BATMAN BEYOND: RETURN OF THE JOKER
By Police Officer Lance

I have always argued that the Batman cartoon series and movies were vastly superior to the Hollywood live action films. After viewing this movie, I have only one thing left to say. "The cartoon movies rule"!

The premise of the story is that Batman's arch enemy The Joker returns looking fit and trim. This distresses Bruce Wayne(The Original Batman) and Terry McGinnis(The New Batman) because The Joker should be pushing seventy.I won't ruin how he comes back, but the writers came up with a cool scenerio that the audience will like. There is also an interesting secret being kept by Bruce, Commissioner Barbara Gordon( Original Bat- girl), and Tim Drake(2nd Robin in cartoon series)concerning the disappearance of The Joker.

The relationship between Terry and Bruce continues to evolve into the kind of partner- ship that Bruce had with Dick Grayson( The first Robin)and Tim. Terry is also coming into his own as The Batman. Terry's Batman isn't as pathlogical as Bruce's Batman was, Terry still tries to have a life outside of Batman. Terry doesn't try to isolate him- self from the world , the way Bruce did. This concept of isolation is a prevailing theme in the movies and The Batman Mythos. The viewer will see it predominately between Bruce and Tim.

The isolation stems from the negative con- sequences of being The Batman and the secret that impacted the three super hero's lives twenty some years ago. The master learns from the student as Terry shows that by hiding in the shadows of his great fortress. Bruce has never allowed himself to find closure with Tim. All in all, a very good story with excellant graphics and a solid soundtrack. I highly recommend this movie and feel that if Hollywood would just listen to the comic book community, a good live action film could finally come to the big screen

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