02.06
Earlier at the Animation Revelation boards,(hint hint), we played a vote n’ rank game entitled Greatest Animated Movie, where we’d vote for and determine what the general conscious of the board would be for the choice favorite animated movie. Our top choice was 90’s outing Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, ideal for fans of the show, while follow-ups were Disney’s beloved cash cow The Lion King, Tim Burton and Henry Selick’s cult classic The Nightmare Before Christmas, and End of Evangelion, a fitting alternate take for the anime’s finale. An honorary fifth place was given to Robert Zemeckis’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, a revolutionary live-action/animation hybrid salute to film noir and the golden age of animation.
All of these are high quality films, in this reviewer’s opinion, and I was ready to reanalyze any of the 64 movies nominated for the game. Thankfully a film I enjoy quite a bit won over the others, or I’d call blasphemy.
But just what is it about Batman: Mask of the Phantasm that we enjoy above all else?
To answer this, I should probably explain what I like about Batman: The Animated Series to begin with. In my life, many television programs have come and gone, but few have stayed or made as much of an impact as Bruce Timm’s take on the Dark Knight. Timm, Paul Dini, Eric Radomski, Alan Burnett, and crew took various aspects of all of the high points of one of comic’s most iconic and recognizable ceations and gave us poetry. Taking aspects from film noir, art deco, science-fiction, and classic horror, not to mention such nice things as source material straight from the comics, and helped to redefine the Caped Crusader’s character, mythology, supporting cast, and villains. Great things that would affect the comics in the years to come such as giving the Joker an identifiable lacky in Harley Quinn or turning Mr. Freeze from a stock b-villain into a cold, vengeful antagonist worth caring about.
As it would seem, Batman: TAS took pride in respecting it’s audience. Stories that were worth telling such as Harvey Dent questioning which half of his should stay in control of his life when given the chance to have his Two-Face half removed, Bruce Wayne debating if he is really doing Gotham or his parents good by masking up as the Dark Knight after Commissioner Gordon has been shot, or Harley Quinn leaving the Joker’s side by taking the Bat down while considering if her life in crime has been worth it have been told. Coincidentally, we’ve also been received episodes involving some of Batman’s greatest in his rogue gallery relating past fumbles with the Caped Crusader in an unsuspecting matter or Harley and Poison Ivy teaming up with each other in refuge, bonding a closer friendship than either would imagine. Batman: TAS has had an incredible track record with episodes pleasing on all levels. There is enough emotional depth in not just Batman but most of the supporting to cast to spare, and a bit of humor to be found as well.
Thinking of it’s first film, Mask of the Phantasm, brings me back to when the show was still airing on Cartoon Network. Back when the channel had some dignity, or at least enough sense to earn some, CN aired B: TAS and treated it as the big deal that it was and still is. Advertisements were made to make the show’s arrival seem as important as it was, and B: TAS had a good run on the network. Similar to the show, when CN would air Phantasm, they also tended to treat it’s airing as the big deal that it was, and my young self would go out of my way to see the movie whenever they’d dust it off. Reading over this, it seems as if the Disney method does indeed work.
I can’t quite recall what it was that drew me into this movie when I was younger, because looking at it now, Mask of the Phantasm was written more for adults than children, even moreso than the average B: TAS episode. The action in the movie is brief and peaks at the end, a trait fine for a half-hour episode, but for an 80-minute movie, can make an action hungry 8-year-old antsy. There’s also little comic relief, a few choice lines and a typically entertaining Joker appearance aside. And the reason I like it now, the character driven story, is a bit more sophisticated and layered than what I’ve been used to.
This is probably why I love Mask of the Phantasm so. Like the show it was adapted from, Phantasm rarely, if ever, ponders down to children, and comes off as invigorating in my eyes. Here is a story of love, loss, vengeance, power, and occasionally even joy.
We find Bruce Wayne early on in his Batman days, or at least we’re lead to assume so. The movie starts with Batman interrupting a crime lord meeting the way he’s expected to, when one escapes. The gang member then runs into another masked character, warning him that his “angel of death awaits”, and causes the crime lord to crash is car into a nearby building. Batman is seen when the act is committed, leading Gotham’s finest to believe that this was his doing.
While similar crimes are committed throughout the movie, Batman’s integrity becomes questioned. However, Bruce has other thoughts on his mind when Andrea Beaumont, a former lover, is mentioned to him at a party. It turns out that Andrea is the one woman Bruce has ever truly loved. During the time ?Bruce had been practicing his various taught skills, he meets and Andrea, and finds in her a fellow soul broken by the loss of a loved one. While Bruce promised to avenge his parents by making sure no one should have to suffer the same fate they did years ago, Andrea lives up to her late mother’s expectations by enjoying life, but not without issues of her own. Throughout many of the movie’s flashbacks, we learn more about her character and her family and see a side of Bruce we typically wouldn’t in the comics.
Eventually, tragedy will strike the two. Without giving away what happens, I will say that at a certain point in the movie, the creation of Batman, Andrea’s departure from Bruce, and the Joker’s appearance in the movie all start to add up.
It’s fair to say that Phantasm takes a few cues from Casablanca. Like Rick with Ilsa, Bruce’s character goes through a transition when meeting and losing Andrea and changes again when reuniting with and losing her again. Like Rick, Bruce’s first encounter with Andrea comes from tragedy, the end of their experience comes from tragedy, and the revival comes and goes through tragedy. And like Rick, Bruce realizes that he can’t be there for Andrea at the end of the movie, as much as he hopes he can. Is Bruce and Andrea’s love as strong and touching as Rick and Ilsa’s? Well, that’s something to think on, but there isn’t as big of a roadblock in the way for them as Victor Laszlo.
Personally, the love story in the movie is a key aspect. At this point in his life, Bruce needed a reminder of why he promised to avenge his parents. We see his first attempts at fighting crime here, and in these pre-cape and cowl attempts, he gets beat, pushed, and humiliated, not to mention that he looks questionable in a stock black mask. He had the moves and mind, but not the passion to fight yey. As we should come to know about Bruce, he will never forget the day his parents were murdered in an alley by some lucky punk, but this was years ago, even in his flashbacks.
With Andrea he finds a stone that keeps him from casting off. Bruce has not had many strong relationships in his life. This is the curse of the Bat. With each passing year the line between Batman and Bruce Wayne cuts closer to each other, and with each year becomes increasingly bitter and closer to losing sanity. As you’ll see later in the show and spin-off Batman Beyond, Bats loses contact with both Robins and Batgirl, and nearly loses Terry McGinnis at various points. Besides the children Batman has put under his wing, as the Dark Knight, he has formed a strong relationship with commissioner Gordon that doesn’t exist with Bruce, and Alfred will always be there for him until the day he dies.
But Andrea tends to see the sadness in Bruce and wanted to ease the burden from him. After leaving for the first time, Bruce rediscovers the pain of losing a loved one, and then realizes that the only way to ease this pain is to become what he fears: the bat. Earlier in the movie, a romantic moment between the two is interrupted by a flock of bats, which causes them to run. When Bruce masks up for the first time in his cave, he reveals his suit which he bases off of the image of bats. When Bruce puts the mask on in front of Alfred, his eyes change in front of him from calm and concerned to dead. The score changes to full blast when Batman is born, and as he walks off, all Alfred can do is star in horror and proclaim “my god”. At this point Bruce Wayne is no more and the Batman has arrived.
Besides Bruce and Andrea’s history with each other, the Joker is given one of his best roles in the Timmverse. He out does himself with Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, not to mention a few other choice episodes, but here he’s given plenty to work with. The story involves the downfall of Gotham’s leading heads of crime, which begs for an appearance from the Clown Prince of Crime. Granted the mafia in Gotham isn’t as developed as Henry Hill’s clan in Goodfellas, but Goodfellas is about amnesty for Hill’s actions as a gangster, while the Phantasm moves for vengeance. We’re expected to loathe the gangsters in this movie, and I believe the staff have done a good job at making this possible.
The Joker is introduced here at the former home of Gotham’s World Fair, a key scene from earlier in the movie. While the fair looked alive and full of energy earlier when we met with Bruce and Andrea, when we see what has become of the location with the Joker inhabiting it, the fair ground looks as horrifying and decrepit as he does. The Joker adds a bit of humor into the movie. Between the death threats and melodrama we’ve experienced earlier on and will experience later, Mark Hamill gives another a-list performance and allows us some breathing room. His suggestions towards how to stop “guano man”, or the “clown in the costume” are written with the typical ease needed to give Joker life.
He also is involved in the one true fight scene during the entire movie. Later Timmverse shows would have more proficient fight scenes than Batman: TAS would but here is one that stands among those. Batman and Joker take each other on in a toy model Gotham setting. Besides their fists, the Joker has R/C helicopters that he uses on Batman when he can, which Bats reflects with his cape. Thanks to the movie’s PG ratingm blood is finally spilled, and for a moment it looks glorious. Even then, the rest of the fight is clever and well thought out.
Another excellent aspect is Shirley Walker’s score. Her music for the show was consistently exceptional and Phantasm’s in particular stands out as amazing. Next to a full orchestra, she adds a choir to the movie’s theme, which is inserted into the film at less noticeable places. Check out the World’s Fair scene again, for example, and you can hear a nicer, 30’s radio-friendly like take on the theme, which fits in perfectly with the 30’s looking Fair. The music has always been a high point of Batman and in Phantasm, Walker outdoes herself.
If anything can be faulted of Mask of the Phantasm, it’s that it’s animation is merely that of an above-average looking episode of the series rather than theatrical quality. Granted, there are some very smooth running sequences, good fire effects near the end, and a few candid shots that look stunning(check out when Bats keeps an eye on Andrea’s dinner with Arthur and briefly removes the binoculars. I consider it reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty), and it is worth noting that Phantasm started out as a DTV, but comparing Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy’s Big Picture Show to the TV series is a world of difference in quality. Surely Warner could have offered some more money to one of their biggest cash cows, couldn’t they?
Less-than-desired for animation can’t kill an otherwise amazing movie. As you can see, I find a lot to like about Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Here is a story that’s pleasing for fans and nonfans of the popular show, as I’ve tested beforehand. If this is what my board considers the best animated movie of all time, than they could certainly go for worse.
Originally posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2010.