At this point, Watchmen needs no introduction. The original 12-issue comic by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons remains legendary to this day, and we have had it adapted into a 3-hour-plus movie courtesy of Zack Snyder with the Watchmen Ultimate Cut and even a live-action sequel TV series in the form of HBO’s Watchmen, not to mention a comic book continuation with DC’s Doomsday Clock.

That’s a lot, but one medium that Watchmen has yet to be adapted into is animation but now we finally have one with Watchmen Chapter 1.

Who Watches The Watchmen?

What’s the point of an animated adaptation when we’ve already received a somewhat accurate live-action version (yeah, everything but that ending)? Well, did we need an animated Watchmen movie? Not really. Is Watchmen Chapter 1 worth watching? It’s hard to say. Well, the script for the movie was written by J. Michael Straczynski, a legendary writer (he’s written many comics and is also the creator of Babylon 5). As a result, Watchmen Chapter 1 is as concise and well-written as half of the story can be without diluting the plot.

Also, the story of Watchmen is the story of Watchmen; it’s phenomenal in any medium as long as it keeps to the original beats of the comics. Another way Watchmen: Chapter I cleverly adapts the source material is how it incorporates the Tales Of The Black Freighter comic into the narrative of the movie.

That being said, as someone who’s both read the comics and watched Zack Snyder’s movie, I can say that Watchmen Chapter 1 is just more of the same thing. They didn’t really do anything much to make the most of the medium of animation while adapting the comics. For instance, the animation style of Watchmen Chapter 1 is based on weird cell-shaded CGI, which reminds me a lot of the visual style in the various games by Telltale Games like The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead.

The animation style does shine during certain moments, especially during the Dr. Manhattan sections, where we can see Dave Gibbons’ art style come to life in a very satisfying way. Unfortunately, everywhere else, especially during the action scenes, the animation looks underwhelming but animation style can often vary depending on preferences so perhaps others will find the animation style more appealing.

The voice actors are fine for the most part, but the highlights are Titus Welliver as Rorschach, Michael Cerveris as Dr. Manhattan and Katee Sackhoff as Silk Spectre II. Titus Welliver as Rorschach is especially the standout performance since it’s not easy to pull off a Rorschach voice without coming off as trying too hard or insincere.

Some of the more emotional moments lack a bit of a punch, but that may be due to the movie’s brisk pacing since Watchmen Chapter 1 is only approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes long, which isn’t much when you’re telling a monumental story like Watchmen. Unfortunately, the movie ends on a frustrating cliffhanger, though that’s to be expected from a movie that’s only half of the story.

Just Okay

Overall, Watchmen Chapter 1 isn’t really anything to shout out. The best thing about it is that it’s comics-accurate but it’s unremarkable for the most part. There’s not much reason to recommend it since you’re better off reading the comics instead.

This may be a divisive opinion but I’d even go as far as saying that watching Zack Snyder’s Watchmen Ultimate Cut is better than this for now (because at least that offers a complete story), but we’ll have to wait for Watchmen Chapter 2 before I can definitively say that.

FINAL SCORE: 70/100

Watchmen Chapter 1 is now available on Digital.