Catwoman: Hunted

The straight-to-video animated movie Catwoman: Hunted is a bit of a mixed bag. Elizabeth Gillies stars as Catwoman as the Bat-Family-adjacent character get sucked into a fight against Leviathan after Batwoman (Stephanie Beatriz) prevents her from stealing a priceless jewel. There's some fun here, such as Selina Kyle dressing in a classic Catwoman costume to crash a costume ball and working in the character's cat Isis as a supporting character.

Sadly, aside from Catwoman's dialogue and character, much of the rest of the film is lifeless with characters being merely pieces to advance the plot, obstacles, or dialogue dumps to move Catwoman on her journey from some of the blandest characters to ever grace a DC animated movie.

Of all the villains, Black Mask (Jonathan Banks) gets the most time here although he's far more toned down and less interesting than the volatile version we got in Batman: Under the Red Hood. The other villains aren't that notable other than a late twist comic fans (or anyone able to read a character's Wikipedia page) will see coming. In much the same way, the animation for the film hits its mark with close-ups of the characters but at times gets a bit cheap when the camera pulls back or when an action scene erupts. There's a fun story at the heart of movie, even if the plot overcomplicates Catwoman's involvement in Batwoman's plans. At best, it's a curiosity for Catwoman fans interested on this take on the character but ultimately fails to deliver much more than that.

Watch the trailer

• Title: Catwoman: Hunted
• IMDb: link