Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero

You know what, this was better than when I watched it as a kid!

Subzero was a direct to video movie released in 1998, and was a personal favorite of mine. I saw this before I saw any episodes of Batman The Animated Series with Mr. Freeze and even before Mask Of The Phantasm if memory serves correctly, and I really loved it as a kid and I daresay I love it even more now knowing the character of Victor Fries and where his story goes in this universe. The story while basic is a very, very good story dealing with Mr. Freeze capturing Barbara Gordon in an organ transplant to save his wife, with Batman and Robin hot on his trail. It may not sound that special but the greatness lies in the details and technicals. Now you may be thinking, "Oh it's a direct to video movie, this is gonna suck. Every direct to video movie nowadays is definition of bottom of the barrel." but I can safely tell you this is far from the truth. The quality is same throughout from jumping to The Animated Series to this and even beyond to The New Batman Adventures and Batman Beyond, all the alumni that worked on the show worked on this movie, all the writers, directors, voice actors so it doesn't feel out of place. Animation is great, but I don't need to tell you that cause you already know. But! This movie combines hand drawn animation with 3D animation, the backgrounds and sometimes entire scenes are computer generated. Now granted they did that in Mask Of The Phantasm but it was used only for the opening titles, this uses it throughout but...they genuinely make it work. When I was a kid I had no idea they did that, it all looked hand drawn and while it is more noticeable now, it does not hurt the movie. Just, everything is so good! Characters are beyond stand out here! And now, comes the part where I gush to you the people, of the glory of Batman and The Animated Series, but as my reviewers always say, if you gotta do it...do it all out. Oh my God, Mr. Freeze. Now remember, this was my introduction to the character, I never saw Heart Of Ice so I never knew his backstory. And yet, this movie made me really like him, his suit is amazing, his ice gun is cool (Don't think about that too much or you might hurt me.), I understood why he was doing what he did and now so many years later, Mr. Freeze is easily in my top 5 Batman rogues gallery ever. Michael Ansara is beyond brilliant, and I miss him dearly. The relationship between Dick and Barbara I felt had much more impact on me now than it did when I was young, there is a genuine love for one another and there's one brief scene with the two of them alone and it is wonderful, I especially also loved the fact they made Dick older, like college student older cause it pays off when you see him as Nightwing so good job guys. Batman, it's Kevin Conroy so I give him 10/10. 10/10. 100/100! Best Batman. BEST BATMAN. Moving on. For a movie that is barely over an hour, it clocks in at an hour and 6 minutes, it is not rushed. The movie knows when to take it's time, and when to kick it into high paced action and the action is really good. I was surprised how much I loved this movie, I always enjoyed watching it when I was younger but now I feel I have fully appreciated it. The art, the story, the characters, just all the elements between them are too good. It's too good. I could go on for...a while, let's just say that, about the character interactions and the importance of the story and the lasting effects it has on the Diniverse that encompasses all the Batman animated shows, Justice League, Batman Beyond, all that. And this was really the last hurrah for the classic Animated Series before The New Batman Adventures premiered with a new art style, new characters, and crossovered with Superman The Animated Series. See, even back then about 20 years ago DC had crossover TV shows. The ending is very bittersweet, and seeing the evolution of Mr. Freeze's character down the road makes it almost heart breaking. No scratch that, it's friggin' heart wrenching! Granted, it is for your Batman fans in life, kids can enjoy it but I think older teenagers can appreciate it. And we got one more, shock of all shocks one I have never seen (Dun dun duuh!) so I am looking forward to that. Have always heard good things about it, gonna finally see it tomorrow, I am on cloud 9, goodnight everybody!