Rating of
2.5/4
Could have been better
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/01/08
Believed to be dead for many years, "The Joker" (voiced by Mark Hamill) returns to wreck havoc on his archnemisis, the "Batman". This time, it's a newer, younger "Dark Knight" (voiced by Will Friedle) he tries to destroy.
Somehow, the "Clown Prince of Crime" has discovered the true identity of the "Batman" he fought all those years ago -- "Bruce Wayne" (voiced by Kevin Conroy).
It's up to the new "Batman" to takedown "Joker," and, with "Wayne's" help, figure out how an old ally of "Wayne's" is involved.
"Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker" is a direct-to-video movie based on the 1999 - 2001 animated television series "Batman Beyond". And it feels like it's just an extra-long episode of the series.
There is nothing spectacular about this movie to make it feel like it's more than just an episode of the TV series. The studio obviously didn't do anything with the budget to make it something more than the series. Therefore, the animators made it like they were drawing the TV series.
The script itself was a bit disappointing. And the story would have worked as a multi-episode story in the TV show as well as it worked for the 77-minute movie.
The cast, who reprise their roles from the TV series, all gave an average performance. Even Mark Hamill, who has been providing the voice of "Joker" since the 1992 - 1993 TV series "Batman: The Animated Series", gave an average performance.
The visuals are fair, to say the least. If Warner Brothers gave this movie a bigger budget, they could have given this an even better science-fiction feel than it has.
Since this is suppose to be a movie, they could have given more screen time to "Bruce Wayne" and the one-time "Batgirl", "Police Commissioner Barbara Gordon" (voiced by Angie Harmon). But, they didn't. I understand that the focus of the movie is on "Batman" chasing "Joker" and the street gang named "The Jokerz" in his honor, but there was the chance of a much larger subplot that was totally missed here.
In my opinion, the budget was not big enough to give this movie the feel of something other than the TV series. Another problem is that if you have not seen any of the animated "Batman" series, beginning with "Batman: The Animated Series", you will have the feeling that "Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker" has more plot holes than you can count on your hands and feet. This is not the case, this movie is targeted to the fans of the TV series. You are expected to know the plot of the show.
Unless you are a fan of the TV series, you will not like "Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker". It might be a fair rental if you want to see a movie.
