Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (1993)

Rating: ***
Music: Shirley Walker
Cast: Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Dana Delany

The best Batman movie of the series so far. This animated tale of Gotham City's protector is far darker and more tragic than any of the other renditions. A new vigilante is in town who is taking out the city's crime lords one by one. Thinking that it's Batman who's behind the gang slayings, the one remaining crime boss goes to the Joker for help (bad idea, buddy!). In the middle of all of this, a woman from Bruce Wayne's past comes back to town making life a little more complicated for the Batman. The climax has Batman, the Phantasm, and the Joker facing off in a dilapidated fairground. Sure, the "Scooby Doo" logic of the show is completely ludicrous, but it's very well made, extremely engaging, and highly entertaining.