- Strange as it feels to write this, Mask of the Phantasm may be the best Batman movie. Let's start with what I consider to be empirical facts, namely that Kevin Conroy is the definitive voice of Batman and Mark Hamill his perfectly maniacal counterpart in voicing the Joker. Now mix in Andrea Beaumont (voiced by Dana Delaney), who may actually be the most fully written female character in any superhero movie ever. Sprinkle in a few new characters (voiced by Hart Bochner, Stacy Keach, Dick Miller, and Abe Vigoda) and some returning favorites (voiced by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Robert Costanzo, and Bob Hastings), and you already have a promising recipe for success.
- But as good as this cast is -- and it really is great -- voicework alone does not a great cartoon make. Fortunately, Mask of the Phantasm also inherits its production team and art design from Batman: The Animated Series, the unquestionable pinnacle of American animated drama. Alternately described by its creators as "dark deco" and looking "like the 1939 World's Fair had lasted 60 years," their Gotham City is the most chiaroscuro-infused, noir-inspired place you could imagine. Or rather, that's what Gotham looks like these days. In the film's most inspired artistic choice, the audience discovers through Bruce Wayne's flashbacks that Gotham used to be a much brighter, happier place. That was back before Batman, before Bruce asked Andrea to marry him, and before Andrea skipped town without so much as a goodbye kiss.
- But in the ensuing years, Gotham has gone completely to seed. Now the Gotham World Fairgrounds jut up from the ground like a set of rotten teeth, and Batman watches Andrea through a rain-soaked window rather than sitting across from her at dinner. The only thing that hasn't really changed is the mobsters, although they are understandably worried about the sudden arrival of the terrifying Phantasm. Described as looking like an "Angel of Death" (or more humorously, the "Ghost of Christmas future"), the Phantasm shares Batman's thirst for justice but lacks his aversion to killing, especially when it comes to mobsters. And just in case the story of a rogue mob enforcer doesn't sound compelling enough, the film tosses the Joker into the mix about halfway through to guarantee an explosive ending.
- You have to give the filmmakers credit for creating an animated Batman movie that more closely resembles Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past than an old Superfriends cartoon. This is not so much a story about costumed heroes and villains punching each other as it is an affecting stroll through the strange intersections of memory lane and Crime Alley that comprise Bruce Wayne's psyche. Although parts of the story are clearly inspired by Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, this movie thankfully features none of Miller's distasteful luridness and instead focuses on the how and why of Bruce Wayne's gradual transformation. In the film's most memorable scene, Bruce finally puts on his mask, eliciting a terrified "My God!" from his steadfast butler Alfred. I had a similar reaction the first time I saw it, and every time since.
