While there are some good things to be said for Warner Bros' DVD release of Batman, one of those things is not how it makes full use of the DVD format. Aside from a handful of production and cast notes, and some film recommendations, the DVD has no extras. The disc includes both full-frame and widescreen versions of the movie. The widescreen version is an anamorphic transfer preserving the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio of the movie. The transfer is very crisp and clean, with no sign of grain, and minimal compression artifacts and edge enhancement apparent throughout. The print used is very clean and shows no degradation. Colors are accurate and vivid throughout (while the scenes that are required to look grey and forbidding achieve a respectably sullen coldness) with no smearing or blending, and blacks are nicely solid and detailed. Earlier video transfers of this movie tended to push the luminance levels too high, leaving darker areas a kind of ugly grey-green. The soundtrack, originally Dolby Stereo, has been remastered to Dolby 5.1. The resulting track is clean and clear, with good dialogue separation, but is somewhat lacking in dynamics and does not make particularly good use of either the subwoofer channel or the surrounds (there is some surround work, mainly for ambience, but the majority of the soundstage is across the front). The French-language track is the original Dolby 2.0 track, with levels pushed to the wall. The voice cast seems a bit odd, but the dubbing is adequate. The disc has 31 chapter stops and is packaged in a cardboard snapper case.

Batman Begins (DVD Widescreen) [DVD]