dragonfire88's Full Review: Batman & Mr. Freeze - Subzero
I have seen many Batman movies, most in the last few years. I have come to really enjoy the character. I recently picked up a DVD that has two of the animated Batman movies on it. I just watched one of those movies, Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero.
Nora Fries had a condition that couldn't be cured. Her husband, Dr. Victor Fries, put her in suspended animation until he could find a way to cure her. He living in a cave in the arctic with two polar bears when a submarine surfaced and damaged the cave, including the chamber that was keeping Nora in her suspended state.
Two weeks later, Victor was in Gotham City, seeking the help of Gregory Belson, a cryogenic doctor that he had worked with before. Victor gets Gregory to help by giving him a gold nugget with the promise that there was more to come if Nora got better. Gregory examines Nora and says that she only has a few weeks left without an organ transplant. It wasn’t easy to find a donor thought because of Nora’s rare blood type. Victor decided that Barbara Gordon, Commissioner Gordon’s daughter and Batgirl, was going to be a live donor since she had the same rare blood type and he kidnapped her. Batman and Robin started to piece together what was going on and raced to find Barbara before it was too late.
Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero was based on the DC comic book characters. This movie, like Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, was made by the same people involved in Batman: The Animated Series. I have only seen a few episodes of the cartoon so far. From what I have learned about the cartoon, it seems to have stayed true to the comic books while also adding in some new things. The animation for the movie had the same look as what was done for the cartoon and I believe it was created with hand drawn animation. A little bit of computer animation was used in a few spots.
Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero featured a version of Victor Freeze that was created for Batman: The Animated Series. Instead of having Victor be just another mentally unstable nut who wanted to take over Gotham City and/or the world, he was given a believable motive for turning to crime. Victor was desperate to find a cure for Nora and he was willing to do anything to make that happen. It made the character more tragic and sympathetic. This version has become accepted and turned up in the comic books. It was even used, with some modifications, for Batman & Robin. That aspect of the plot was the only good thing about that movie, though Arnold didn’t do the character justice.
The plot for Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero was fairly simple, though I did think it was interesting. It began by showing Victor in the arctic and how Nora’s chamber was damaged. After that, Victor headed back to Gotham City to find help for her. He was very determined and had no problem using force to get his way. There really wasn’t any mystery to what was going on since it was clear what Victor was up to and why he kidnapped Barbara. There was a tiny amount of suspense in a few scenes, but the plot was mostly predictable overall. That could bother some viewers, but I still think the plot was interesting enough, mostly because of Victor, to be worth watching. There were a few scenes that dragged a bit, but it wasn’t enough to make the movie boring for me.
Batman and Robin were already working together when Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero began. They were important to the plot since they needed to find Barbara, but at the same time there just wasn’t much attention given to them since so much of the movie was focused on Victor. There was no development at all for Dick/Robin. Really all that was shown about him was that he was working with Bruce/Batman and he and Barbara were dating. Their relationship seemed to be in the early stages and nothing much was shown about it either. It would have been nice if there was more development for Dick/Robin.
Even though Barbara, as the involuntary organ donor for Nora, was important to the plot, she really wasn’t developed much at all. She was shown fighting a criminal as Batgirl early in the movie, and that was it for her crime fighting. It wasn’t shared how long she had been acting as Batgirl and I’m still not completely sure if she was actually working with Batman and Robin at that point or not. I’m guessing those things had been addressed by Batman: The Animated Series. Alfred and Commissioner Gordon were only in a few scenes and ended up with practically nothing to do which was disappointing.
Victor received more attention and development than any of the characters, but there were some things not explained about him as well. He was already set up in the arctic and he had his special suit and gun when he arrived in Gotham City. Somehow, I don’t think he developed those things in the two weeks it took him to get back to Gotham City. His motivation was shared, but there was no origin story for how he came to need to be in a cold environment all the time. That might have been covered in Batman: The Animated Series. Victor turned to crime to find ways to help and eventually cure Nora. He did what he did for love, not for his own desire to get rich or rule the world like many of the other villains that Batman had to deal with did. Gregory Belson was around helping Victor, but there wasn’t much of anything shared about him.
Main Voice Talent
Michael Ansara - Victor Fries/Mr. Freeze Mary Kay Bergman - Barbara Gordon/Batgirl Kevin Conroy - Bruce Wayne/Batman George Dzundza - Gregory Belson Bob Hastings - Commissioner Jim Gordon Loren Lester - Dick Grayson/Robin Efrem Zimbalist Jr - Alfred Pennyworth
Boyd Kirkland - Director
DVD Information
I recently picked up a DVD that included Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. I think this movie had been previously released on DVD alone, but since I don’t have that version, I don’t know what sort of extras might be included with it. There are extras connected to this movie on the version I have. There is a game called The Hunt for Mr. Freeze, something called Get the Picture: How to Drawn Batman and a music montage that showed different sketches for the movie set to music. That did help to show the development of certain things. I would have liked it if there had been something featuring the creators talking about making the movie.
Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero had some problems, but it was still an entertaining movie worth seeing. It has a strong story connected to Mr. Freeze which kept him from being just another nutcase bent on world domination. This version is much better than what ended up in Batman & Robin. Fans of Batman will probably enjoy this movie.
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