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Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
Other // Unrated // December 12, 2000
List Price: $24.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
I vaguely remember days when I would voluntarily wake up around 7 o'clock and spend several hours basking in television's warm glow. Yeah, I was a child whose life centered around Saturday mornings, and although the state of TV animation nowadays is pretty dismal, "Batman Beyond" is one of those rare shows that inspires the same sort of awe and wonder I felt watching animation when I was younger.
I'll assume everyone reading this review is familiar with the backstory...if not, pick up "Batman Beyond: The Movie", a DVD collection with six episodes from the first season of the series that makes for a great primer and is probably the single most played disc in my collection. As the title suggests, Batman's old nemesis the Joker is back, returning forty years after his last bout with Batman with full knowledge of the Caped Crusader's identity. That seemingly final battle was wrought with tragedy...and the elderly Bruce Wayne wants to prevent anything similar from happening to the current Batman, Terry McGinnis. Terry, at Bruce's request, drops the suit and makes another attempt at a normal life, but it turns out that Bruce's identity isn't the only one the Joker knows...
I guess I should 'fess up to something. I had been looking forward to this disc since it was first announced, and when it became clear that some of the more intense aspects of the film were being toned down, including digitally removing blood, re-editing some footage, reanimating scenes, and re-recording a large amount of dialogue, I decided that I absolutely wouldn't use my dollars to support Warner's pandering to political whims. I actually did sit down and watch "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker", though, and although the very idea that these changes were made is still a disappointment, the final product has the same blend of action, character development, great animation, and skilled voice acting that helped "Mask of the Phantasm" eclipse its live action counterparts. Hopefully Warner will do right by the fans and release the uncut film sometime in the near future, but until then, "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker" is very much worth seeing, not having been cut to near-Pokémon-levels as some (even myself!) have previously suggested.
Video: When "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker" was first announced, the DVD was supposed to have an anamorphic widescreen transfer, but instead of even providing a choice between widescreen and full-frame, Warner has decided to instead just have a full-frame version. I'm not sure if the standard version is actually full-frame or if it's cropped, but if it is cropped, the film was apparently composed in such a way that nothing is really lost. The video is flawless from beginning to end, sporting an extremely sharp, detailed image without a trace of artifacting.
Audio: The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is pretty front-heavy. Surrounds seemed to be used almost entirely for directional effects, primarily 'swooshing'. Some of the effects are done pretty well, but I noticed one part during a skirmish involving a bazooka where the direction of the weapon on-screen didn't really seem to match up with the audio, which is rather unusual. Other than directional effects, I heard some rain and a clap of thunder, but that's about it for ambiance. The score -- and this somewhat surprised me -- is almost entirely relegated to the front, and if it played in the rears at all, it was at a rather low level. The mix isn't spectacular, but nothing to complain about either. I do think I prefer the audio on "Batman Beyond: The Movie", though, which seemed more powerful to me.
Supplements: Normally I list extras in paragraph form, but I'll break tradition this time.
I'll assume everyone reading this review is familiar with the backstory...if not, pick up "Batman Beyond: The Movie", a DVD collection with six episodes from the first season of the series that makes for a great primer and is probably the single most played disc in my collection. As the title suggests, Batman's old nemesis the Joker is back, returning forty years after his last bout with Batman with full knowledge of the Caped Crusader's identity. That seemingly final battle was wrought with tragedy...and the elderly Bruce Wayne wants to prevent anything similar from happening to the current Batman, Terry McGinnis. Terry, at Bruce's request, drops the suit and makes another attempt at a normal life, but it turns out that Bruce's identity isn't the only one the Joker knows...
I guess I should 'fess up to something. I had been looking forward to this disc since it was first announced, and when it became clear that some of the more intense aspects of the film were being toned down, including digitally removing blood, re-editing some footage, reanimating scenes, and re-recording a large amount of dialogue, I decided that I absolutely wouldn't use my dollars to support Warner's pandering to political whims. I actually did sit down and watch "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker", though, and although the very idea that these changes were made is still a disappointment, the final product has the same blend of action, character development, great animation, and skilled voice acting that helped "Mask of the Phantasm" eclipse its live action counterparts. Hopefully Warner will do right by the fans and release the uncut film sometime in the near future, but until then, "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker" is very much worth seeing, not having been cut to near-Pokémon-levels as some (even myself!) have previously suggested.
Video: When "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker" was first announced, the DVD was supposed to have an anamorphic widescreen transfer, but instead of even providing a choice between widescreen and full-frame, Warner has decided to instead just have a full-frame version. I'm not sure if the standard version is actually full-frame or if it's cropped, but if it is cropped, the film was apparently composed in such a way that nothing is really lost. The video is flawless from beginning to end, sporting an extremely sharp, detailed image without a trace of artifacting.
Audio: The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is pretty front-heavy. Surrounds seemed to be used almost entirely for directional effects, primarily 'swooshing'. Some of the effects are done pretty well, but I noticed one part during a skirmish involving a bazooka where the direction of the weapon on-screen didn't really seem to match up with the audio, which is rather unusual. Other than directional effects, I heard some rain and a clap of thunder, but that's about it for ambiance. The score -- and this somewhat surprised me -- is almost entirely relegated to the front, and if it played in the rears at all, it was at a rather low level. The mix isn't spectacular, but nothing to complain about either. I do think I prefer the audio on "Batman Beyond: The Movie", though, which seemed more powerful to me.
Supplements: Normally I list extras in paragraph form, but I'll break tradition this time.
A Word From The Creators -- although the menu description makes this sound like some sort of brief video interview with Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, this is actually a commentary track, apparently recorded after all of the edits and reanimated scenes were put in place. As a longtime Dini/Timm fan (Glen Murakami also participates), it's hard for me not to gush like a fanboy about how great this track is. Anyone with the faintest interest in Batman's animated exploits over the past eight years ought to give this a listen.Conclusion: "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker" is excellent, easily my favorite Batman release to date, even surpassing "Mask of the Phantasm", at least in my eyes. The energy level and direction of the action sequences are eye-popping, and the unraveling of the mystery strongly held my interest. I know a number of fans online had made some of the same statements I had, refusing to buy an edited version of "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker". Although I'm hoping for a release of the uncut version in its original aspect ratio, this movie still has enough bite to satisfy. Until Warner gives the final word early next year on the possible uncut release, you might want to just rent this disc, but I very highly recommend it as a purchase at least on some point down the road.
Animatics -- three minutes of storyboards shot to a dialogue track.
Beyond "Batman Beyond" Documentary -- Calling this a documentary is pushing it, but this featurette should do a fair job of bringing anyone unfamiliar with Batman Beyond reasonably up to speed. Quite a bit of time is also spent on discussing voice acting and music.
Video Character Bios -- Rather than the usual static bios, information on Bruce Wayne, Terry McGinnis, the Joker, the Dee-Dee Twins, and Woof is presented along with short video clips with the usual techno stuff in the background.
Confidential Bat Footage -- For Your Eyes Only -- Five minutes of scenes that were never fully animated due to pacing concerns, presented full-screen in animatics style. Did they have to call this "Confidential Bat Footage -- For Your Eyes Only" on the menu, though? Really, that's just a stupid title.
Bat Trivia -- A trivia game with extremely goofy guitar effects that play whenever a question is answered... I wouldn't complain if a correct answer let me automatically go to the next question without having to repeatedly hit 'Continue'. There are seven questions in all, and anyone who's seen more than a handful of Batman Beyond episodes should be able to fly through without a hitch.
"Crash" Music Video -- A video for the Mephisto Odyssey/Static-X collaboration "Crash", featuring Wayne Static in a great Batman get-up.
Trailers -- Trailers for the "Batman Beyond" video collection, "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker", "The Iron Giant", "My Dog Skip", "Pokemon 2000", and "Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders".
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