Sunday, May 11, 2014

Batman Film Retrospective: Part 2 (Animated Films)


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

No comments:

Post a Comment