On the cusp of the upcoming “The Dark Knight,” Warner Bros. has taken the two best animated Batman movies ever made, and re-packaged them together for a double feature DVD with the extras. Now I bet you’re fuming that you spent ten bucks on “Mask of the Phantasm” when you can now get it for essentially the same price but with another movie, and I don’t blame you, but I don’t have either of these movies, and for someone like me looking for a Batman fix before “The Dark Knight” juggernaut slams onto the big screens, this double feature DVD comes with convenience, and good timing. Timm did Batman like no one else did Batman, and that’s a true caveat as well.
Timm is so in love with Batman that every other character he ever put on screen was minimized and de-powered in favor of Batman. Whether “Justice League” or “World’s Finest” Batman possessed ridiculous skills and speed just to make him look great, and that in turn, added to my annoyance with Timm and the character. However, you really can’t dislike Timm too much when you consider he ushered Batman in as an adult character with real issues, and two animated movies that received almost zero publicity yet managed to be ten times better than the previous live action series from the Burton-Schumacher duo. Timm commits a feat with Mask of the Phantasm (1993) that many directors couldn’t pull off.
In a little over an hour he tells an epic first year tale of Bruce Wayne on the road to Batman, he explores a menacing villain who may or may not be on Batman’s side, and he depicts the Joker as a maniacal horrific threat to the Dark Knight, which, up until we hadn’t seen “Batman.” For kids looking for wham and bam action, “Mask of the Phantasm” may be a little slow, but nonetheless it’s a wonderful slow boil murder mystery with a competent mystery villain. Just the same there are some incredibly effective action sequences of Bruce Wayne in early costume fighting crime, and then creating the design for Batman. It’s essentially just like the first half of “Batman Begins” but with much more low key maturity.
The romance between Bruce and Andrea Beaumont is one of the most engrossing storylines in the entire Timm Batman canon, and the way the Joker corrupts this dynamic with his misdeeds and murder make this movie a wonderful premiere for Timm in the feature film format. Though it barely made a dent at the box office, it still outclasses “Batman,” and “Batman and Robin” by miles and miles. SubZero (1998) is also an excellent antidote to the putrid waste of time that was “Batman and Robin.” The happy coincidence was that it arrived a year later with little to no publicity and lo and behold it was the better film, with a Mr. Freeze who is imposing and horrifying in stature with a goal that he intends on meeting regardless of who dies in the process.
Even the Commissioner’s daughter. What “SubZero” has over the aforementioned live action mess is that its successfully dramatic, it’s appealing to children and it has the entire trio of Batman, Robin, and Batgirl. On the same wavelength the romance between Dick Grayson who realizes he’s in love with Barbara Gordon is probably the most charming aspect of the film, with Bruce taking a second string as their savior who fights to keep their relationship strong when Barbara is kidnapped by Mr. Freeze to be used for her organs to transplant to Freeze’s wife Nora. Now Dick and Batman follow them to Freeze’s lair in the arctic and take on killer polar bears and the elements to save her and try to restore some sanity to Freeze.
This was a film pushed back to avoid comparisons to the aforementioned box office lemon, and for good reason since Timm’s sequel is far more superior with an engrossing story, and fantastic action sequences. Though Barbara only suits up as Batgirl once, she’s a key player in the story, and all dignity is restored to the mythos thanks to Timm.
Folks, you get what you pay for, and sadly, this “Batman Double Feature” is one of the dinkiest repackages I’ve ever seen. Not only does it simply mash the covers together on the DVD, but there’s no chapter insert, no little tokens, the extras are re-packaged, and the DVD is double sided! Suffice it to say it took me a few minutes to grab it correctly without adding a finger print to the disc. This is just sloppy, but then again, this is to market on “The Dark Knight,” so again, you get what you pay for.
People looking for a reason to buy both films without spending money on separate releases will find this a quick way to achieve the goal, but the DVD and packaging are just plain awful. The DVD is terrible, the packaging sucks, and the extras are old hat, but thankfully the double bill has two wonderful animated films that managed to outclass and outrank their predecessors in every respect.