Review of Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero

I remembered finding this animated movie really great as a kid, but the last time I watched it I did find it enjoyable but it ultimately left me wanting, and a little annoyed as the credits rolled.. Maybe it was the fairly predictable and weak plot that never went anywhere except exactly where I was expecting it to, or some of the visually impressive but not very exciting action sequences, but whatever the case to me it just falls noticeably flat somewhere, lacking any real depth or intrigue. It's not even that long of a movie but the pacing of it is horrible, it's so damn slow! The focus is all over the place and it just feels sort of dull and listless, continuously going back and forth between scenes of Batman investigating, and Barbara Gordon attempting to escape her captors. There's too much action and not enough meaningful exchanges between characters. And some of the animation techniques that were new at the time didn't work at all in my opinion. 'We have the CGI environment rendered and darn it, we're going to use it!' I hated it, I thought it was ugly, it completely stood out from the real animation, and it would just take me straight out of the story whenever I would see that. However, there are one or two things I do like about it, it has its redeeming qualities and doesn't miss the mark completely. I like how Barbara Gordon gains a little sympathy for Freeze's plight once she learns why she's been abducted, and how Batman still feels compassion for the character even after all that he's done, and then deep regret that he couldn't save him from his assumed demise. And what I most appreciate about this picture is the way that it so perfectly wraps up Mr.Freeze's story arc in the bittersweet and memorable final scene. It's very moving to see Victor shed tears of happiness, and that in itself is a very beautiful and poignant moment, but to me it alone isn't enough to make this a very good movie. ::: It always seemed to me that whenever they would use Freeze in the animated series they would always try and fail to duplicate the magnificent lightning in a bottle that was "Heart of Ice", and sadly this too botches the recipe. Mr.Freeze is distinctly a little 'off' somewhere in this. He seems to seriously lack the deep pathos to his personally and bearing that he so effortlessly had before, and he was a lot more angrier this time around. And I know that's easily explained by the way that the situation is more urgent, there's no time, his wife is at death's door, but I found it a little hard to sympathise with a Mr.Freeze who's perfectly fine with killing a young girl, even if it is to save his beloved. I mean jeez, they couldn't even manage to give the guy one great line!? I mean he says one decent sentence right at the beginning when he compares his wife's frozen beauty to a flower he has found on the tundra, but that's it! It's the tragic and Shakespearean dialogue that made the character what he was and elevated him so beautifully in the series in the first place! I think the character would have greatly benefited if the movie had took the time to show a couple of flashbacks of he and his wife in happier times, as well as a moment where he has some kind of realisation that all he had to do all along was to just ask Batman for help, and therefore learn that the world just possibly isn't the cold heartless place that he's come to believe it is. But that never happens, and so he just feels underdeveloped and stretched-thin in his appearance here. Something was lost in translation... This animated feature almost succeeds but it just about falls short. Anyway, as always watch it and judge for yourself, and please stay chilly!