LogFAQs > #910408541

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
Nominated by: GavsEvans

This film presented a conundrum to me. After all, what did Mask of the Phantasm actually do wrong? Was there an issue with the script, the voice acting, the animation? Absolutely not. In fact, Mask of the Phantasm hews extremely closely to the upon which it is based, and much like the 1966 Batman, I feel that it would be wrong of me to overhaul the movie too much due to its origins as a show first. And besides, the real issue here was a complete lack of marketing and a hook to convince people to take their children to the film.

So, in lieu of the normal repair work I've been doing on these films, I think the best possible fix is to simply devote a bigger amount of cash to advertisement. The sad fact is that so many people are simply unaware of this Batman: The Animated Series spin-off, and awareness alone would increase this from a $10 million dollar sleeper to an $80 million dollar profit generator. Demonstrating to people that this is different from other Batman films of the time, something special, would really have done wonders to bring this film to the level of a true, unmitigated success.

But I imagine this was nominated for a particular reason outside of the simple fix I've mentioned, so I'll talk about why I think there's very little you can do to make this film better. The script is extremely tight, and the voice acting is excellent. It captures both the tone of the comic Batman and some of the Burton Batman as well, and the music is excellent. Ultimately, the only real thing that could be improved upon is providing a bigger budget for more detailed frame-by-frame animation. That's the only other option available. And sure, that would make this prettier to some extent, but you'd have to really, actively know what you're doing as the director of animation on this project to take a TV show and keep the tone of the show while changing how the show does its weekly shot-by-shot work. And, honestly, I think that's a mistake.

You're only other option here is to turn this into a live-action film, and then it becomes a matter of whether you want to bring in your previous Joker and Batman, etc., to a movie that feels like an aberration to both the film series and the cartoon of the time. Sure, you could recast Nicholson with Hamill, but I think Hamill's voice is not enough to create an engaging live-action Joker, and Hamill himself will likely be criticized right out of the gate for being different from Nicholson. It's a double-edged sword. And with the hype for the upcoming Spider-Man animated film just a year out from a new live-action film, I don't think filmgoers are too concerned with the medium of the film necessarily. So, the safest bet in any event is to push the marketing hard on this film. Critical reviews were extremely positive for Mask of the Phantasm, and, to me, that says enough about the film itself.
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"It is too easy being monsters. Let us try to be human." ~Victor Frankenstein, Penny Dreadful