By the early 2000s, Warner Brothers Studios had made quite a name for themselves regarding their animated comic book television properties. Starting out with Batman: The Animated Series, then to the New Batman Adventures along with the side running Superman: The Animated Series, fans of the characters couldn’t get enough. Not to mention Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) and Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero (1998) all received positive reviews too. On the side there was also Batman Beyond and its related film, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Then of course there was Justice League which expanded the roster of various fan favorites and lastly Justice League Unlimited. In the middle of the final show, the studio went ahead and produced another exclusive Batman film. They were just on a roll.
Being that Batman was shown to work with Robin and Batgirl, the last major character to not be shown was Batwoman. After a series of heists being thwarted by Batwoman, Bruce Wayne (Kevin Conroy) sets his goal of figuring out just who is the woman behind the mask. The story was written by Michael Reaves and Sheldon Moldoff both of which who helped work on the other two Batman films separately. Together they come together to pen a story that is roughly equal to the other entries in this particular realm of animated features. Directing this production was Curt Geda, another familiar to the list of television productions mentioned earlier. Adding to that is his credit to the Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker movie which also was well put together.
The only aspect of the film that doesn’t really do well is the predictability of the story. In short, there are some new characters that pop up through the run time that make it very easy for audiences to figure out the mystery. It’s just not that hard to pick out. It’s a little disappointing being that every other character that returns from the regular show episodes make it so obvious. First, if the name is Batwoman – then of course audiences will be paying attention to the female characters, simple as that. Unlike the villain from Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) which could have been anyone. This is the only real callout though. The voice acting itself is on point with lots of actors some may not even be aware were cast in this specific movie.
Other than iconic Kevin Conroy as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred, Bob Hastings as Commissioner Gordon and Robert Costanzo as Detective Bullock the rest are all fresh voices to hear. Kevin Michael Richardson is perfectly cast as gangster Carlton Duquesne, Hector Elizondo voices Bane in a very awesome way and David Ogden Stiers voices Penguin. There’s also appearances from Tara Strong as Barbara Gordon, Eli Marienthal as Robin, Kimberly Brooks, Elisa Gabrielli, Kelly Ripa and even Kyra Sedgwick. All of which have performed in various productions and have proven to be adequate for the roles they took on. Even though Penguin and Bane had been voiced by other actors in previous viewings, Paul Williams and Henry Silva respectively, they both sound convincing in their own right.
Visually, the animation looks great here. It also doesn’t seem to contain any computer generated imagery, but if so it isn’t noticeable. Past films have included such effects and they look a little out of date now mixed in with their two dimensional animated counterparts. There’s also plenty of action to be had which makes this adventure mystery movie that much more entertaining to watch. Finally, the musical score was composed by Lolita Ritmanis who is quite familiar with the other properties referred to before. As like the show itself Ritmanis keeps the familiar Batman theme everyone enjoys so much while keeping the other tracks just as interesting to listen to. The fact that she also got an album release with an hour of material is also an accomplishment being that her name isn’t as well known.
Despite it not being a big question as to who actually is the Batwoman, the overall story works just fine. The animation, action, voice acting and music suite the film well in another successful outing in the caped crusader franchise.
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