What do you do if you have one story broken over three episodes from a hit 1997 television show? You merge them into one movie and make more money by selling them direct to DVD of course!
And thus The Batman/Superman Movie was born.
Grabbing episodes 29, 30 and 31 from 1997 Season 2 of Superman: The Animated Series, the story titled World’s Finest (Parts I – III) in its original form, is penned by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini, and directed by Toshihiko Masuda.
The story involves a near bankrupt Joker hatching a scheme to replace the funds blocked thanks to the Batman’s Gotham activities, by stealing a large status made of Kryptonite and travelling over to Metropolis with the aim of striking a deal with Lex Luthor in order to kill Superman in exchange for a billion dollars.
But as luck would have it, Bruce Wayne is currently in partnership with LexCorp over a new robotics project, meaning that Batman too finds himself in the unfamiliar Metropolis, setting up the first ever meeting between the Man of Steel and the Bat, as they take on the combined might of two of their most cunning foes.
As with the writing for all the DC Animated Universe series’, the story is adventure-laden, packed with snappy dialogue, one-liners and puns, not to mention the non-stop action that this time around features two of DC’s biggest attractions in tights.
And the clever little feuding over Lois Lane between Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne is a particularly nice touch.
It is a thoroughly enjoyable, classic Batman and Superman story, animated with the distinctly stylized big chin and simple lines that came with all the original DC Animated universe fare, backed up of course with the all important voice work of Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as The Joker, Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor, Dana Delany as Lois Lane and of course, Tim Daly as Superman. And needless to say, everything is rounded off with a full orchestral score as per usual.
Thoroughly enjoyable, classic Batman and Superman action that all fanboys should be able to enjoy, making it well worth picking up from the DVD store, even if just to relive some of that animated nostalgia coming out of the late 90s when superheroes were finally done right!
Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superman:_The_Animated_Series_episodes