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Title: Batman: Mask of The Phantasm
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If you asked me what my favorite TV show of the '90’s was, I would have a hard time answering that question. For different reasons, I fell in love with “Sailor Moon,” “Home Improvement,” “7th Heaven,” and other shows. However, I think one of the brightest spots in the '90’s was Paul Dinni and Bruce W. Timm’s 1992 “Batman: The Animated Series!” With sharp writing, excellent animation, equally impressive voice work, and a dark adult feel to it, “Batman: The Animated Series” did justice to the character, and the series to this day is hailed as one of the best shows ever created…if not THE best! With all of the popularity this show received, a feature film was bound to come sooner or later, and when it did come, the world would miss out on one of the best animated action movies in a long time. Yes, folks, as sad as it is, “Batman: Mask of The Phantasm” failed pretty miserably at the box office, and the movie's failure is why all future animated "Batman" movies went directly to video.
The story of "Phantasm" is a fairly simple one. A caped murder known as the Phantasm is running around town and killing people. However, since the only thing anyone has seen of the murderer is his cape, the newspapers start printing stories that Batman has finally gone crazy and is bumping people off one by one. Meanwhile, a woman that is tightly connected to Bruce’s past comes back to town, but for what reason, no one knows. Throw the Joker into the mix, and you’ve got a basic idea of what the story is about. While the story is very simple, the way the twists and turns in the story work out are what makes it special. Like the TV series, nothing is completely what it seems, and the character relationships and conflicted demons end up being much deeper then you would think they would be in a movie like this. Who is this woman Bruce was involved with so many years ago? Why is this phantasm killing off all these people; is there a motive? How does the Joker fit into all of this? Well, finding out the answers to these questions is all part of the fun, and you wouldn't want me to spoil your fun, would you?! Even at a brisk pace of 76 minutes, this movie delivers the goods in spades! The voice work in this movie is also excellent.
Kevin Conroy does an excellent job as both Batman and Bruce Wayne, where his voice can easily change from being gruff and frightening to being fairly down-to-earth. I honestly don't know why Conroy hasn't voiced too many characters since Batman, as he's proven himself to be quite a capable voice actor. Fans of “Superman: The Animated Series” will notice that Dana Delany (who would eventually go on to voice Lois Lane) has prior voice work experience as Bruce’s ex-fiancee Audraya. The only problem with Dana voicing this character is that ever since she voiced Lois Lane, I've been having trouble thinking of Audraya as Audraya, because there's an image of Lois always sitting in the back of my mind when I hear her voice. However, the best performance (naturally) is Mark Hamill's portrayal as the psychotic Joker. Since his Luke Skywalker days, Mark Hamill has become known as the god of voice acting, and watching him as the Joker will give you a very good idea of why he has come to be called that! His voice is just so perfect for the Joker it's scary -- it's as if Hamill was BORN to play the Joker! If there were awards given away for voice acting, I'm sure Hamill would have had truck loads of them by now, with a good quarter of them being awards for his Joker portrayal.
The DVD of "Batman: Mask of The Phantasm" is less than spectacular though, containing only the trailer and a French language track (yuck) as special features. In other words this DVD is certainly nothing to wet yourself over. Although to be perfectly honest, even the trailer was more than I was expecting to get on this DVD knowing how poorly this film did at the box office, and it is nice to finally be able to watch the movie in widescreen after suffering through the pan-and-scan version of this film on my VHS for years. The live-action "Batman" movies have all had a varying degree of success (both artistically and financially), but “Batman: Mask of The Phantasm” is a real treasure for "Batman" fans. Focusing less on the budget and more on the heart of the story, "Phantasm" proves to be a very deep and emotional movie that also has the right amount of humor and action for good measure. If you consider yourself to be a fan of Batman, then it should be a REQUIREMENT to see this movie! Oh, and don’t forget to check out the TV series too!
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -