Batman do Futuro: O Retorno do Coringa

I've never really been that wild about this Terry kid, or this new costume. He seems to rely more on his Iron Man-like costume than his intellect and deductive skills, as the original Batman did. Having said that, my favourite part of Return of the Joker was when Barbara Gordon flashed back and remembered the last time Batman fought the Joker. That is an absolutely marvelous scene. You feel the concern and horror thunder through Batman as he's confronted with the atrocities Robin has endured, as well as his hatred and fury towards the Joker. The people in Warner Brothers animation have thankfully returned to drawing the Joker with the detail they had when Batman the Animated Series started. And as much as I don't really like him, Terry's climactic fight with the Joker is definitely worth checking out. As a previous comment said, it's a pleasant surprise.

Before watching this, I was expecting a good movie, but it turned out to be a spectacular movie that I want to watch again and again! This film pays true homage to the Batman animated series and explains many questions of what happened to the supporting characters and sidekicks of the original Batman animated series. The animation style for the Joker is that of Batman: TAS volume 1-3 (i.e. Joker: good version). If you're hesitant to watch this movie, go for it. Watch, love, and enjoy. I recommend buying the DVD right away, because it also has some pretty cool bonus features like a making-of feature, and a music video. I highly recommend this movie for a fan of the show, or anyone else who even remotely likes Batman.

I do not know why this was a direct-to-video release. It was very exciting and I think it would have done pretty well in theatres. I rented BATMAN BEYOND: RETURN OF THE JOKER because I love the BATMAN BEYOND television show and I loved BATMAN BEYOND: THE MOVIE. The first couple of scenes seemed a little too much like the television show, but as soon as I saw the new Joker, I knew this was going to be Batman like we have never seen him before. This was so different from the show in so many ways and had such great animation. It was a fast-paced animated thriller. It was intense. I loved it. A few days later, I bought it on DVD and listened to the filmakers' commentary. I had no idea that so much work was done on this movie in such a short time. Sadly, none of the filmakers' mentioned the cuts that were made by Warner Brothers due to the amount of violence. I think it would be really interesting to see the footage that was cut from the movie. Hopefully, Warner Brothers will come out with a version that contains the cut footage some day. Until then, I'll just enjoy the movie the way Warner Brothers released it. It is one of the best animated movie I have ever seen. I hope there are some more BATMAN BEYOND movies in the future.

The first thing that stands out about Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker is its structure. Unlike some of the other animated Batman movies (SubZero, Mystery of the Matwoman), this one comes closer to the likes of Mask of the Phantasm to actually feeling, however in short running time, like a real feature-length movie and not simply four episodes strung together. This is important since we can get wrapped up in the mystery behind the re-emergence of the Joker and it feels fluid and without a cliffhanger-type end every several minutes. The second thing that marks this as above-average animated Batman fare is the quality of the history of two series, original animated and Beyond, and how sharp the writing and voice performances go along with the (PG-13) action and cartoon violence. The filmmakers could've just thrown in old characters like Joker and Harley Quinn and Barbara Gordon and Tim Drake just for the hell of it. But it all fits a story that's worth telling, if only for the fans looking for that awesome coda to the first series.

It's hard to try and not spoil how the Joker, fifty years into the future, re-appears with his gang the Jokerz when Bruce Wayne is now an old man and Terry McGinnis is the new young Batman. Without saying too much, the Jokerz are stealing some high-tech equipment, and something smells fishy on top of the conniving Jordan Price possibly double-crossing Wayne, who is taking back control over Wayne enterprises. But when the Joker himself crashes Wayne's party, McGinnis and Wayne try and investigate what's going on- who he really is, since he's supposed to be killed- and where he'll strike next. The writing and crafting of the mystery, and the eventual truth, is told creatively and with the kind of absorption Batman fans crave (it IS Detective Comics after all), but also impressive is the animation done mostly with computers and not skimping on making the action fairly intense (the subtraction of a good deal of the blah heavy metal music from the show is a plus here).

And lest not forget Conroy as Bruce Wayne, always a sturdy presence, and Mark Hamill as the Joker. They're probably two of the most iconic voice actors of their time just on the basis of their work in the Batman animated saga; Hamill especially gives it his all, and even puts in double-time on the voice of Jordon Price (which for a little while begs the question of him being involved in the crimes), as the clown prince of crime and mayhem. It's such a good performance that it makes up for some standard work by other voice actors (however fine) by Dean Stockwell and Angie Harmon. With just his voice he projects this iconic villain for all its worth, and ranks up there with Nicholson and (now) Ledger as the wonderful if varied versions. Somehow, even in the drama, Hamill manages to get a couple of laughs out of the audience with this Joker. Funny, since it's one of the most dramatic Batman stories yet. 8.5/10

In the year 2040, Terry McGinnis continues to fight crime of Neo Gotham under the mantle of Batman, however, after stopping the Jokerz gang from stealing high tech equipment, he gets suspicious of their actions. However, the Jokerz returned with the console's memory board and gave it to a man sitting on a throne, who reveals himself to be The Joker, who has come back from the dead (as an episode had his remains). After his return as CEO is crashed, Bruce relieves Terry of duty, not wanting him to face Joker due to how dangerous he is, but after the Jokerz attack Terry in a nightclub, and Bruce is hospitalized after an ambush by The Joker leaves him poisoned with the clown's signature toxin, Terry decides to don the Batsuit to find out how the clown prince of crime is back from the grave and what he is plotting for Neo-Gotham.

Yeah, this movie had an interesting development time. Having to be delayed and re-edited after the Columbine massacre started a new backlash against violence in films and video games (because it's easier to pass the buck to those two industries instead of going after the real cause), the film had some scenes changed to avoid mentioning death, change or remove lines of dialogue, and even shorten some fight scenes. However, fans hated the change, and in 2002, after countless petitions, the original, uncut version of the film was released with a PG-13 rating.

And I have to agree that the movie is best watched uncut. Being a film, it could do anything that KidsWB would never allow an episode of the cartoon it's based on to have, giving it the tone that the fans would expect from Batman. Also, the voice actors return to reprise their respective roles (even Mark Hamill comes back to voice Joker), and they do a fantastic job, and the story is awesome, with many twists, and even a flashback telling the tale of Joker's death (the cause being different depending on which version is being watched, edited or original uncut). This is a good film for any Batman fan, and one best watched uncut (unless you have kids, in that case, the edited version is also good).