Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2013)

"Batman: The Mystery of the Batwoman" is the first new straight-to-DVD Batman animated project since "Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker." It was worth the wait. Even if it doesn't match the manic, violent heights of "The Return of the Joker," it's a welcome, more lightweight adventure that's full of action and drama and also a very enjoyable mystery. There's a slew of villains: The Penguin, Bane, and gangser Rupert Thorne. And there's the fascinating new character of Batwoman herself, with her unique abilities and unusual arsenal of gadgets. It's also quite a sexy, steamy Batman story (but don't worry, parents, not THAT steamy), with a strong romantic subplot that gives Bruce Wayne plenty to do when he's not hunting through the night as Batman. Like all of the animated D.C. Comics projects to come out of Warner Bros. since the early 90s, it's enjoyable, smart entertainment for both children and adults. If it doesn't quite attain the level of some of the previous Batman animated adventures, it nonetheless delivers a fun, exciting time in Gotham city.

Directed by Kurt Geda (who also directed "Return of the Joker") and Tim Maltby, and written by frequent writers of the various D.C. TV shows, Michael Reaves and Alan Burnett, the movie takes us back to the days of "The New Batman Adventures" (which means the look and style of the movie matches the more stylized look of the last few seasons of the show). Batman and Robin (the younger Tim Drake version of Robin) are still together fighting crime, but Batgirl has left Gotham City to go to college (no mention is made of Nightwing, the former Robin). But a new vigilante has suddenly appeared in Gotham: Batwoman (voice of Kyra Sedgewick), who wields bizarre technology and seems to have a grudge against the Penguin and Rupert Thorne's weapons-dealing operation. Batman sets out to find out the truth behind Batwoman and also stop the Penguin, Thorne, and their cronies.

There are plenty of suspects who could be beneath Batwoman's mask: scientist Roxanne "Roxy" Ballantine (voice of Kelly Ripa), mobster Carlton Duquesne's beautiful daughter Kathy (voice of Kimberly Brooks, although the character is clearly modeled on Halle Berry), and police detective Sonia Alcana (voice of Elisa Pensler-Gabrielli). Each one, Batman discovers, has a reason for revenge against the Penguin or Rupert Thorne. Things become more complicated when Bruce Wayne becomes romantically involved with Kathy Duquesne.

The animation is, as usual, fantastic. It's limited by budget, but nonetheless is far ahead of most of what appears on television, and the animators use the minimalist, art-deco look to great advantage. The set-pieces are stunning: Penguin's icy-night club, the truck chase action opening, Batwoman's hyper-kinetic fight with Penguin's female goons, the cruise boat slam-bang finale, and a beautiful sunset romance scene. It's sequences like these that make me wish Warner Bros. would give the animated Batman another shot at the movie theaters. (Only "Mask of the Phantasm" has shown up on movie screens.) The voice work is impeccable: Kevin Conroy is always a terrific Batman, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. is still the perfect Alfred, and Hector Elizondo has fun with villain Bane. All the various female actresses mentioned above do great jobs with their characters. The only disconcerting casting choice is David Ogden-Stiers (a frequent voice-over artist) as the Penguin. He gives a good performance, but it's hard to better Paul Williams in the role, who had played the character throughout the TV series. The jazz-oriented score is also a nice change and adds to the steamier and mysterious aspects of the story.

The DVD contains a number of extras, but the best is a short animated film called "Chase Me." It is done completely in pantomime -no dialogue -as Batman chases Catwoman across Gotham City after she robs a jewelry safe at a ritzy party. It's a stunning piece of animation, and if it had been released in theaters would probably have easily snatched up the Oscar for Best Animated Short. It's one of the best explorations of the strange Batman-Catwoman-Bruce Wayne-Selina Kyle relationship, and the jazz score is hypnotic. It's a great bonus feature to have along with this extremely enjoyable Batman film. Buy this DVD! It will encourage more animated Batman features in the future, and maybe, just maybe, get one of them released to the theaters!

First of all, I think it's unfair to compare this animated movie to the works of Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. They are long gone on other series and this was an attempt to take a new turn of the head in the series. And it succeeds. Certainly, don't want to discourage WB from making more of these movies because I love them a lot.

From a story point of view the plot is obvious. Who is Batwoman? The answer will astound you. I can't say I saw it coming or thought it was the most original thing to do but it was executed perfectly nonetheless. I'm not sure if I'm too fond of the new animation style however, it seems to lack detail where detail is called for and there is an abscence of shadows which gives Batman its dark feel but as I said they're trying to take a new direction.

Probably the thing I hate the MOST has to do nothing with the movie but with the franchise itself. You'd think that they'd actually have Batwoman stay once the mystery is solved but instead she is gone like all the other new characters in short, nothings changed AT ALL and it slowly degrades itself because of its reptitiveness. They should introduce some permanent change that encourages fans to stay interested in the series.

So why 5 stars? Well, the special features were great but watch them last or there won't be any mystery. Also I do like the fact that they are trying to show a lighter side of Bruce and the simple fact that they did make another moive. The script is good, the acting even better. To me it was certainly better than Sub Zero for here the viewer is actually drawn into a mystery rather than an adventure.

Bottom line, its a worthy buy. I recommend anyone to buy it or at least see it for its entertainment value. And a note to WB executives if they happen to read this: make the next movie longer than 75 min.

Buy Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2013) Now

Mystery of the Batwoman is a decidedly average Batman story. It doesn't come close to the writing triumphs of some of the Batman TAS episodes or even the preceding feature-length ones. The jazzy, laid-back music is completely inappropriate and takes a good deal away from many scenes. The art is clean, crisp, and fluid, but not anything like Sub-Zero's top-of-the-line pre-TNBA art (which honestly is the best Batman has ever looked). Of course, the greatest strength (and saving grace) of the film is the awesome voice acting. Kevin Conroy is still a completely believable Batman, and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.'s Alfred is as witty as ever.

This film strays from the dark, moody feel of the Batman cartoon, which is a BAD thing, but it does make up for it a bit with a good deal of humor. There is a "Batman breaking-and-entering to investigate" scene that is absolutely hilarious if you understand it.

Finally, I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that there is a villain in the movie that we all love and is worth watching the film for. I won't say who it is.

Read Best Reviews of Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2013) Here

Mystery of the Batwoman has made quite a bad reputation for itself since its release a decade ago. I'm not really sure why, or if it deserves the fanboy hate, but one thing is for sure it killed the Bruce Timm/Alan Burnett Batman continuity that began with the TV series back in 1992. Kevin Conroy has returned as Batman in a few video games but there has been no proper Batman animated movie since this one (unless you count Public Enemies, where he shares half of the screen time with Superman).

The Penguin is in the midst of setting up an arms deal with Carton Duquesne, Rupert Thorne, and Bane when the sudden appearance of a new crime-fighter in the shape of Batwoman causes them all sorts of grief. Not taking kindly to his image being tainted by an unaffiliated vigilante Batman sets out to discover who she really is.

It's a decent plot, but never feels moody or atmospheric. The gothic pathos of the animated Batman entries that fans are familiar with is strangely absent/muted. However there are some good action scenes and a nice twist half-way through that might seem a little redundant on repeat viewings. The animosity it has gathered since 2003 is a little hard to justify, it's still better than Sub-Zero.

The Blu-ray is a marginal disappointment. It IS a great improvement over the DVD, featuring the movie in the correct 1.78:1 aspect ratio instead of 1.33:1. The picture balance looks much better and the colors frequently pop, but there is a very strange blurriness to a number shots which feature fuzzy, jagged black outlines. It is very odd, like they zoomed-in on the original print and lost resolution as a result. It might be a fault of the animation and not the Blu-ray transfer, though if you are annoyed by such things it will lessen the overall quality of the Blu-ray for you. The 1080p transfer would otherwise be impressive if it were not marred by this unusual anomaly. The DTS HD-MA audio fares much better and sounds great. The extras have been simply ported from the old DVD and dumped with no re-mastering. Even the ads, trailers, and 'Chase Me' short are in nasty standard definition.

Warner could have improved the presentation a bit, and with this exception of the aforementioned picture deficiencies it is a good upgrade on the DVD.

Want Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2013) Discount?

The climax and eventual end of the original series ends with this movie. Watching the cartoon series chronologically, this one should be watched last. It's a good story but I'm sad to see it end on this movie. They could have gone so much farther than by stopping here. Still a great movie however.

Save 13% Off