This was actually my first time ever watching this film. I tend to be irritated by having to sit through so many origin stories in comic films/shows but I'll have to admit this film handles that issue extraordinarily well. The origins are mostly told through flashbacks just like in the show and we actually get the origins for three characters. Though viewers of the show might be confused with Joker's origins in this film since we got a completely different origin for him here than what he got in the show, most likely a reference to how Joker's always had a multitude of backstories in the comics. The very best thing about this film is that it actually makes sure to take the time to let every major character have their backgrounds fleshed out with great detail, something that comic films gave very little attention to back in those days.

I find this film to actually be the most emotionally captivating Batman origin story, particularly the scenes where you see the younger Bruce Wayne dealing with built up angst and anger which of course leads to the beginning of his crime fighting journey. Some might see it as obvious and unoriginal these days but I really liked the reveal of the titular Phantasm. If I had seen this as a child I would have never seen the big identity reveal coming, might even surprise some viewers to this day. I really loved the duality between the hero and the titular villain, showing how some can end up going down extremely different paths despite going through similar experiences. Am I the only one that thinks Joker definitely felt shoehorned in? I really felt like they just had him here just for the sake of having him in the film and he could've been replace by a lot of other famous characters.

Thanks to the fact that this is a film the animation quality has definitely improved. Remembering the inconsistent animation quality of the show really makes this film's animation quality look like a masterpiece in comparison. This Batman universe even gets the chance to be Darker and Grittier thanks to the fact that it wasn't bound by network censors, so we actually get to actually see deaths onscreen and a lot more blood than we ever saw on the show. As with all 90s animated work involving Batman, the voice acting is top notch, grade A quality with of course Kevin Conroy & Mark Hamill's iconic performances stealing the show. The film's score is brought to even higher levels of epicness than the show's musical score thanks to it being accompanied by amazing Latin chanting for time to time. The credits song felt extremely out of place in my opinion...I'd never guess a song like that to be in anything Batman related.