Ah, God bless the 1990's, frankly, it rocked growing up in this decade. I had The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, X-Men and Batman: The Animated Series. I remember waking up early every Saturday morning to see the new episode of Batman, it was such a great series was different against all the other cartoons, it was extremely dark and edgy, especially for a children's cartoon. That's one of the reasons I adore Batman, he's unlike any other super hero's we know, he not only has a reason for his dark side but can kick butt naturally, sorry, had to say it. So I didn't even realize that there was a movie that was made around the series called Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and I saw it on sale for five dollars and figured I'd give it a shot. One thing that confused me was how this movie was overlooked because it's such a terrific movie, the only thing I could assume is that during this time Batman Forever was also being released and this was animated so just disregarded sadly. But this is one of the best animated movies I have ever seen.<br /><br />During a conference of crime bosses held in a Gotham City skyscraper, gangster Chuckie Sol is killed by a mysterious cloaked figure shortly after Batman bursts in on the meeting. Batman is blamed for the death. In a flashback to Bruce's college days, we see him meet his old girlfriend Andrea in a cemetery while visiting his parents' grave. Bruce has vowed to avenge his parents' murder by dedicating his life to fighting crime. He dons a mask and black ninja-styled outfit and foils an armored car robbery, but is discouraged that the criminals do not fear him. Around the same time, he begins a romance with Andrea. Eventually, Bruce decides to quit his plan on becoming a crime-fighter and proposes marriage to Andrea. However, Andrea mysteriously leaves Gotham with her father, ending her engagement to Bruce. Believing that he has lost his only chance of having a normal life, Bruce finally dons the mask of Batman. In the present, the killer finds and kills another gangster, Buzz Bronski. Batman discovers evidence linking Beaumont with a number of organized crime figures. He discovers there may be more to the story of this masked phantom then he realizes.<br /><br />The whole feel of the film, if you were to just take the animation alone, this was superbly made. That's one of the reasons that the series was so well loved as well, just the whole atmosphere of the story was on track and you felt like you were in Gotham City. Even the acting was very good, this had a real old detective film feel to it, the love story between Andrea and Bruce was a perfect addition and it didn't over do their love, it was just perfect and had a good close to it. It was also great to have our beloved Joker in the mix of the story, how could we not include him? He's one of the greatest villains of all time. If you do get the chance to see Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, seriously take it, this is a very overlooked film and deserves all the credit it can possibly get.<br /><br />8/10