In terms of the ‘Marvel-DC’ debate when it comes to their
film adaptations, I’m admittedly a bigger fan of Marvel. This is mostly in
regard to their live-action films, as Marvel, of course, has had a lot of
success with the Marvel Cinematic Universe while DC is still sort of struggling
to establish their own Cinematic Universe and I’m not too supportive of some of
the moves that they are making in regards to that. However, if there’s one thing
about DC that I just can’t disagree on, it is that they have fared much better
when it comes to their animated films and those are the films we’ll be looking
at today for Part 2 of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s ‘Batman Retrospective’. Now,
for this part, I’m only looking at the DC animated films where Batman is the
lead character, which mostly consists of the films from the original DC Animated
Universe, though I will include a couple of the recent DC animated films from
the company’s ‘DC Universe Animated Original Movies’ lineup. I’m not including
any of the ‘Justice League’ films that he’s in for this post, like ‘Justice
League: The Flashpoint Paradox’ or ‘Justice League: The New Frontier’, and that’s
because this post would go on for way too long. However, I probably will do a
post on the rest of those films in the future. But for now, let’s dive into a
select few of the animated Batman films.
BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM (1993)
‘Mask of the Phantasm’ is the film continuation of ‘Batman:
The Animated Series’, a show that has been widely regarded as one of the
greatest animated shows of all time, if not the absolute best. The film was
originally supposed to be a direct-to-video release, but was eventually
released into theaters… and because this was done on short notice, the film
bombed at the box office. On just a $6 million budget, it just missed getting
its money back with a total gross of around $5.6 million. Ultimately, this
makes ‘Mask of the Phantasm’ one of the most underrated films of all time and
also one of the best Batman films ever. Yes, I’d say that this film is actually
better than a few of the live-action Batman films, particularly the two Joel
Schumacher films, which came out after this film was first released.
First off, let me start by saying that I didn’t really grow
up with the show. I was barely a year old when the show ended in 1995 (not
counting the later spin-offs (e.g. ‘Justice League’)). But in recent years, I
have gotten around to seeing a couple of episodes and I can certainly say that
I agree with the statement that it’s one of the best animated shows of all
time. It has excellent animation and a great visual style, but most importantly
it has a full lineup of great characters, both good and bad. Batman easily has
the most iconic Rogues gallery of any superhero, from the Joker to Mr. Freeze
to Poison Ivy to the Penguin (and that’s just to name a few) and this show is
proof of that. The movie exemplifies the great qualities of the show but also
gives you an excellent story where Bruce finds himself reliving an old
relationship he once had with a girl named Andrea. Back then, it ended in heartbreak
and without giving too much away in this film, it ends the same way as it did
before. But back then that heartbreak was what ultimately led Bruce to becoming
the vigilante known as Batman in the wake of losing what was perhaps the only
chance he had at a normal life. If you haven’t seen ‘Mask of the Phantasm’,
it’s certainly worth checking out.
Rating: 5/5!
BATMAN AND MR. FREEZE: SUBZERO (1998)
Now this film was pushed back from its original release,
summer 1997, due to the release of ‘Batman and Robin’, which also featured Mr.
Freeze as the main antagonist, and of course part of this was because of the
incredibly negative reception towards ‘Batman and Robin’. So, it was instead
released in March of 1998… and, as you might have guessed, it’s at least 50
times better than ‘Batman and Robin’. It’s basically the same general plot as
the live-action film, though this one takes place in the continuity of the
Animated Series and after the events of ‘Deep Freeze’, which at the time was
the last episode of the series to feature Mr. Freeze (for now, we’ll ignore the
‘The New Batman Adventures’ AKA ‘Season 4’ of the series). In this film, Mr.
Freeze looks to cure his wife, who’s diagnosed with a terminal illness but is
on the brink of death after an incident where she’s released from cryogenic
slumber. His plan is to perform an organ transplant and his intended donor;
Batgirl, even though this means that she would die because of it. So, overall
this film has a lot of high emotional stakes to it and as it was in the show, it
features the great writing and characterization of Mr. Freeze and his tragic
backstory. All of this results in an ending that is both heartwarming but also
sad at the same time.
But, I can’t really say that this is ‘as good’ as ‘Mask of
the Phantasm’. While that film was certainly fitting for a theatrical release,
this definitely fits the bill for a ‘direct-to-video’ release. It feels more
like a two-part episode of the show, but on that note, it does sometimes feel a
bit too dragged out. The final fight does kind of go on a bit too long. Still,
it’s a solid entry in the franchise with the usual great Warner Bros. animation
and the great writing that has been a defining part of the show that these
movies were based off of. Obviously when comparing the two Batman films with
Mr. Freeze, this one was much better than ‘Batman and Robin’, though I will
give the writers of that film credit for actually doing a pretty decent job at
handling the whole subplot with Freeze and his wife… that’s one of the few good
things about that film. Still, in the end, it’s no contest… this is the
superior Mr. Freeze-centered Batman film.
Rating: 4/5
BATMAN BEYOND: RETURN OF THE JOKER (2000)
Okay, I’m kind of cheating here because this technically
isn’t ‘Batman’; it’s ‘Batman Beyond’, a spin-off of ‘Batman: The Animated
Series’ taking place years into the future where a new Batman, teenager Terry
McGinnis (voiced by Will Friedle), fights to protect Gotham City as the protégé
of an elderly Bruce Wayne. I’m mainly including its film adaptation ‘Return of
the Joker’ here because I think that it’s arguably just as notable as some of
the other animated Batman films. Why? Well, for one reason this film attracted
quite a bit of controversy for being way too violent. This film was released in
the wake of Columbine when there was a lot of political debate over the
depiction of violence in movies and video games and as such, the film was
heavily edited to reduce the violence for its initial release. However, in
2002, the film was re-released unedited and given a ‘PG-13’ rating. Also, as
the title suggests, this film features the return of everyone’s favorite Clown
Prince of Crime, the Joker so why shouldn’t this be included in this
retrospective?
First off, let me start by just doing a little mini-review
of the ‘Batman Beyond’ television series, as I did watch a few episodes of it
on Netflix before watching the movie and overall it is a pretty good show. I
liked how it continued the timeline of the original DC animated universe and
while it was a new show focusing on a new lead character, it still managed to
connect itself to the previous series, namely through having Bruce Wayne still
around as Terry’s mentor. Admittedly, it’s not as good as ‘Batman: The Animated
Series’ but then again, that is sort of a hard act to follow. And, to the
credit of this show, it is still a very entertaining superhero show that’s just
as visually impressive and well-written. The movie ‘Return of the Joker’ is a
solid continuation of that series and of course is highlighted by the Joker.
Kevin Conroy is the definitive animated Batman, and the same can be said for
Mark Hamill, the definitive voice for the animated Joker. Hamill’s just as good
as Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger (heck, we can throw Cesar Romero from the
Adam West series in here too; every interpretation of the Joker has been pretty
darn good). As evident from the violence that was cut from the original release
but restored in the unedited cut, included an early death scene for the Joker
that, well, is actually more violent in the edited cut if you really think
about it (in the unedited cut, he’s impaled with a spear gun but in the edited
cut, he’s electrocuted… I don’t know about you but that latter one sounds more
disturbing… and that one we don’t actually see), this movie serves as one of
the few chances we’ll ever get to see the darker side of the Joker from the
comics. As is, ‘Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker’ is a solid entry in the
Batman animated film franchise.
Rating: 4/5
BATMAN: MYSTERY OF THE BATWOMAN (2003)
Remember how I said that ‘Subzero’ was a bit too drawn out…
well, ‘Mystery of the Batwoman’ is an even bigger example of that. This one
really drags at times and like ‘Subzero’, the final fight goes on just a bit
too long. For the record, while this film may be called ‘Mystery of the
Batwoman’, there really isn’t much mystery to this story. You can tell who the
mysterious vigilante known as Batwoman is just a few minutes into the movie and
even though they try to make it out to be a mystery, with three separate women
being possible candidates… well, I don’t really know how I can even explain how
that ultimately plays out. Overall, the reveal of the ‘identity’ (or
‘identities’, to be more specific) of Batwoman is rather weak. Really, what was
the point of making it a mystery when the reveal was what it was? The animation
is still really good and the voice acting is pretty good as well (though they
don’t really establish why the Batwoman sounds different when she’s not in
costume), but overall, this is not an animated Batman film that I’d really
recommend. I’m not saying that it’s bad; it’s just that this is one that I’m
not really going to re-watch that much.
Rating: 3/5
BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD (2010)
In between ‘Dark Knight’ and ‘Rises’, there was another
animated Batman film that came out, one that stands toe to toe with not just
‘Mask of the Phantasm’, but also the live-action Batman films as one of the
best entries in the entire franchise; ‘Under the Red Hood’. This film is more
fast-paced than ‘Mask’, but the end result is never boring and the film still
has a really great story that, like ‘Phantasm’, is based around one of Bruce
Wayne’s personal struggles as we see how he tries to cope with ‘one of his
greatest failures’ which comes back to haunt him in the form of the ‘Red Hood’
(whose identity I won’t spoil here), a character who is out to do what Batman
does, but is willing to break the one rule Batman will never break. The film
has excellent animation and a terrific voice cast, particularly Bruce Greenwood
and John DiMaggio who both doing fantastic jobs as Batman/Bruce Wayne and the
Joker respectively. This film was recommended to me by my friend Matt and I
must say that it’s a very good recommendation. It’s one that I pass on to you
folks as well, as ‘Under the Red Hood’ is a film that’s just as good as the
Nolan films that came around the same time. I’ve heard a LOT of people say that
this is better than all of the live-action Batman films. I don’t necessarily
agree with that, in fact I actually sort of think ‘Phantasm’ is the better
animated Batman film, but regardless ‘Under the Red Hood’ is still a must-see
for ‘Batman’ fans.
Rating: 5/5!
BATMAN: YEAR ONE (2011)
As the title suggests, ‘Year One’ follows the first year of
Bruce Wayne’s career as the vigilante Batman after returning to Gotham City
after spending 12 years abroad. At the same time, the film also focuses on Jim
Gordon and his early days with Gotham’s police department. Their storylines are
balanced very well and we see how their two lives intersect trying to deal with
the corruption and crime of Gotham City and also how the arrival of Batman
affects everyone in Gotham. Oh yeah, and Gordon’s voiced by Bryan Cranston! But
in all seriousness, Cranston does a very good job as Jim Gordon as does Ben
McKenzie (who’s set to play Gordon in the upcoming prequel series ‘Gotham’) as
Bruce Wayne/Batman. If I had any complaints at all about this film, it would
probably be the story sort of goes by a bit too fast in just an hour-long
runtime but then again, that’s probably how it was in the original story
(written by Frank Miller in 1987), which I haven’t read but like the next film
coming up, I have the feeling that this film was as faithful to the source
material as possible. So, overall, ‘Batman: Year One’ is another solid entry in
the series that highlights both the Caped Crusader and the man who would become
one of his greatest allies.
Rating: 4.5/5
THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS: PART 1 (2012) AND 2 (2013)
Regardless of how people view the 60’s ‘Batman’ television
series, one thing is for certain; it helped bring the character into the
mainstream of pop culture. However, it wasn’t until the 80’s when the character
would return to his darker roots. The first major success on this front was
Frank Miller’s 1986 miniseries ‘The Dark Knight Returns’, which officially
helped the character regain a lot of popularity. It has played a major influence
in three of the live-action Batman films; Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’, Christopher
Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, and also the upcoming ‘Batman vs. Superman’
film which isn’t a direct adaptation of the story but partially inspired by it.
In 2012, DC and Warner Animation produced a film adaptation of the story which
was released in two parts. Part 1 was released in September of 2012 while Part
2 was released in January of 2013. The two were then combined into one single
film and that version (the ‘Deluxe Edition’) was released in October of 2013.
Now first off, let me start by saying that I haven’t read
the mini-series before watching the films, but it’s clear here that the
filmmakers were as faithful to the source material as possible from the imagery
to the story to the dialogue. It certainly helps to have this story be in two
parts so that they don’t leave much out. Also keep in mind that both of these
films are only 76 minutes each so it’s not really along the same lines as
‘Harry Potter’, ‘Twilight’, or ‘The Hunger Games’. This is one of the good
examples of splitting a story into two films. The animation is terrific, and to
put it simply, this is without a doubt a ‘Batman’ film for an older audience as
it does get dark, violent, and even bloody most of the time and it isn’t afraid
to do so. The voice acting is great; Peter Weller does an excellent job as the
older and angrier Batman and Michael Emerson is also fantastic as this film’s
Joker. The final scene between the two in Part 2 is one of the best
Batman-Joker moments ever put on film, even outshining the moments between them
from both the 1989 ‘Batman’ film and ‘The Dark Knight’.
I don’t really want to compare the two parts of this film
that much, but if I had to choose the one that I think is the better half of
the story, I would go with ‘Part 1’, in which Bruce Wayne first comes out of
retirement to deal with the crime in Gotham City; it has really great pacing
and sets up the story really well. ‘Part 2’ does have the best moments of this
two-part story, with Batman’s fight with the Joker and Batman’s fight with Superman,
but overall ‘Part 2’ runs without much of a plot, really. Oh yeah, Superman’s
in this part of the story too as is a plotline from the story revolving around
Cold War tension. It kind of feels a bit tacked on for a story that was mainly
revolving around Batman, but at the same time, it’s pretty awesome to see these
two iconic characters face off against each other. Overall, ‘Dark Knight
Returns’ is an excellent adaptation of the story it was based off of and
another great entry in the lineup of DC’s animated films. Even though they’re
having trouble getting their live-action cinematic universe running, they
certainly make some fantastic animated films.
Ratings:
As a Whole: 4.5/5
PART 1: 5/5!
PART 2: 4/5
And here’s where I’ll be ending this retrospective. Again, I’m
not going to cover any of the ‘Justice League’ films featuring Batman in this
post because I don’t want this to go on too long but I will likely do a post on
all of those films in the future. Now, it’s time for rankings; here is how I’d
rank all of the animated Batman films that I’ve covered in this post.
1. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
2. Batman: Under the Red Hood
3. The Dark Knight Returns (Parts 1 and 2)
4. Batman: Year One
5. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
6. Batman and Mr. Freeze: Subzero
7. Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman
And here’s a complete
ranking of all of the films I’ve covered in this retrospective, live-action and
animated (again, not counting the 1966 film).
1. The Dark Knight
2. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
3. The Dark Knight Rises
4. Batman: Under the Red Hood
5. The Dark Knight Returns (Parts 1 and 2)
6. Batman (1989)
7. Batman Begins
8. Batman: Year One
9. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
10. Batman and Mr. Freeze: Subzero
11. Batman Forever
12. Batman Returns
13. Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman
14. Batman and Robin
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