text: I always said that the animated Batman movies were much better than the live action films.<br /><br />I've seen all of the animated films, but out of the bunch, this is the poorest, and it's rather disappointing.<br /><br />"Mask of the Phantasm" would rank as the best, then "World's Finest", then "Sub Zero", then "Return of the Joker", and finally this ranks last.<br /><br />In this newest animated movie, there's a mysterious new batgirl in Gotham and Batman is intent on discovering whether she's friend or foe as she sets out on a quest for vengeance.<br /><br />But as Bruce gets involved with three young women, he begins investigating them and discovers who is the new batgirl.<br /><br />The tone in this film is unusually light considering most of the films are grim and bleak, which was rather disappointing. Bruce acts strangely out of character most of the time, the villains are re-used from the last films, and while the action scenes are exciting, they're really nothing new. It also lacks the dramatic impact the other films have, especially that of "Sub-Zero" which was heavy in drama and character development.<br /><br />Everything in the film feels pretty recycled and the supporting characters are charming but no one is actually worth rooting for.<br /><br />All the while, I really enjoyed this, I had a blast, and the identity of the new batgirl is surprising, but this wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped.<br /><br />(**half out of ****)