Superman/Batman Public Enemies - Beautiful house with a bad foundation

The latest DTV from DC animation has all the excellent production value that we've come to expect from Bruce Timm and company. Despite this beautiful execution however, the films foundation - its story - fails to deliver the same punch as its visual counterpart (metaphorically speaking, there's actually a ton of action in this movie).

Superman/Batman Public Enemies is an adaptation from the comic book of the same name (Public Enemies took place during the first six issues of the series). The original comic premiered in 2003 and was penned by veteran writer Jeff Loeb with illustrations by Ed McGuinness. The series was understandably successful being that it featured artwork from some of the industries most popular artists (the aforementioned McGuinness and the late Michael Turner) and starred the two most popular characters inhabiting the DC universe. Loeb had built a strong reputation earlier in his career with notable stories like Batman the Long Halloween, Superman for All Seasons, Daredevil Yellow, Spider-man Blue and others. The strength of these books came from Loeb's great use of the mystery genre as well as his ability to tell very intimate, character driven stories. Sadly it was when Loeb started writing more "epic" and "blockbuster" comic books - like Batman/Superman - that he lost his way. Since then Loeb has been responsible for helping make Smallville the television series an absolute abomination, played no small part in ruining the hit show Heroes (for which he was fired) and wrote my nominee for worst mini-series of the decade Ultimatum.

With Public Enemies falling into the "not so good" portion of Loeb's career, one has to wonder why DC animation chose to adapt it into a full fledged animated movie. I'm sure they have a lot of "good" reasons for this, but my guess is that it was purely sales driven. Batman and Superman sell far better than lesser known DC properties (Wonder Woman, Green Lantern) and putting them together into a "Buddy" movie just makes good financial sense. All you need is an existing story that teams them up and you're all set. Of course I could be way off base on this, but I'm willing to bet I'm more right than wrong.

Normally I try to keep my reviews generalized in regards to plot detail, but for this review I'll be recounting pretty much the entire story, spoilers and all (you've been warned). The story for Public Enemies is this. Lex Luthor has been elected president of the United States and he's going to fix all of America's problems while at the same time taking a hard line stance against vigilante justice. So if you want to be a hero you need to go legit and work for the government, and by government I mean Luthor. Naturally our heroes Superman and Batman don't trust the new Commander and Chief and will have none of this. The thing is Luthor actually does a good job. Crime goes down, work is plentiful and the future is looking bright ... then we find out a Kryptonite asteroid is headed for earth (Dammit I knew I should have voted for McCain/Palin). Luthor's plan to save earth involves blowing up the asteroid with missiles, but others think he should enlist the help of heroes like Superman just in case the missiles don't work. So Luthor does just that, he publicly asks Superman to meet with him to discuss the impending crisis and let bygones be bygones. But it turns out to be a trick. Luthor only wants to meet with Supes so that he can frame him for murdering his old archenemy Metallo. Now a fugitive, Superman and Batman try to figure out a way to both stop the oncoming asteroid and clear Superman's name. Making matters worse for our heroes, Luthor has placed a 1 billion dollar bounty on their heads, thus making them a target for every villain - and most heroes - on the planet. At this point in the story things are holding together ok. Granted the idea of a doomsday asteroid is unoriginal and clichéd, but it doesn't look like this is going to turn into a train wreck or anything.

The second act of the film is primarily made up of fights ... lots of fights. I'll be honest, it's pretty darn cool. The action is fast paced, intense, beautifully animated and epic in scope. Rarely have I seen such a large cast of unique characters used in an action/adventure cartoon. Once the fighting winds down we learn the identity of Metallo's real killer and Luthor's plan begins to unravel. Oh and the missiles Luthor shot at the asteroid don't work. Alright we got just one act left and our movie is still doing alright. Nothing short of a complete meltdown could derail us now. What are the odds of that?

Upon entering the third act a now exposed Luthor begins to go crazy declaring that the asteroid is necessary to thin out humanities numbers. This insanity is attributed to the continued injections of synthetic Kryptonite and steroids that Luthor has been giving himself since earlier in the movie. Batman and Superman fight their way through some more opposition before confronting Luthor and demanding that he provide them with data on the asteroid so that they can stop it themselves. Luthor doesn't help of course, but his assistant (or maybe it's the vice president, they don't really say) gives them what they need and they take off to Japan to enlist the aid of some super geniuses (I think they said he was the new Toyman or something). Luthor escapes his assistant, hops into a battle suit and takes off after them. Now by this point things have gotten a little weird with the whole "synthetic Kryptonite" and "mad man Luthor" stuff. Our metaphorical train is starting to careen out of control, but that's ok. As long as the climax works all is forgiven. Wow that bend up ahead sure does look sharp, I hope we don't jump the track.

Entering the film's climax Batman and Superman meet up with our mysterious Japanese savior. Turns out he's a kid with a giant robot fetish. Wait, who said anything about giant robots? Well as luck would have it the super smart adolescent that Superman and Batman go to for help loves big Gundam sized robots (like most boys in Japan), thus he provides our heroes with a giant robot to fly up and destroy the asteroid with (Lookout! The train is starting to tip over!). But this isn't some Voltron wannabe. No this robot was built to look like both Superman and Batman (Oh God, we've gone off the rails!!). Let me put that another way, half the robot looks like Superman and the other half looks like Batman (Noooo the humanity, good God the humanity!!!). If that sounds really corny don't worry, that just means you're still sane. The movie does its best to try and make light of the situation, almost as if they're trying to disarm our reaction by acknowledging how insane this looks. The result is still the same though, the audience gets taken out of the moment. This is what you've been building up to for the last sixty minutes, a giant robot? I don't know what the rationale was for doing something so overtly lame, but no matter how I look at it this is stupid. If you make the argument that this is some kind of throw back to good old "cheesy" comics then the whole story should have been in the same vein. Added too that is the fact that this is a PG-13 movie. If you're going to go do something childish then make the movie PG and aim it at children. In fact if you removed the cursing and toned the violence down just a little, this could easily pass for PG. That's why I have such an issue with the choice of source material. The producers knew this story didn't quite fit their DTV line (which has been more mature and aimed at older viewers) but they used it anyway.

Alright, I've come this far so I might as well finish up my synopsis. Basically Luthor shows up and tries to stop Batman/Superman from saving the planet. Superman gets into a big slugfest with Luthor while Batman flies our super cool robot into outer space and blows up the asteroid. At first Superman thinks that Batman perished in a heroic act of sacrifice, but it turns out he's still alive inside of the robots control module. When Superman finds out he simply flies on up and brings him back home. Luthor goes to jail, the world is saved, everyone cheers and I die a little on the inside.

Now you may get the impression that I don't like this movie, but that's not entirely true. The truth is there are a lot of things about this film that I really enjoyed. Not only does it reunite the voicing cast from the original Batman and Superman animated shows (Tim Daly, Kevin Conroy and Clancy Brown) it also has excellent animation, cool character models (based on Ed McGuinness's art style), tons of action and a solid musical score. Even the writing I've been so critical of has good moments. In particular I enjoyed Batman/Superman's banter as well as the exploration of ideological differences between the two heroes. To give some frame of reference as to where I would put this movie on my list of favorite DTVs it would fall somewhere below Superman Doomsday and above the Ultimates movies by Marvel. If you love action or Superman/Batman then you should pick this up, it's a fun movie but doesn't live up to the standard that Wonder Woman and Green Lantern set.

Batman Beyond - Even better the second time around

The year is 1999, I'm getting ready to enter my final year of college and much to my disappointment both Superman the Animated Series as well as Batman the Animated Series have come to an end. So I asked "What new action/adventure cartoon could possibly replace these classic shows?". The answer was ... Batman Beyond. I then asked "What the hell is Batman Beyond?". The answer this time was "It's teenage Batman set in the future, but he has a really cool cyber suit!". My reaction ... "What the @#$*?". Alright all kidding aside this show could have been an absolute disaster, in fact it should have been.

The idea to do Batman as a teenager actually came from the head of the Kids WB programing department. Basically they (the higher ups on the Kids WB) loved Batman TAS but felt the character was a little old to attract younger viewers. The answer to this dilemma was - of course - to make Batman a teenager. This brilliant concept (that's sarcasm) was then thrown at Bruce Timm and Paul Dini (the guys who made Batman TAS and Superman TAS). Their reaction ... "What the @#$*?". Okay maybe that wasn't their exact response, but they were not thrilled. So they brainstormed some ideas (one of which was Batman Beyond) and ran them by Glen Murakami (another Batman/Superman alumni). His response ... "Cool!". Thus Batman Beyond (originally titled Tomorrow Knight and later Batman Tomorrow) was born.

Batman Beyond ran over the course of three seasons totaling 52 episodes and one DTV (Direct to Video) movie in length. Despite my original skepticism I enjoyed the show's initial run. A couple years back I bought all the DVDs with the plan to someday re-watch the series in its entirety. Finally that day came and I found that the show had aged beautifully. This is - without a doubt - one of the better action/adventure cartoons ever done and is a very worthy successor to the Batman/Superman series.

I should probably extrapolate a little on the premise of the show. Batman Beyond takes place in the year 2039 and features a teenager named Terry McGinnis. One day - by chance - Terry runs across an 80 year old Bruce Wayne while fighting a local street gang called the Jokerz (the z is intentional). After they dispense of the riffraff Bruce's heart condition acts up and he needs Terry's help to get back to Wayne Manor and take his medication. Once there Terry stumbles across the Batcave and discovers that the old man who just helped him used to be the Batman (Bruce had to give up being Batman 20 years prior). Soon thereafter Terry returns home only to find that his father (Terry's mother and father have been divorced for several years) has been murdered. Wanting to bring the killers to justice Terry asks Bruce to help him out. Bruce tells him no. So Terry takes matters into his own hands and steals Bruce's last Batsuit, a cybernetically enhanced getup he was using to compensate for his old age (Bruce couldn't give up his crime fighting obsession and needed an edge as he got into his 60s). Naturally Bruce is pissed, but he gets over it and the two join forces to bring Batman back to Gotham City.

I usually like to start my reviews with a show's writing, and today will be no different. As you probably suspect the writing from Batman Beyond is fantastic. The show's staff does an excellent job of incorporating elements from the original Batman series to tell a tale that is familiar but at the same time unique. A couple of villains from Batman TAS do show up, most notably Mr. Freeze and the Joker (the Joker only appears in the DTV movie), but for the most part the series consists of original villains made specifically for the Batman Beyond universe. Though none of the villains really come close to the original Batman rogues gallery, they do work very well within the context of the show. Since Batman Beyond features a teenage hero we also get a couple episodes that are high school centric and feature teenage themed issues (addiction, performance enhancers, bullying). Thankfully the show avoids the traps that other shows fall into and keeps the messages from becoming too heavy handed. Really the show just has solid overall story telling.

Now as much as I enjoyed the writing of this show I did not agree with everything the series creators did. For one thing it is revealed that back when Bruce Wayne was younger he and Barbra Gordon (Batgirl) had a romantic relationship. My reaction ... "What the @#$*?". It had always been alluded to that Barbra and the original Robin - Dick Grayson - had a thing, so this pairing comes way out of left field. Honestly it just feels .... well dirty. For Bruce to hook up with his former wards ex-girlfriend was exceedingly creepy and sleazy. Since when is Batman picking up Robin scraps (okay maybe that was a little harsh)? To the producers credit though it was a very interesting plot point (still gives me the willies though). I was also disappointed that we never learn the fate of the aforementioned Dick Grayson. We find out what happens to Barbra Gordon (she follows in her fathers footsteps and becomes police commissioner), we find out the fate of the second Robin, Tim Drake, but we never find out about Grayson. He is mentioned several times in the series - and it's implied that he is still alive - but I would have loved to have seen a story about how things with him and Bruce ended up shaking out.

The cast of characters from Batman Beyond is also superb. Terry McGinnis isn't some carbon copy of Bruce Wayne. In fact it turns out he has a criminal past. Back when Terry was fourteen (about the time his folks split) he ended up doing some breaking and entering that got him three months in juvenile hall. He's also brash and makes numerous mistakes while learning the ropes of costumed crime fighting. Luckily he has Bruce Wayne as a mentoring figure. I have to say 80 year old Bruce is a blast to watch on this show. Gone is the facade of the playboy millionaire from the original Batman series. In its place is a lonely bitter recluse who has spent the last 20 years of his life in a depressed haze. With Terry though Bruce finds his life's purpose re-invigorated and the two form a strong bond as teacher and student. Terry's mother (who he now lives with) and little brother are not used often in the show but when they are I find the dynamic very interesting, especially in the early goings of the series. There are times that you just get the impression that Terry's mom doesn't quite trust him, like she is waiting for him to slip up and get in trouble again. Though not really a plot point, it's this kind of underlying tension that gives these characters such fantastic dimension.

Unfortunately not all the characters on the show have such depth. In particular there is one secondary cast member that truly falls flat in this show, Terry's girlfriend Dana. Dana and Terry have been dating for an unspecified amount of time when the series starts, and once Terry becomes Batman (a secret that Dana knows nothing about) she finds herself neglected constantly. This leads to a lot (and I mean a LOT) of nagging. Now even though Dana has every right to be pissed her only real charter trait is the superhuman ability to BITCH INCESSANTLY! This does not make for an interesting addition to the show. At no point do we - the viewer - ever really root for these two crazy kids to work things out. I see no reason for Dana to stay with Terry and vice versa. This divide is made bigger (in my opinion) by the introduction of Max in season two (FYI, Max is short for Maxine. So yes she is a girl).

Max is friends with both Terry and Dana, but when she discovers that Terry is Batman she also becomes Terry's confidant. By that I mean she helps him work through tough decisions and lends him a sympathetic ear when needed. Because she's a computer geniuses she also helps him out with crime fighting when necessary; though her desire to get involved in this aspect of Terry's life gets her into trouble more than once. Already you can tell that Max is far more three dimensional than Dana and even though the shows creators never use Max as a romantic interest for Terry (despite the best efforts of Alan Burnett) she would have made a far better one than Dana ever did. I'm not saying that Dana should have been written off the show or anything, I'm just saying she needed more development. Why does she try so hard to stay with Terry? Give us some background on their relationship. Get her involved in Terry's life as Batman (just don't turn her into a constant damsel in distress like Lana Lang in that horrendous show Smallville). If I had any real complaint about this show I would have to say it's the underdevelopment of Dana. Other than that Batman Beyond has a great cast.

As you would expect the production quality of this series is outstanding. All the characters are on model, the animation - for the most part - is great (though there are a handful of mediocre animated episodes) and the voice acting is exceptional. I especially admired the design work of the series. The costumes and backgrounds are some of my favorite of any action/adventure cartoon. I'm tempted to go as far as to say they are the best in the entire DCAU (DC animated universe), but I'll stop short of making such a bold claim. In terms of quality it's easy to take DCAU shows for granted, they've been so consistently good in every department for so long that we've come to expect excellence. Still when you watch some of the other shows that were on the air at this time it's a sobering reminder of just how good these guys really were.

My final thoughts are pretty straight forward. With the exception of a couple minor complaints Batman Beyond is a classic. After ten years the show has lost none of its charm, and in some ways I enjoy it more now than when it first aired. If you don't have these DVDs I recommend you pick them up. Not only do you get a great cartoon but you also get some fantastic special features (commentaries on select episodes and a great series of round table discussions with the shows creators). All 52 episodes are collected in three volumes and don't forget the DTV "Batman Beyond Return of the Joker" (FYI there are two versions of the DTV, Standard and Directors Cut. The Directors Cut is PG-13, so be aware of which you are getting).