The Batman Superman Movie: World's Finest

The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest is a FINE film itself. We see the world's two greatest superheroes fight against Lex Luthor and The Joker; pretty self-explanatory I reckon. What follows the colossal team-ups is colourful fun filled with comic-paced action sequences that makes up for great entertainment for kids and fully-grown-ass-men still loving their superheroes, like myself.

As a Batman & Superman crossover, this movie trounces Dawn of Justice tenfold in its entertainment factor and understanding of the characters. Is this a fair comparison considering this film was part of an already pre-established franchise in the DC-Animated-Universe? I'd say that yes, because this one was a result of the storytelling taking its time to build up to this point as opposed to just jumping right into it the way Dawn of Justice did.

World's Finest does its job well and caters to both fans of The Man of Steel and The Dark Knight perfectly.

Before the review, a brief plot summary: The Joker and Harley Quinn, who have recently been down on their cash, steal a strange "green jade" statue from an antique shop called the Laughing Dragon. The dragon is famous because all of it's previous owners have died unexplained deaths. Batman is put on the case, and when he expiriments on a sample from the statue, he learns it is giving off low-level radiation. Bruce Wayne, his billionaire alter-ego, is working on a buisness project in Metropolis with another famous billionaire, Lex Luthor. Clark Kent and Lois Lane are among the first reporters to greet Wayne as he arrives, and immediatly Lane and Wayne become attracted to each other. Meanwhile, Joker has met up with Luthor and shown him the statue which is made of kryptonite, and seals a deal- a billion dollars and he'll kill Superman.

Well, here is an interesting crossover! Of two Warner Brothers cartoons, based on DC comics, Marvel's top competition. This feautures all the original voices from the cartoons, like Tim Daly (currently seen on "The Fugitive") as Superman, Kevin Conroy (currently playing... Batman, as you can see if you'll click on his bio) as Batman, Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor, Dana Delany as Lois Lane, and Mark Hamill (explination needed?) as the Joker.

Let me start this paragraph off by saying that both heroes have suffered a lot of crap recently (ie "Batman Forever" and "Batman and Robin"; "Superman III" and "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace"). Batman has been getting quite some publicity, what with the films "Mask of the Phantsm" and "Sub Zero". Obviously, Kevin Conroy is THE animated caped crusader, and it's nice to see him again.

But, enough with such ramblings. The plot is EXCELLENT and interesting to see how it could work out. As I have just said, it's great to hear all the original voices, together and interacting. The chemistry is great! The conflict between Bat and Super is brilliantly done, and as the plot progresses it gets more and more interesting. Also, the chemistry between the villians is appealing, and with Bruce and Lois... well it's lots of fun.

The scenes are fast-paced and exciting, and the climax is amazing. The Joker's "death" is a great company to his other demise in the film "Batman" with Jack Nicholson. The suspense glues you to it, and the technology is fun. Batman fans will applaud the film, sticking to the original idea and character (a nod goes to Bruce telling Lex "I don't like guns"). It's too bad we don't see Bruce getting emotional about falling in love like in "Mask of the Phantsm".

The special effects and all probably won't break any grounds, and the film will probably be remembered only as a noticeable TV movie from 1998, but I still strongly recommend it. My, we can only imagine what it would be like live action, with Christopher Reeve, Michael Keaton, Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson, Margot Kidder etc. Ah well, we can still dream... (smile).

This video, the Batman/Superman Movie, was originally released during the Fall 1997 season of the New Batman-Superman Adventures on the Kids WB! network. It consisted of a three-part episode arc called "World's Finest,", and aired in a contiguous 90-minute special during WB's Saturday morning line-up.

"World's Finest" is one the best episodes of both the Batman and the Superman Animated Series, and features what so many fans, including myself, have yearned for: a team-up between the two icons of D.C. Comics' 60+ year empire, the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight Detective. The stalwart Superman and the bold Batman find themselves forced to pool their admirable abilities in order to fend off the fiendish Joker who has acquired a generous amount of kryptonite and plans to sell it to the Man of Tomorrow's greatest enemy, the vile industrialist Lex Luthor. A fine storyline plays out in this visually stimulating episode arc, wonderfully animated in the style of Emmy-winning producers Paul Dini and Bruce W. Timm. The two heroes are much like they were at the beginning of the Post-Crisis Era of D.C. Comics circa 1986. They are wary of one another, not friendly, and distrusting. However, we see early on that they discover one another's identities, which also brings about a great deal of problems.

Superman and Batman have continued to appear one another in their respective shows, including a fantastic episode "Knight Time," where Superman is forced to don the uniform of the Dark Knight in order to discover who or what's behind the disappearance of Bruce Wayne.

Check out these wonderful series, but don't bother to head down to Wal-Mart and buy the video. Just wait...it'll pop up on your local WB Network carrier, and if you can stand the commercials, tape away!

Highly recommended.

Being a fan of both Batman & Superman, I really wanted to see how they could possibly come up with a good, interesting, and exciting story between these two superheroes. Well, the writers were able to do just that. With two of the most famous superheroes joined together vs. two of the most infamous villains joined together. Batman & Superman vs. Lex Luthor & the Joker. The action and story are great, but one thing I really enjoyed in this movie that the writers did was that they really displayed the personalities of the characters very nicely and uniquely. Batman's way of fighting crime goes against the way Superman believes in upholding justice, while the Joker's crazy ways of breaking the law doesn't mixes well with the way Lex Luthor handles his illegal businesses. So this is more than an action movie, but a well written screenplay, bringing out the colorfulness and the fun into these classic characters as we get to see them finally interact with each other. This is a much better movie than what Hollywood has produced in the recent years. A must see for all Batman & Superman fans out there.

The only thing I can fault Warner Bros for with this movie is for NOT stamping the classic Superman/Batman label of "World's Finest" on the box. Paul Dini and Bruce Timm -- indeed, everyone who has worked on these two animated series have proven time and again their respect for these characters and their talent in their portrayal. Seeing them TOGETHER -- well, it's a comic book geek's dream come true. Sure, it falls prey to the team-up concept of using one villain from each hero's mythos, but it does it well. What's more, the casts from each TV show have always been above par and are welcome together. Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly, as Batman and Superman, are the best on-screen pairing of the two heroes EVER. If Warner Bros had any sense at all, they'd forget Joel Schumaker and Tim Burton and give the next Batman and Superman movies to the great people who make the animated series a joy to watch every week. Oh -- and one more thing -- with the sudden influx of other heroes on these guy's shows: Steel, Supergirl, the Creeper, Green Lantern, Aquaman, the Flash, Nightwing -- when are we going to get the Justice League of America cartoon show that we're clamoring for? Get with it, WB!