DC’s animated “Batman” movies continue to be hit or miss and sadly “The Long Halloween” is another miss. It has some interesting elements but at times, it feels more like it’s trying to be “The Godfather” rather than an adventure suitable for the Caped Crusader.

Batman (Jensen Ackles) and Harvey Dent team up to try and bring down mobster Carmine Falcone. Things get complicated when Falcone’s associates start being murdered every time there is a big public holiday. What starts on Halloween, continues to Thanksgiving and beyond. Batman tries to figure out the identity of ‘Holiday’ as the body count continues to rise.

Batman almost feels out of place in his movie here. While we all know that Batman is a brilliant detective, we don’t really get to see all that much of him trying to figure this stuff out, we spend more time with all the mob drama. Falcone is made to look like Marlon Brando in “The Godfather”. The Joker, Catwoman, Calendar Man and Solomon Grundy all appear but add very little to the movie. I’m really not a fan of the animation style for the characters. It often seems cheap and that’s a shame because the backgrounds look stunning at times.

This is only the first part of this story so maybe it will all come together by the end but as it stands, this first section of “Long Halloween” is a disappointment. Too much is going on here and it just becomes a mess. There is so much foreshadowing of Harvey Dent becoming Two-Face and so much mobster material but then you also throw in an elaborate fight with The Joker and more romance with Catwoman. I know this is based on a comic book storyline so its not the filmmakers’ fault. However, I think they should have taken some executive decisions and made some necessary alterations.