but that's just the first false ending of two. I also had real problems with the story. I'm going to itemize what I liked and disliked, and what was ultimately a push.

What I liked:

I liked the opening title sequence. It having major resonance for the arc of the film and the ending is rewarding in hindsight.

I liked the jazzy score. But to be honest, it got a little too distracting at points. I like playful jazz scores. But that specific music is not good for every scene you can think of. The movie definitely overplayed that theme.

I liked Cheetah's design a lot. It reminded strongly of the Borg Queen from Star Trek in being equal parts sexy and repellent. She looks both gorgeous as hell and creepy as hell at the same time.

What I didn't like:

I understand this is a major part of Catwoman's character. But it's majorly annoying in a project geared towards older viewers. Her playfully lecturing her male enemies on the right way to treat a lady is beyond cringe, especially in this day and age. The "pinch" / "pince" moment was so stupid I couldn't believe Greg Weisman wrote it. For the record, most of the villains here were dumber than most of the other villains he comes up with in his other projects. It's hard to reconcile his other smart and relatable villains with the goons seen here.

I loathed the scene of Catwoman sexually humiliating Batwoman in the tub. And Weisman has a ready made defense for it: Catwoman does that to ALL her enemies. Her entire bit is that she's a tease. I'm positive that will be his defense. That defense doesn't actually wash here though. Because Kate is a woman, specifically a lesbian, the power dynamics are very different in Catwoman doing that. When she does it to a straight male enemy you half think the jerk has it coming. Her doing it to Kate feels weirdly cruel instead, and almost as if she's outright mocking her lesbianism. Weisman can argue Catwoman's characterization there is consistent with her other portrayals, and this always being who Catwoman is all he wants. That doesn't make it okay.

The fight scene at the end felt very disjointed. It felt like when Selina was fighting Whale, the monsters were standing around doing nothing, and once Whale has Selina in his grip, they remember to attack Batwoman. I imagine these scenes were supposed to be occurring at the same time, but it was so clumsily handled it sure didn't feel that way as it was happening.

What was ultimately a push:

The ending. I strongly criticize Greg Weisman's endings, or rather lack of them, in all his projects. I was all set to dump on this if they gave an open ending for a flipping one-off movie. And as the movie was going one thing I was planning on complimenting it on was the fact that stuff just happened that went unexplained. Weisman's biggest fault as a writer is that he feels the need to explain everything. Show the viewer how the magic trick works and basically spoil the fun of it. Weisman has earned a LOT of fans for this storytelling techinique, and no lie, it worked like gangbusters in Gargoyles' "The Gathering". But not only has he never been able to top Owen as Puck in his entire career. But none of the other similar twists he's delivered occur in scenes where the exposition was as believable. Those big reveals felt uncomfortably talky and unrealistic. Weisman values realism above all else in his projects. I would argue because of the amount of exposition and plot related stupidity he has to engage in to make it work, none of his characters talk or act remotely realistically. I prefer outlandish scenarios and believable characters. Weisman values outlandish characters and believable scenarios. We greatly differ on what parts of a fictional project should be realistic. And I think we always will.

So I was all set to compliment the project for sort of just letting random crap happen, until it's revealed at the very end that this was Catwoman's plan all the time, which makes very little sense to me considering all of the random variables Selina couldn't control as the movie was happening. It wasn't a Xanatos Gambit, it was Xanatos Roulette. Learning what Sochi was, and how Catwoman was connected to it would ordinarily annoy me when Weisman did something like that on one of his TV shows. Why didn't it annoy me this time?

I'll admit, the Talia reveal at the end was pretty bad, but I think it's a little different for me to watch an 80 minute movie where the beginning goes full circle with the ending, and there's a major twist and reveal involved there that explains things in hindsight. I feel less jerked around seeing that in the exact same project than I do having the rug supposedly pulled out from under me after watching an entire season structured in a misleading way. Even better, the twist wasn't exactly hidden, or a trick ending. It was one of those things that made perfect sense. So I will not be singing the movie's ending's praises to the Heavens, but I will say as far as explaining an intricate plot goes, it was done right. Best of all, Catwoman simply letting us know that she was involved in Sochi and what Minerva was doing is all we needed and all we got. Weisman didn't give us flashbacks to her revealing that to show the magic trick in all its intricacies. Because as far as unexpected endings go, it's an not an actual trick. And I'll talk smack about Talia, but I appreciate that Weisman resisted the urge to act like he's animation's M. Night Shyamalan for once. He allowed the reveal and Catwoman's motivations to speak for themselves.

Ultimately, I was disappointed though. It's too bad. It had some good things in it. **1/2.

 

[Frontier]

Catwoman: Hunted

I loathed the scene of Catwoman sexually humiliating Batwoman in the tub. And Weisman has a ready made defense for it: Catwoman does that to ALL her enemies. Her entire bit is that she's a tease. I'm positive that will be his defense. That defense doesn't actually wash here though. Because Kate is a woman, specifically a lesbian, the power dynamics are very different in Catwoman doing that. When she does it to a straight male enemy you half think the jerk has it coming. Her doing it to Kate feels weirdly cruel instead, and almost as if she's outright mocking her lesbianism. Weisman can argue Catwoman's characterization there is consistent with her other portrayals, and this always being who Catwoman is all he wants. That doesn't make it okay.

This Catwoman is openly bisexual so I don't think it was intended as sexually humiliating but just how Selina would handle anyone that's attracted to her, whether they be men or women.

(And that she has a Batman fetish).

 

[Fone Bone]

This Catwoman is openly bisexual so I don't think it was intended as sexually humiliating but just how Selina would handle anyone that's attracted to her, whether they be men or women.

(And that she has a Batman fetish).

Is she openly bisexual? Is that something Weisman clarified on his site? If so, it's a failing he had to make it canon after the fact. The way Selina treated Kate here made me believe she was faking being bisexual to mess with her. It doesn't play like she's actually bisexual at all.