When people think of animated Batman films there's always one film that people seem to forget about as it is seen as being the weakest one. Yet it's that very film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today as this is a film that I genuinely haven't seen before now and I wanted to check out and so then join me as I review the film that was the last film to be set in the DCAU until 2017's Batman And Harley Quinn with the film in question being called simply just "Batman: Mystery Of The Batwoman" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when a new hero arrives on the scene dressed like a bat Batman tries to work out who she is all the while trying to stop the latest scheme from The Penguin. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt that about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as this is still a decent plot that would have made for a decent episode of the show and yet that's also the problem as this films plot doesn't make for a good Batman film plot as it just feels like an extended episode of Batman: The Animated Series and that's really it where as if you look at films like Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm and Batman & Mr. Freeze Sub Zero they all had plots that made them feel like movies and that could only work in movies where as this films plot could easily have been the plot to a two part episode of the show with this not really being helped by the fact that the films plot s weak at best as the film does pick up and drop it's plot alot of the time so much so that it does get hard to work out just what it is that this films plot is even meant to be in the first place and yet even so when this films plot does get something right it really does get it right like for example the romance between Bruce and Kathleen was really sweet and the idea of Batman having to figure just who this new person is is a good idea but the film does nothing with either idea to make them work as well as they perhaps could have done with the plot of this film being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne / Batman , Kyra Sedgwick as Batwoman and Héctor Elizondo as Bane. Also starring in this film is Kimberly Brooks as Kathleen "Kathy" Duquesne , Kelly Ripa as Dr. Roxanne "Rocky" Ballantine , Elisa Gabrielli as Detective Sonia Alcana , David Ogden Stiers as Penguin , Kevin Michael Richardson as Carlton Duquesne , John Vernon as Rupert Thorne , Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred Pennyworth , Eli Marienthal as Tim Drake / Robin , Tara Strong as Barbara Gordon , Bob Hastings as Commissioner James Gordon , Robert Costanzo as Detective Harvey Bullock and Tim Dang as Kevin.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With the actors that you expect a good performance from like for example Kevin Conroy giving us exactly that and while there acting isn't enough to save the film it is something that does show you that the makers of this film really did try there best to give us a good Batman film with the films guest actors more then holding there own when it comes to acting opposite the series main actors with the best actor in this film being of course Kevin Conroy as the man just simply IS Batman so much so that he's not playing a role at this point he's just being himself as he had been playing this character for close to decade at this point in time and while yes actors like Kevin Michael Richardson and David Ogden Stiers are still really good in this film with David Ogden Stiers making for a shockingly really good Penguin they just can't top what Kevin Conroy does with the character as he really is just that good as this character in any piece of Batman media with the acting that's in this very film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Doing the animation for this film is the legends and the greats that really are currently over at DR Movie. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with the films animation being alot more better then that it really had any right to be as while the animation isn't as good as the animation from the show was you can still tell that there was some form of effort put into making this films animation look really good with all of the films characters having some really fluid movements to them and while the film does indeed borrow the character designs from The New Batman Adventures the film makes everything alot more brighter and alot more colorful which is the only real issue with the film from an animation standpoint as a Batman film should look dark and it should look gritty as that's the world that these characters live in this was something that Batman: The Animated Series understood and yet here in this film despite it being set in the same world as that show it feels completely different due to the fact that things are now made to be brighter when it would have worked so much more better if things were kept darker as that's what people want to see a Batman movie but to be fair tho this films animation really does come alive during it's action scenes and heck it could even be argued that the films animation helped to make the action be all the more better then what they already are due to the fact that we get some nice fluid animation during those scenes.
Believe it not this film was actually the last feature film to be set in the confides of the DCAU until 2017's Batman And Harley Quinn film. As while alot of this films actors did reprise there roles in other Batman related films and TV shows they were classed as being apart of the DCAU and that to me at least is astounding due to the fact that the DCAU had alot of really good shows all of which could have had there own movies and while yes we did get film length episodes from certain shows shows like Superman and both of the Justice League shows never got movies of their own and yet both shows were extremely popular and could have gotten a movie or two of there own but for one reason or another people at either Warner Bros or at DC decided to instead just give Batman feature length films which is still great as that character does have alot of room to tell good stories but at the same time when you look at the wider DCAU there was more potential there to tell these stories that perhaps could have been told within a single twenty two minuet episode all of which would have been really cool to see like imagine how good an animated Superman movie based on Superman: The Animated Series would have been if it had the animation quality of Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm or how good a Justice League movie would have been if it had a one hour and thirty minuet running time to tell this truly epic story that could only be told in a film just because Batman: The Animated Series was the most popular DCAU show doesn't mean that there wasn't other shows that could have worked really well if they had there own feature length film.
Lets talk about the villains of the film as it could be argued that the film has to many villains as you have Bane , Penguin and Rupert Thorne all as the films main villains. Yet then you also have Kathleen "Kathy" Duquesne , Dr. Roxanne "Rocky" Ballantine , Detective Sonia Alcana and Kathy's father Carlton Duquesne as all four of those characters act like villains at some point in the film and that is just far to many villains to have in a film that isn't even one hour and thirty minuets long and while yes you could argue that Kathy , Rocky and Sonia aren't true villains as there meant to be Batwoman and therefor doing good there are times where they do act like there meant to be villains and while Carlton is just trying to look after his daughter he's also a gangster that is in league with The Penguin whereas this film is one that would have worked just by having Bane and Penguin as villains as together they are more then strong enough to be the main villains of a direct to DVD animated movie with even Penguins plan of just trying to sell these weapons just so he can make money not really being something that you'd expect to be the main villain plot for a movie as there you do expect the villains to go bigger with there plans so why not have Penguins plan still be selling weapons to make money but then reveal that he's putting tat money towards a bigger scheme like taking over the world as that is the kind of plan that you'd expect to see in a movie where as here his plan feels like the plan he would come up with in an episode of the show as it's just that small scale of a plan with this no doubt being done because of the fact that the film has to many characters who you could argue are villains in he film when having fewer villains would have worked all the more better.
This film does of course have a mystery aspect that being who is Batwoman and well to be frank this films mystery isn't that good. As the film does outright tell you who all three of them are the second that Bruce starts to suspect them whereas it would have been more effective if we didn't know who they were again look at Mask Of The Phantasm we don't see who the Phantasm is out side of the costume heck we don't even know if there male or female we just know that there evil and Batman has to work out who they are with the flashback scenes being the only pieces of clues that we get to the fact that this new character is someone that Bruce Wayne might know where as here it felt like they were trying to do everything that that film did only more poorly as here we get told who Batwoman and we don't get any clues as to she might be so that us the audience can work it out for ourselves both of which are things that do make this films mystery be all the more weaker then what it already is in the first place this wouldn't be a bad thing of course were it not for the fact that the film is literally called Mystery Of The Batwoman and yet it does feel like that so little effort was put into the films mystery when that is the first thing that should have been given alot of love and attention with the thing that could have helped this films mystery being if only got to see Batwoman very briefly and have the characters are her act so unlike her as they have to fool not only us the audience but also Batman the worlds greatest detective as well and when you have the characters straight up introduce things that Batwoman herself uses it makes Batman all the more dumb for not working out something that us the audience have already worked out or ourselves.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and fourteen minuets and forty nine seconds. Which is pretty much the bog standard running time for these DCAU Batman movies to have but in saying this tho given just how many villains that this film has it is something that could have been with being at the very least one hour and thirty minuets with this film having just about the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place but tho this film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the film doesn't take the time that it really should have done to fully develop it's plot with the film instead being alot more focused on giving us a forced romance between Bruce and Kathy then it in giving us a well thought out plot with there romance being very poorly handled due to the fact that the two characters don't compliment each other at all with the film no even taking the time to fully develop its characters either which is something that does make sense for characters like Batman for example where you could make the argument that they get there character development in the both the show and in the other movies but for the newly introduced characters they are characters that could have used the character development and yet because of the fact that the film is more focused on giving us a very poorly done mystery none of them can get it and infact we know just about the films new characters coming out of the film then we did coming into the film as that's just how poorly done that this films character development really is but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With the action in this film being the best aspect of the film as you can tell right away that the makers of this film really did know how to craft some wonderful action scenes with the films animation really coming alive during any of this films action something which does make this film action seem to be all the ore better then what it already is in the first place with the best action scene in the whole entire film being the films third act fight on the boat as we get to all three women as Batwoman team up to help Batman take down both Bane and Penguin after Kathy herself is kidnapped by Bane something which does lead to a truly awsome fight that gives you all of the things that you'd want to see in a Batman fight scene as we get lots of explosions which do look good in the film and it will always be cool tom see other heroes teaming up with each other something which the entire third act of this films is built around and heck Batman does even get into a pretty impressive fight with Bane something which does make sense as realistically Bane is the only villain character that could beat Batman so having him and Bane go toe to toe with each other is something that does add an extra layer of tension to the scene as Batman could die with the film having alot of other really good action scenes in it as well all of which prove that there is a good film in here it's just bogged down by a badly done plot in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall its not that hard to see why alot people not only don't like but have also forgotten about this film as this film is easily the weakest of the Batman DCAU films with it being made clear as day that the makers of the film really had no idea what to do for the film and so they just threw stuff at the wall to see what sticks and because of that we ended up with a really average films because of it in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very film that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very film with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.