As the extended “Ultimate Edition” of Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice hits digital platforms, fans have the chance to reevaluate the gloomy, much-criticized blockbuster and decide whether it really was as disappointing as it seemed back in March. Does making Dawn Of Justice longer solve the film’s narrative problems or merely exacerbate those problems? Viewers who want to devote several hours of their lives to pondering these matters may now do so at their leisure. Or, alternately, they can spend two and a half action-packed minutes watching cute cats dressed as superheroes zip around the screen and destroy stuff with impunity. Totally their choice. The short Batcat V Supercat is the latest creation of filmmaker Kaipo Jones, and it’s a marvel of both animal wrangling and special effects wizardry. In it, a cat dressed as Superman notices a mysterious green light in the sky and pursues it at lightning speed, causing untold havoc along the way. Who could be responsible for this? It could only be a cat dressed up as Batman, who is using the ultimate laser pointer to summon the “Cat Of Steel.”
Even at such a short length, Batcat is a whirlwind tour through the DC Comics universe. Among the locations glimpsed here are LexCorp headquarters, the Daily Planet building, and Arkham Asylum (herein renamed “Arkham Catsylum”). Feline versions of The Joker and Riddler put in cameos (cat-meos? cam-meows?), and there are nods to The Penguin and Green Lantern as well, plus a Trump joke for good measure. For those interested in the technical aspects of cat-based filmmaking, Jones has put together a behind-the-scenes video as well. In it, the director talks about the Easter eggs hidden in his latest film and also candidly discusses the hazards of working with feline thespians. “They kind of do their own thing,” Jones explains. “They’re never in the position you want them to be in when you want them to be in it.” Jones also reveals that he never got around to watching Dawn Of Justice. Whoops.