Rarely can you sit down, put in a tape, and KNOW what to expect from whatever you’re about to watch. It just doesn’t happen all that often. The nature of entertainment - and television entertainment in particular - is inherently inconsistent. The few exceptions to these cases become gems. In the case of Warner Bros.’ animated “Batman” adventures, the series’ consistent quality has become an icon for the way a conceptually and artistically floundering live-action franchise “ought to be”.
By many standards, last summer’s theatrical “Batman And Robin” was an unspeakable abomination. It was a film so uncompromisingly annoying that even children walked out of the theater. It was a film that had almost completely forgotten its origins, a nearly criminal bastardization of a concept that many, many people hold close to their hearts. Some people call it one of the worst films of all time, and have said that Warner’s animated “Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm” feature from a few years ago outclassed every live-action “Batman” endeavor to date. These are rather harsh words, but they are true words to many fans of the “Batman” concept. In sophistication, in artistry, in dramatic and comedic flare, in direction and editing and scoring, the entirety of the “Batman” animated franchise has become a shining beacon of hope against the live-action franchises’ Dark Night Of The Soul.
With this as both a pedigree and litmus test, I eagerly awaited the arrival of a Screener Copy of “Batman And Mr. Freeze: Subzero”, the second “Batman” animated feature. A feature whose delayed straight-to-video release from last summer has animated fans gloating and snickering that - perhaps - the Warners motion picture division now realizes it has been summarily outdistanced by something many people would say was “only a cartoon”, and is running damage control. In fact, there has been some evidence to support the notion that Warners deliberately delayed the release of “Subzero” in the hopes that fans and critics might not notice the better quality of a relatively inexpensive and underpublicized “cartoon” when compared to its mammothly budgeted, overly-hyped live-action Ugly Cousin - with which “Subzero” was originally scheduled to be issued concurrently.
“Subzero” is in a rather unique situation in this respect. It must follow up a really lousy act. Both an enviable situation, as something as bad as “Batman And Robin” isn’t hard to improve on. But it also means that “Subzero” needed to be solid and real - and be able to hold its own and stand in the way of people who say good “Batman” movies simply can’t be made.
Well - the people who say “good Batman movies can’t be made” are wrong. There was “Mask Of The Phantasm”. And now there is “Subzero”. From the opening moments, in which we follow a school of fish under an extensive ice flow as they are chased by silouhetted Polar Bears that are visible through the ice above (until the bears and the fish are intercepted by a diver who is far too scantily clad for the Arctic waters...), through the film’ hellish climax in which all of the principal characters are caught in a fiery conflagration of petroleum based self-destruction, this film has more heart and soul and spirit of adventure than all of the live-action “Batman” films combined. It is has the heart of its animated predecessor - it remembers that even though the figures on screen are only sketches and paint, they are REAL PEOPLE who behave more sensibly and more intelligently than their fleshy filmic counterparts. But “Subzero” also has its own distinctive personality. It has an intensity that was missing from “Phantasm”. An edge. A maturity that indicates the people making this movie see the heart and soul of the “Batman” concept with a clarity no one else has has mastered.
In “Subzero” (and in general), they have not settled. They have not allowed the reality that they are only making an animated show dissuade them from telling a story that is truly accessible to people of all ages. Smart enough, sincere enough, mean enough and clever enough for adults. Lean enough and fast enough and tough enough for kids, “Subzero” - and the entire animated series for that matter - are (arguably) the best superhero “motion” adaptations to date. Ever.
Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, Boyd Kirkland, and the rest of the people making these shows are master storytellers, and some of the best writers and producers and directors television has to offer. If there is either intelligence or justice in the world, someone should someday give them a chance to do it with real people. Presuming, of course, they would WANT to do it with real people. They seem to have accomplished quite a bit without ever having to rely on live-action. None the less, they are good and they deserve the chance if they would want it.
Special commendations to “Subzero” scribes Randy Rogel and Boyd Kirkland, for continuing the animated series tradition of painting antagonist Mr. Freeze as a character who makes a lot of sense. Someone who is not evil by nature, someone who is not insane, but someone who is desperate to find a cure for his ailing ex-wife. He loves her beyond his capacity to express. And everything he does, he does for her. “Subzero”s Mr. Freeze is not a cackling “Bwaaahaaahaaahaaahaaa!” shoot-em-up maniac. He’s just a person who is trying to hold on to the one thing which meant everything to him. To paraphrase the closing line of “The Wind And The Lion”: “Haven’t we all had one thing worth risking everything for?” This being so, Mr. Freeze is someone with whom we can find points of association. He is doing something we all might do if pushed far enough. He is someone we can understand. Someone even Batman seems to understand. Not a villain, per se. More of an antagonist in the literary since of the word. A force that works against a protagonist. Note the generality in these terms. Not “good” and “evil” or “right” and “wrong”. Just someone who works against someone else. Lot of room for character and situational interpretation in this approach, and the writers have addressed the possibilities quite well.
Also, a MAJOR tip-of-the-hat to Composer Michael McCuistion. He assembled a tremendous score for “Subzero”. You’ll hear some familiar strains of music in the opening sequence of the film, you’ll probably smile a little when you hear it. Then McCuistion will take you on a hell of a ride with his hard-driving, emotion-filled music. If ever there was a “cartoon” that deserved a soundtrack...
“Batman And Mr. Freeze: Subzero” will hit stores sometime in mid to late March. Nice packaging - Freeze flanked by Polar Bears. Go get it. Watch it. Enjoy it. Learn from it. I’m not just saying this to fans of the franchise and readers of this page, but to whomever might be reading these words who could influence the direction the next “Batman” live-action film might take.
THIS is the way “Batman” is meant to be done. Take a look. What’s it going to hurt?
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glen@aint-it-cool-news.com
