The Dark Knight Returns is set in a future Gotham City. (I guess it could argued that it's an alternate future, but we won't get into that.) Bruce Wayne (voiced by Peter Weller) is now an old man and he's long since retired from being Batman. Commissioner Gordon (voiced by David Selby) is older as well, and he's on the verge of retirement. He's aware that Bruce Wayne is Batman and the too reminisce about the old days. A group of thugs callings themselves The Mutants have been staging a crime spree in Gotham and this gets Wayne's attention. Things get even more interesting when a seemingly rehabilitated and rebuilt Harvey Dent (voiced by Wade Williams) is released from Arkham and promptly disappears. These events cause Wayne to once again don the Batman suit, despite the protests of Alfred (voiced by Michael Jackson...who I presume is not that Michael Jackson). As Batman takes on The Mutants and Two-Face, he piques the curiosity of a young girl named Carrie Kelly (voiced by Ariel Winter), who gets a Robin costume and begins to pursue the Caped Crusader. Can an old man and a girl take down a crime syndicate?

The Dark Knight Returns has been on my list of "things I intend to read" for decades, but as I'm A) more of a Marvel person, and B) always reviewing movies, I've never gotten around to it. Thus, I can't say how must justice (no pun intended) this adaptation does to the comics. But, I can say that I certainly enjoyed this movie and it's one of the most satisfying DC Comics animated projects yet. (Based on a synopsis of The Dark Knight Returns which I read, it looks like they stuck to the story and I would imagine that they wouldn't want to mess with some a famous property.) While remaining within its PG-13 confines, the movie presents us with a violent and dark depiction of Gotham City. From the outset, the movie grabs us with its visuals and the anticipation that Batman will be appearing at sometime. While we're obviously familiar with Bruce Wayne/Batman, Commissioner Gordon, and Alfred, the movie does a good job of introducing us to new characters like Carrie Kelly (listen closely to the dialogue of her off-screen parents to get a feel for their household) and The Mutants. The action scenes are very well-done and clearly aren't afraid to go for broke. As this is Part 1, it ends with a great cliffhanger, which leaves us longing for Part 2.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 has a very interesting version of the Batmobile on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Warner Home Video. The movie has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 18 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no grain or defects from the source materials. As one would imagine, this is a dark movie, but the image is never overly dark. The colors, when they appear, look good, most notably reds and blues. The animation looks good -- there is no stuttering of the image and no jagged lines. The image is detailed and shows a nice amount of depth. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.2 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. This is a powerful track which offers loads of surround and subwoofer effects. The action scenes bring us a nice balance of stereo and surround effects -- these are nicely detailed and we can clearly here the audio moving from side to side and front to back. The subwoofer effects, most notably from the Batmobile, are palpable, but not distorted.

The Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 contains an assortment of trailers and previews for other projects, but only a few real extra features. "Her Name is Carrie...Her Role is Robin" (12 minutes) is a discussion of the importance of making Robin a female in The Dark Knight Returns. Members of the DC Comics family discuss the cultural impact of Frank Miller's creation and how Carrie Kelly further helped the book to shake up the comic book world. The piece then looks at other female comic book characters. "Batman and Me: The Bob Kane Story" (38 minutes) is a detailed documentary about the creator of Batman. Through photos, archive interviews, and comment from those who knew Kane, we learn about his life and legacy. The Disc also contains two bonus episodes of Batman: The Animated Series which feature Two-Face.