A romantic, flashback-rich narrative distinguishes this feature-length animated effort, which Warner Bros. was confident enough in to give a theatrical release. The Art Deco design scheme of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm certainly deserves a big screen, the better to appreciate the obvious architectural nods to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Yet it’s the relationship at the center—between mopey millionaire Bruce Wayne (Kevin Conroy) and Andrea Beaumont (Dana Delany), the heiress who got away—that makes the most lasting impact. Andrea returns to Gotham at the start of the film, upending Bruce’s brooding Batman routine by reminding him that he has a heart. Complicating things is a mysterious, competing vigilante known as the Phantasm and, of course, The Joker (Mark Hamill, reprising, as is Conroy, his role from “Batman: The Animated Series”).
