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| Worthwhile use
of the "World's Finest" title for this first animated meeting between
the Bat and the Big Blue Cheese. (For many years, in the comic titled
"World's Finest", the lead story every issue was a Batman/ Superman
team-up, in an era when hero team-ups were not common) Batman and Superman's first meeting, herein portrayed, is rather nice, because they really just don't like each other a heck of a lot. Especially after Lois Lane falls hard for Bruce Wayne. Their mutual discovery of secret identities plays nicely on the two characters' strong points, with Superman using his superpowers and Batman demonstrating why he's the world's greatest detective. Harley Quinn's running feud with Luthor's female bodyguard/chauffeur, Mercy, is one of the high points. The Joker's "Dance of Death" over the fallen Superman, adding shocks from his super-charged handbuzzer to Big Blue's suffering in his kryptonite death trap is rather chilling; in this and a few elements of violence this production (originally aired in prime-time, and then as three episodes of the television series) goes a bit beyond what the afternoon TV series can usually portray, and the Mark Hamill-voiced Joker is truly scary. The Joker's raving laughter as he (apparently) goes to his death as a result of one of his own traps gone wrong is both chilling and in character. (Harley Quinn, on the other hand, is just a *bit* too broadly portrayed.) (And Batman's James Bond-like remark after Joker's {probable} death is a bit out-of-character.) Batman's plaintive "I'll-never-understand-women" remark to Superman (who's quietly being a bit snarky at the moment) is just perfect. (There is, by the way a comicbook/"graphic novel" adaptation of this material -- now sadly out of print. While it doesn't bring much new, it's a good counterpoint to this film, as it gives alternate, slightly more "adult" views on some things -- if you have one, you really need the other.) One question -- does Lois Lane have a trust fund or something? Otherwise, how does she afford that Simply Incredible apartment (in Metropolis!) on a mere reporter's salary? Also -- a couple of scenes, notably the lab where the robots are kept and where Superman fights them, and Superman straining to (just barely) prevent a huge aircraft from crashing into buildings strongly suggest deliberate homages to the old Fleischer Bros "Superman" cartoons, specifically to "Metal Monsters" and "Japoteurs". |
