Bottom line: This is not Batman the Animated Series. There is good storytelling, but the confrontations with Jack the Ripper are visceral. The motivations of the characters are not always very noble and are a byproduct of the time period in which they live. The film is not for small kids and the character development can go down some unexpected paths.
Gotham by gaslight is another great entry in the DC animated universe. Falling outside the standard continuity of the various Earths in the DC multiverse, Gotham by gaslight is an Elseworld story with great writing and a chance to see familiar characters in an unfamiliar setting. Deprived of modern conventions, the Rogue’s Gallery of the Batman and the Caped Crusader himself are re-envisioned in the Victorian era. So expect the unexpected as characters may be barely recognizable. They may go by the same name, but work in a different profession or go by their real name and not their meta-human or superhero title.
This period's Batman is reminiscent of the caped crusader but with only very limited functional gadgets. Forensics is not a well established field in this period and fingerprints are not admissable evidence in court. Batman has to operate differently without the infrastructure associated with his current iteration. However, this is not to the story's detriment. Batman, throughout his history, has used human networks of informants and word of mouth to know what is going on. As Bruce Wayne, Batman is able to study people and is dismissed as the rich bachelor they assume him to be. Batman also does not have the same range of fighting skills and is more of a brawler so fights are more physical in your face which fits the graphic theme of this story.
It can be argued that in this tale as in many of the core Batman titles the most interesting characters aside from Batman are actually not people. Arkham Asylum and Gotham City feel alive and factor into the outcome of many of the World's Greatest Detectives most memorable cases. Gotham City runs the gamut of emotions from epic history to hopeful future and dark present. The streets have a grimy layer that is present in Skinner's End and in the less than affluent areas of the city. It is part Industrial Revolution and part ominousness for what is about to take place in this tale. The World's Fair shows so much promise and illustrates the disconnect between the underbelly of the city and the promise of the future. There are scenes in gentleman's clubs and in a slaughterhouse that indicate that this is not the Gotham we know but then there is architecture that resembles places in the Arkham Asylum video games and in the pages of the Batman family of books to confirm that this is the same place, but a different time.
Arkham Asylum is decked out with cages and is clearly a sanitarium prison for those deemed mentally insane if not disturbed. The inmates are treated with barbaric methods of treatment which may explain the macabre, haunted environment of the structure in tales set there in the present day continuity of the Dark Knight. Arkham Asylum feels haunted by the ghosts of those who were incarcerated there or at least it emanates human misery, despair, and madness. As in many of the stories, Arkham Asylum appears to have its own climate compared to Gotham City proper. Blackgate prison, in comparison, just feels like an old prison and is more of a blank canvas for the prison occupants.
Bottom line: This is not Batman the Animated Series. There is good storytelling but the confrontations with Jack the Ripper are visceral. The film is not for small kids and the character development can be deep and dark. Conversations include coarse language and do not shy away from discussing topics relevant to the time period and the Ripper murders. Characters debate women's suffrage, unaccepted modern technology, and the human mind. If you enjoy DCEU, this is a solid entry. Comic book fans, Victorian era, and Steam Punk fans can enjoy the aesthetic as well as the story and action.
