Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

(On Cable TV, May 2022) Animated Batman movies are now commonplace, but in 1993, the idea of taking the character of the still-iconic Batman: The Animated Series to a feature film was reasonably novel. Fortunately, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm can still be watched without too much trouble today:  The effectiveness of series/film director Bruce Timm’s vision is still unquestionable, and the strong art direction makes even early-era CGI look really good. Blending Batman’s first year as a superhero with a years-later plotline in which Batman gets a more violent opponent plays with familiar themes, but the result is not that bad, and still interesting despite repeated overexposure of the character in popular media. I’m not overly fond of the film spending time on very familiar material, but suppose that not having Mark Hamill voice The Joker in a TAS-inspired film would have been unacceptable. To be honest, Mask of the Phantasm isn’t anything new, but it’s well made enough to have aged quite gracefully. It’s still worth a look for fans of the character, often more so than many of the later animated films.