Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

Directed by Eric Randomski and Bruce Timm, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is an animated film that spawned from the team behind the then popular and acclaimed television series, Batman: The Animated Series. The films’ story follows Batman as he attempts to stop a new masked vigilante who is killing off mob bosses and framing him in the process. As the cops hunt him down he is also plagued with memories from his past such as the first time he put on the cape and cowl as well as a romance from his college years. To top it all off, the Joker soon becomes involved in the assassinations and things only get worse. Not too bad for a seventy minute film.

Despite all the story and subplots involved, there is never a feeling that too much was put into this film. The story is strong and well structured, featuring a well acted cast of characters who are three dimensional and complex. There are some pretty memorable moments such as Bruce Wayne in the rain in front of his parents’ grave, begging them to forgive him because he never thought he could be happy. The love story in the film is surprisingly deep and during one of the flashbacks, it plays a major role into what finally pushed Bruce Wayne into becoming the Dark Knight. All the voice acting is done by those who worked on the show. Kevin Conroy voices Batman/Bruce Wayne and does an excellent job altering his voice to suit the characters’ personalities. His playboy Bruce Wayne is much lighter and even sounds a bit air headed, while his Batman and real Bruce Wayne share a darker and more threatening tone. The one voice that may or may not bother some viewers is the Joker’s. Voiced by Mark Hamill (as he did on the TV show), The Joker sometimes sounds genuinely threatening, but at other times, due to his relatively constant voice fluctuations, he comes off as silly and at worst annoying. Overall it's not too bad, and as a once child viewer of the show, I find it's hard to complain about it too much. For those interested, the DVD release features the French language option and the Joker with the French dubbing is much creepier.

The animation is high quality and fluid, showing some impressive hand-drawn animation. The visual style in the film is one of the highlights; Gotham City is a dark and high angled place with heavy shadows, reminiscent of old film noir; the night sky is red and the cars resemble vehicles used in the 1940s. Clearly there was some influence taken from the Tim Burton films (as the show itself came after the success of those films), but the city itself is much more modern and the way it looks is stylized in such a way that it could only be done through animation separating it from the live action counterparts and giving the film its own unique vision of the city and the Batman characters. The Danny Elfman theme utilized in the Tim Burton Batman films is used as the main theme in this as well, but it sounds a little different with the choir accompaniment. This film is dark and earns its PG rating; characters get killed, suffer from psychological issues, and experience real emotion. There is a great scene where Batman suits up for the first time. Alfred's response is a look of horror as he says, "My, God." This is not because Batman's costume is so terrifying; that's part of it. The real reason is because he witnesses first hand Bruce Wayne disappear forever. There is no turning back from that moment and from then on, Batman is the true face of the one he takes care of. There is not one moment that feels dumbed down because the film is meant for younger viewers. It takes its audience seriously, and the outcome is an incredibly deep story about Batman that is easily on par with the best of the live action versions.