Batman - Mystery of the Batwoman

Rating:
Summary: Good stuff
Review: "Batman - Mystery of the Batwoman" was thought up, approved, and made in a very short stretch of time (as animated movies are reckoned). This perhaps, contributed to a few shortcuts in the animation process and characterization. For example, the Penguin (IMHO) didn't look or sound quite right.

For most of the animated "Batman" shows since 1992, the Penguin (until now, voice-acted by Paul Williams) was animated as being very close to his "Batman Returns" look. This was due to the fact that "Batman Returns" came out that same year, so it was understandable the Warner Bros. would want to keep the look consistent. "Batwoman", however, is a return to "old school" Penguin, only a little taller and a *lot* slimmer. The new voice-actor, David Ogden Stiers, is good, but I still like Paul Williams better.

Rupert Thorne (John Vernon) is his crafty old self, but what's with the playing cards? He's always got a deck of cards in his hand, or so it seems, and I kept expecting him to yell "Surprise!" and reveal himself as the Joker.

Despite these rather confusing moves by the filmmakers, "Batwoman" turns out to be pretty good flick, with a catchy song, "Betcha Never" (think Selena). The new 'Batwoman' keeps Batman & co. guessing while giving Thorne and the Penguin major-league headaches. At the same time, Bruce Wayne has a new love-interest who happens to be the daughter of a notorious gangster--as possibly Batwoman herself? You'll have to see the movie to find out!

Rating:
Summary: A very enjoyable animated adventure; plus a bonus short film
Review: "Batman: The Mystery of the Batwoman" is the first new straight-to-DVD Batman animated project since "Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker." It was worth the wait. Even if it doesn't match the manic, violent heights of "The Return of the Joker," it's a welcome, more lightweight adventure that's full of action and drama and also a very enjoyable mystery. There's a slew of villains: The Penguin, Bane, and gangser Rupert Thorne. And there's the fascinating new character of Batwoman herself, with her unique abilities and unusual arsenal of gadgets. It's also quite a sexy, steamy Batman story (but don't worry, parents, not THAT steamy), with a strong romantic subplot that gives Bruce Wayne plenty to do when he's not hunting through the night as Batman. Like all of the animated D.C. Comics projects to come out of Warner Bros. since the early 90s, it's enjoyable, smart entertainment for both children and adults. If it doesn't quite attain the level of some of the previous Batman animated adventures, it nonetheless delivers a fun, exciting time in Gotham city.

Directed by Kurt Geda (who also directed "Return of the Joker") and Tim Maltby, and written by frequent writers of the various D.C. TV shows, Michael Reaves and Alan Burnett, the movie takes us back to the days of "The New Batman Adventures" (which means the look and style of the movie matches the more stylized look of the last few seasons of the show). Batman and Robin (the younger Tim Drake version of Robin) are still together fighting crime, but Batgirl has left Gotham City to go to college (no mention is made of Nightwing, the former Robin). But a new vigilante has suddenly appeared in Gotham: Batwoman (voice of Kyra Sedgewick), who wields bizarre technology and seems to have a grudge against the Penguin and Rupert Thorne's weapons-dealing operation. Batman sets out to find out the truth behind Batwoman and also stop the Penguin, Thorne, and their cronies.

There are plenty of suspects who could be beneath Batwoman's mask: scientist Roxanne "Roxy" Ballantine (voice of Kelly Ripa), mobster Carlton Duquesne's beautiful daughter Kathy (voice of Kimberly Brooks, although the character is clearly modeled on Halle Berry), and police detective Sonia Alcana (voice of Elisa Pensler-Gabrielli). Each one, Batman discovers, has a reason for revenge against the Penguin or Rupert Thorne. Things become more complicated when Bruce Wayne becomes romantically involved with Kathy Duquesne.

The animation is, as usual, fantastic. It's limited by budget, but nonetheless is far ahead of most of what appears on television, and the animators use the minimalist, art-deco look to great advantage. The set-pieces are stunning: Penguin's icy-night club, the truck chase action opening, Batwoman's hyper-kinetic fight with Penguin's female goons, the cruise boat slam-bang finale, and a beautiful sunset romance scene. It's sequences like these that make me wish Warner Bros. would give the animated Batman another shot at the movie theaters. (Only "Mask of the Phantasm" has shown up on movie screens.) The voice work is impeccable: Kevin Conroy is always a terrific Batman, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. is still the perfect Alfred, and Hector Elizondo has fun with villain Bane. All the various female actresses mentioned above do great jobs with their characters. The only disconcerting casting choice is David Ogden-Stiers (a frequent voice-over artist) as the Penguin. He gives a good performance, but it's hard to better Paul Williams in the role, who had played the character throughout the TV series. The jazz-oriented score is also a nice change and adds to the steamier and mysterious aspects of the story.

The DVD contains a number of extras, but the best is a short animated film called "Chase Me." It is done completely in pantomime -- no dialogue -- as Batman chases Catwoman across Gotham City after she robs a jewelry safe at a ritzy party. It's a stunning piece of animation, and if it had been released in theaters would probably have easily snatched up the Oscar for Best Animated Short. It's one of the best explorations of the strange Batman-Catwoman-Bruce Wayne-Selina Kyle relationship, and the jazz score is hypnotic. It's a great bonus feature to have along with this extremely enjoyable Batman film. Buy this DVD! It will encourage more animated Batman features in the future, and maybe, just maybe, get one of them released to the theaters!

Rating:
Summary: Good stuff
Review: "Batman - Mystery of the Batwoman" was thought up, approved, and made in a very short stretch of time (as animated movies are reckoned). This, perhaps, contributed to a few shortcuts in the animation process and characterization. For example, the Penguin (In My Humble Opinion) didn't look or sound quite right.

For most of the animated "Batman" shows since 1992, the Penguin (until now, voice-acted by Paul Williams) was animated as being very close to his "Batman Returns" look. This was due to the fact that "Batman Returns" came out that same year, so it was understandable the Warner Bros. would want to keep the look consistent. "Batwoman", however, is a return to "old school" Penguin, only a little taller and a *lot* slimmer. The new voice-actor, David Ogden Stiers, is good, but I still like Paul Williams better.

Rupert Thorne (John Vernon) is his crafty old self, but what's with the playing cards? He's always got a deck of cards in his hand, or so it seems, and I kept expecting him to yell "Surprise!" and reveal himself as the Joker.

Despite these rather confusing moves by the filmmakers, "Batwoman" turns out to be pretty good flick, with a catchy song, "Betcha Never" (think J. Lo). The new 'Batwoman' keeps Batman & co. guessing while giving Thorne and the Penguin major-league headaches. At the same time, Bruce Wayne has a new love-interest who happens to be the daughter of a notorious gangster--and possibly Batwoman herself? You'll have to see the movie to find out!

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as Phantasm, but a pleasant different direction
Review: (I cover very little story here, as other reviewers have already tread that ground well.)
How will anything ever live up to Mask of the Phantasm? Answer: This one doesn't try to. And it doesn't need to.
The production extras on the DVD version make it worth the purchase alone - get a look into how the composition process, or bits and pieces from the actors.
One of the things you learn from the extras is how they took this in a slightly different version from what is now a Batmanic animation canon. And, like Phantasm, we get to see a more fully developed resolution to the story. (Perhaps the best denouement to date.)
If you've never sampled Batman animation before, this would be a good starting piece; followed by Mask of the Phantasm. You'll find it a VERY pleasant surprise in contrast to how the live action features have been of late.
Oh, and few have mentioned how this feature takes things in a direction that I have yet to encounter in animated Batman: A five minute short, entitled Catch Me, which has NO spoken dialogue. The music carries it perfectly in a jazz style. Fluff if you're not interested, but fascinating if you are.

Rating:
Summary: Not Special But Workmanlike
Review: * I have always found the modern animated BATMAN series to be
the best video treatment of the Batman mythology, of course
unarguably superior to earlier animated treatments and the
infamously campy 1960s live-action TV series, and more
arguably superior to the modern movie treatments, which I find
overblown and underwritten. So I was happy to find that the
production crew had come out with a new direct-to-video Batman
story, MYSTERY OF THE BATWOMAN.

In this movie, Batman and Robin discover a new player in town,
a "Batwoman" who takes her fashion cues off the Dark Knight's
style and who is engaged in a vendetta against the Penguin and
his business associates. Although imitation is the sincerest
form of flattery, Batman isn't so sure he's flattered since the
Batwoman seems none too concerned about making sure that she stays
within the limits of the law or that bystanders don't get hurt.

That's about all I can say about the script without giving too
much away, and I'd rather not do that because MYSTERY OF THE
BATWOMAN is fairly weak as a mystery and needs all the tension
it can get. It is also, if not precisely weak, not particularly
special in its visuals, following stylistically in the footsteps
of the TV animateds in having workmanlike but generally unimpressive
animation, with simplistic character and prop designs.

However, it also follows in the footsteps of the TV animateds
in having some nice stylistic touches and an ability to
project that "Dark Gotham" mood so important to the Batman
mythology. The production crew does get to shine for a moment
in a nicely-drawn nightclub dance scene, and the soundtrack is,
if not extraordinary, competent and neatly done.

In fact, that's about what can be said about MYSTERY OF THE
BATWOMAN overall. It is by no means an exceptional or
memorable bit of work, but that's OK, since it was obviously
really not designed to be. It was clearly intended to be
casual entertainment, built as conscientiously as possible
on a given budget and with available resources, intended to
tap the market of fans of the Batman animateds, such as
myself.

In these goals it works neatly -- if you liked the animated
Batmans, you'll very likely enjoy this movie as it snaps
along nicely -- and though it shows competent workmanship
instead of brilliance, I am not inclined to complain about
competent workmanship when I remember all the movies I've
seen that don't do that well.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: After the Batman masterpiece that was Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker Uncut Version, the same people bring us this terrible movie. The only parts I truly enjoyed was the hinting of a sexual relationship between Batman/Bruce Wayne and Batgirl/Barbara Gordon, and that Bruce is a bit ashamed of it, looking at it as kind of child molestation (all of this is hinted at, like in facial expressions from Bruce). The scene is when Bruce, Tim Drake/Robin, and Alfred are in a car and Barbara calls Bruce.

Basically the storyline is that a new Batgirl has arrived in town. No, there are multiple Batgirls, all strung strangely together in a twist of fate, and all become Batgirl for different reasons. They're too old to be Batgirl, so label them "Batwomen". Now we have a good story! Bring the crime lord Rupert Thorne back, in a very non-talkative, bad role. Bring in the man who broke the Bat in the comics, Bane, a Venom-addicted WWE reject. And don't forget Oswald Chesterfield Cobbleplot, the Penguin, who now is the prestigious owner of the Iceberg Lounge (that's true, from the comics and the animated series). Overall it's average, and the worst part is when Bruce and the daughter of a mob boss caught up in all this, go to the Iceberg Lounge, and dance to the tunes of some Hispanic singer who sounds and kind of looks like Shakira. Intrigued, I watched the special features and found that it wasn't her, just some other Hispanic woman.

The soundtrack is also very bad. With jazz tunes and no essence of Shirley Walker's tremendous score to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, the soundtrack falls short of perfection.

As for the DVD, it is a good DVD, bearing special features, good picture quality and audio quality (Dolby Digital 2.0). Anyway an average movie that falls short of its predecessors. The best 2 Batman animated films are Mask of the Phantasm & Uncut Return of the Joker. SubZero reigns as #3.

Rating:
Summary: Stop comparing it to perfection
Review: After the Return of the Joker censorship fiasco three years ago, many Batman fans doubted that WB would put money into another Batman animated feature. Well it turns out we were all wrong, and this latest installment, Mystery of the Batwoman, is proof of that. There's a new face in Gotham, and low and behold, she's dressed like a bat. She's destroying arms shipments and crossing the line between justice and vengeance - now it's up to Batman to find her and unmask her.

I'll say it up front. This movie was not written/produced by Bruce Timm or Paul Dini, the main talent behind the animated series. It's storyline is not asking to be peeled apart and examined for layers of depth. The animation is not up to the standards that Tokyo Movie Studios (TMS) set with Return of the Joker. In fact, it has arguably the lowest production values of all the Batman animated movies to date.

And you know what? Who cares? As is mentioned in the supplements, no one was trying to go for a ground-breaking, dark, edgy tale here. All they wanted was a movie which would basically act as an extended episode, and give us another glimpse into the world of Gotham City. They did that and more. There is a ton of great character interaction here - we get to see more of Bruce Wayne being a loveable playboy than in the entire 24-episode run of the revamped series. Tim Drake is in his prime as Robin, Alfred gets some great lines, and we get classic villains like Penguin, Bane, and Rupert Thorne. The three possible suspects for being Batwoman are nicely fleshed out, and there's a good twist surrounding who Batwoman actually is - I won't give it away, and I hope no one else does, either.

Really, everything that a Batman fan could want is here. If we want WB to put out a new DTV every year, we have to realize that not every story can feature a turning point in Batman's life. Batwoman may not feature a child getting brainwashed and shooting his tormentor, but it's not written down to kiddies either. It's simply a fun, smartly told adventure, meshing the thrills of the original BTAS series with the graphic style of the revamp.

The voice cast shines. There is a bit of a controversy with the new voice of The Penguin (David Ogden Stiers replacing Paul Williams), but Stiers does an admirable job. Most of the music is incidental, but the Batwoman theme has its own distinct jazzy feel. Animation is still very much above-average; if it looks worse than the other three animated movies, it's only because studios simply aren't as willing to put a lot of money into 2-D animation nowadays. But compared to other cartoons, Batwoman is still quality.

The DVD includes a great short called "Chase Me" that captures the Batman/Catwoman dynamic perfectly. There are also a few other supplements that reveal the cast and crew, and some forgettable fluff pieces. Overall, Batwoman is worth buying for Bat fans - definitely on par with the other "extended episode" known as Sub-Zero.

Rating:
Summary: Direct to Video are becoming cheap Warner policy....
Review: All four of the Batman animated films have been big jokes. With terrible writing, voice acting, and way overblown animation that gives you a headage watching it. I say to Paul Dini and company. Enough. No more animation. Let's see Live Action films on the Dark Knight done now. But maybe that's too much to ask.

Rating:
Summary: This caters to broader audiences, not the batman mythos.
Review: Animation and live action have the same potential for telling good stories, and bad ones. Japanese animators have known that for decades. Cartoons, which make up the majority of American animation, are just one genre of this artform. This DVD isn't a cartoon.

The WB has done a wonderful job with the original animated Batman series and its sequels, especially the Batman Beyond spinoff, in telling great stories while staying true to the source material. Fans of the comics enjoyed them so much that even series original character Harley Quinn was introduced into the "real DC universe" as a result.

But onto the film. First this is a direct to video release, so the question of quality of animation, story-telling (directing), and voice acting are especially in question. Considering how bad some Disney direct to videos have looked in the recent past it's no wonder. But this is pretty good, may slightly better than recent WB/DC animations. It'll be nice to see direct-to-video animations follow the path of OVA's (Original Video Animations in Japan) in improving quality all-around.

This movie tells a good story (check the synopsis for details), but it is not a Batman story. It has batman IN it, but so did "Batman and Robin" with Clooney. That movie was more or less based on the 60's spoof TV series with Adam West, far more lighthearted than the original comics. There was a brief period when the comics imitated the TV series, but that was simply an attempt to draw in more readers who happened to be fans of the show. On the other hand, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is more comparable to Tim Burton's darker interpretation of Batman. The animated series that followed was the most comic acurate. "Mystery of the Batwoman" falls somewhere in between.

It's not perfect, but it's certainly entertaining. Hated the ending. Hated the ending because it wasn't a Batman ending; be forewarned. Robin and Batgirl make appearances, but contribute nothing. It's mainly about "Batwoman," not to be mistaken with ANY incarnation from the comic series.

I recommend that you rent this at the very least.

Don't buy this if you are an avid of Batman in the comics. Don't buy this if you are a complete fan of Batman as the World's greatest detective, the dark knight, or the caped crusader. Don't buy this if you in any way found Batman Forever, Batman: Sub Zero, or even Batman Beyond to be offensively inaccurate.

Buy this if none of that matters AND: 1) you like good entertainment, 2) you appreciate animation as a mature artform, and 3) you don't like the idea of a Robin doing ANYTHING relevent to the story because he's still "just a kid."

Rent it.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, exciting, and amazingly well-written
Review: As an avid fan of the original animated series, I feel that this movie is a smashing addition to the Batman myth. Aside from the animation and action sequences, there's the challenge of actually trying to figure out who she is. I guarantee you won't know until the very end. My words aren't enough, so I'm afraid you'll have to actually buy the thing for yourself.