Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (LD/DVD) Released By:
Warner Home VideoFeatures:
Laser Disc: 1993; 76 Min; Rated PG; CAV; Digital Tracks: Dolby Surround English; Analog Tracks: Dolby Surround English; Widescreen (1.85).DVD: 1993; 76 Min; Rated PG; Dolby Surround: English, French; Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85??) and Pan and Scan.
Extras:
Laser Disc: Nothing.DVD: Almost Nothing. Theatrical Trialer.
Review:
When Warner Borthers began Batman: The Animated Series back in 1992 or 1993, it was hailed as a new landmark in animation. It was dark, violent and realistic. This wasn't your flat Hanna Barbera style used in the late sixties and early seventies. Ever since, animated adventure shows have aimed for the high precident set by this show.Because of Batman, all of the other comic book charaters were given a new shot of adrenaline in the Staturday, or weekday, morning cartoon blocks. Titles such as Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spiderman, The Incredble Hulk, Superman, The Avengers and even two other incarnations of Batman have been seen on television in the past five years (see Batman Beyond). Most of these have been fairly sucessful, and in the case of Marvel product, it has made most people forget the atrocious seventies products, as well as the lame live-action films.
What has made these shows successful? Brand name for one thing, but I believe, more than anything, it's because animation is the best way to present traditional comic book characters. When one thinks back at all of the live-action attempts created for everyone's beloved comic charaters, have any of them fully nail the mark it was aiming for? Superman and Batman were good for two moives each, but does anyone remember Captain America or The Punisher? How many of you are nervous aobut hte upcoming X-Men movie from Fox? What about the ever delayed Spiderman film? Now that Cameron's out of the loop, I don't care about it.
This brings me to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. This animated feature broke the mold from the traditional Walt Disney fare we've all experienced during the late 80's and early 90's. It probably help lead other studios into the animated feature frey, since it proved that you didn't need a "Walt Disney Presents" tag on the front of a big screen cartoon.
Mask of the Pantasm tells the story of Bruce Wayne/Batman (voice by Kevin Conroy) dealing with being accused of icing all of Gotham's big wig gangsters. The story also covers the past relationship Wayne had with Andrea Beaumont (Dana Delaney), the only woman that Bruce actually was engaged to.
Beaumont had left suddenly after they had beomce engaged for no apparent reason. When she retuns to town, the mysterious gangster murders begin. Eventually one of the gangsters, Valestra (Abe Vigoda), decides it's time to protect himself. Thus Batman arch-nemesis The Joker (Mark Hamill) is brought into the story line.
Overall, this is one of the best Batman storylines ever put on film. This puts the last two Batman films to shame. For that matter, so did the direct to video movies Batman and Mr. Freeze: Subzero and the Batman/Superman movie. Watching this film reminded me of how much I want the orginal Batman animated series that spawned this film. Warner it's time to get some things done right... see An Open Letter To Warner Brothers.
When comparing the LD to the new DVD a few noticable things stood out. The picture on the laser was sharper. This was probably due to the down conversion artifacts of the DVD, since it was anamorphically enhanced. The image on the laser was also over-matted, I had always felt it didn't look right. Were probably talking 1.90:1 (LD) to 1.85:1 (DVD), it doesn't seem like much, but when doing the direct A/B test, you can see it.
When it came to the audio, both are effective surround sound mixes, but the LD had a little more punch on the low end. Which brings me to a sore point with this release. Warner, why wasn't this title re-mixed in DD 5.1? It has always had a tremendous soundtrack. For that matter, I believe it's listed on Dobly Labratory's home bage as being a Dolby Digital film. Just curious.
When it comes to extras the DVD wins outright... Then again, there was nothing on the LD. The DVD had one trailer, ooh boy! This brings me to a second problem I had with this disc, where are the extras? There should have at least been some stroyhboards or some type of documentary.
I love animation, so that's why I bought this title (besides the LD being in CAV), but if you're a LD owner an already own the laser disc, don't bother picking this up. It's not worth the $15 to $20 they are charging. Pick up a used LD instead.
Movie: 8
Picture Quyality: LD 7; DVD 6
Audio: LD 7; DVD 6
Extras: LD & DVD, 0Dan Linzmeier, FIT Productions
Fitprod@aol.com
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