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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 5864
Released: April 23, 2002 |
| Our Price: $4.00 |
| Used Price: $2.23 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
The greatest villain of all comes out of the past to threaten Batman, Bruce Wayne and all of Gotham City in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, the first feature-length Batman Beyond movie. The sleeker, deadlier and seemingly immortal Clown Prince of Crime is back with his own unique brand of havoc and mayhem. While trying to uncover the Joker's secrets, the new Batman, Terry McGinnis, discovers the greatest mystery in the life of the original Caped Crusader: What happened the night he fought the Joker for the last time. When Bruce Wayne is almost killed in one of the Joker's latest attacks, Batman vows to avenge his mentor and put the Joker to rest forever. Get ready for heart-stomping action, awesome adventure and amazing revelations in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by the filmmakers
Biographies:Animated Character Biographies
DVD ROM Features:Links to Warner Bros. Family Entertainment web sites, Special web events, Sampler trailers
Deleted Scenes
Documentary:Behind the scenes documentary
Interactive Menus
Music Video:"Crash" by Mephisto Odyssey (featuring Static X)
Other:Animation tests
Production Notes
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer
Description of Batman Beyond - Return of the Joker (The Original Uncut Version):
Some diehard Batfans have been slow to warm to the animated series Batman Beyond even though it was created by the same team responsible for the excellent Batman cartoon of the early '90s. The Dark Knight should be a brooding avenger in a noir-nightmare Gotham City, the purists argue, not some smart-aleck teen four decades in the future, with jet packs, invisibility shields, and other sci-fi gizmos loaned him by an elderly Bruce Wayne (voiced, excellently as always, by Kevin Conroy, his stony bass given a raspy hint of old age), now confined to hobbling about on a cane and monitoring his protégé's activities from the Batcave. Between its respectful reexamination of the "tortured hero" mythos and its sleek, anime-inspired look, this feature-length movie should go a long way toward quieting their complaints. Of course, it doesn't hurt that they've brought back the most legendary figure in the Rogues Gallery (voiced by Mark Hamill, deliciously deranged), but exactly how and why the Joker has managed to turn up 40 years after his last meeting with Batman still as youthful and diabolical as ever is explained not only logically but terrifyingly as well. The secret behind his arrival is perhaps the saddest, grimmest twist any purported "kids' show" has dared to attempt. (Parents may well want to preview this tape before screening it for the very young.) Once again, Warner Brothers' cartoon Batman has outshone all the live-action films, never allowing the thrilling action set pieces or flashes of wry humor to drown out the drama, even tragedy, of the all-too-human superheroes. --Bruce Reid
Batman Beyond - Return of the Joker (The Original Uncut Version) Reviews:
Joker Beyond 
2009-11-05 - Probably the best of the made-for-video animated Batflicks(Mask Of The Phantasm was a theatrical release), Return Of The Joker was the only movie of Batman Beyond, which also acted as a kind of finale to the series.
Set sometime after Season 3 of the show, a remaining group of the Jokerz(a street gang enspired by the Joker)has been working with a criminal claiming to be the original Joker. Meanwhile, the elderly Bruce Wayne has regained control of his family's business, but Joker & Co. crash his big party. Luckily, Batman 2.0(aka: Terry McGinnis)is on hand to stop them. The return of his old nemesis forces Bruce to take away the Batsuit from Terry. That doesn't stop the Jokerz from hunting down him down while Joker busts into the Batcave and nearly kills Bruce. Barbara Gordon fills Terry in on the demise of the first Joker from back in her Batgirl days when Tim Drake(the second Robin)was kidnapped and tortured by the Joker, which caused Tim to shoot him. Terry suspects Tim has some connection to the new Joker, mainly because of his current expertise as a satellite engineer, and the Joker's been stealing lots of computer parts used to control satellites. Joker uses an orbiting particle-beam satellite to shoot down the Batmobile, and wrecking half of Gotham in the process! Batman arrives at the Joker's hideout, and is stunned to find out that Tim Drake is really the Joker who the original one had planted some of his DNA inside him when he was Robin. Thankfully, Terry is successful in freeing Tim from the Joker's control, and stops the satellite laser.
This was a triumph for Warner Bros. video animation, which later helped set the stage for the current DC Universe line of films. It was also alot more mature then the previous DC Comics animated outlets up until then, so much so that there is a unrated version of this film that's much more worth owning. The animation is also profoundly upgraded. Batman Beyond was already heavily influenced by cyberpunk anime like Akira and Bubblegum Crisis, but it really shows up alot more here than in the TV series, especially in the shots involving the space laser destroying the city. The TV series also occasionally suffered from a lack of decent writing, but this movie was a profound boost in that and making it a true Batman story more with mystery and intrigue. There's also better development with the characters, more so with the original Batman characters than the Beyond ones. This is a must for all Batfans, even ones who didn't watch BB.
Fantastic film, Get the uncut version, it's actually widescreen 16:9! 
2009-10-20 - This is a great Batman movie. I'm a fan of the Batman Beyond series and this was very well done and a pleasure to watch. I just want to note that Amazon.com lists the aspect ratioo as 1:33:1 (Fullscreen). The back of the DVD case also says "Standard Version" and says the film was modified from it's original version. However, this DVD is in anamorphic WIDESCREEN. So at least it's not cropped to a 4:3 pan and scan, you get the full view of the wonderful 16:9 video as it was intended to be seen.
The film was great, I have yet to go into the special features, but it does seem to have a good amount including deleted scenes, animation tests and even a commentary. I'm very happy Warner Brothers released an Uncut version of this movie. It's by-far the best version, sure it's not the best for young kids - but this series and the film aren't really that violent or adult, sure it has some adult themes, but compared to what's on TV today it's hard for me to see why they had to go and make an edited version. Then again, to each their own. This is a fantastic DVD and it's at a great price, get this uncut version, don't worry, it's in Widescreen and any fan of Batman or any of the many animated series about Batman will really enjoy this DVD.
worth the money
2009-08-03 - completly worth the buy, though its too bad will is in his thirties now, he probably would have made a good next generation batman
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
2009-06-11 - The best Batman movie ever made, bar none! Never mind that it's animated, it is rated PG-13 for some disturbing moments! Set after Bruce Wayne's retirement as Batman, it is a very literate story, with lots of symbolism about family as well as insight into what motivates both Bruce Wayne and the Joker. Mark Hamill ROCKS as the Joker!
A welcome Surprise.
2008-10-24 - Spawned from a series that was basically a rehash of Batman The Animated Series, without any notable villians, we have a movie with all the class and style of both the Batman Beyond series and the fourth season of Batman the Animated Series. I bought it a little leery about how it was going to be, but read reviews saying that it was amazing. And that, it was. Surprises and backstory, with answers for questions. It's easy to follow if you've never watched the Batman Beyond series and is perfect for any Batman fan. Even if you couldn't stand watching the Batman Beyond series, you MUST get this!
