Batman – Mask Of The Phantasm + SubZero (Animated Features/Warner DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Films: C+/D

 

 

During the Tim Burton-produced run of live action Batman films, The Animated Series may have been choppy, but eventually overtook the live action releases until they imploded and even had a theatrical release of its own with Mask Of The Phantasm.  It was able to show violence that TV episodes could not and was not bad, despite a silly twist.

 

Unfortunately, after a masterpiece of an episode like Heart of Ice, only the incredibly misguided Batman & Robin film could have led Warner and DC to give us a Mr. Freeze revival in SubZero.  It not only guts out the great Emmy-winning episode before it, it stretches it out far too long ruining the character almost as much as the Schwarzenegger fiasco.  Ironically, this was a character created for the 1960s series.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image on both are recycles from their older releases, soft and color limited, but Mask is especially problematic by not being widescreen, resulting in stretched-out images and poorer definition than I have seen it before.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on both fares better, but has wear surrounds and since Mask was a 5.1 release, further erodes its playback.  Boy, do I miss Shirley Walker!  Extras include old trailers on both, plus SubZero adds a game, cast/crew text and two brief clips of drawing the characters that are very minor.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo