BATMAN AND MR. FREEZE:SUBZERO

 “SUBZERO” is as disappointing as “Return of the Joker” was entertaining.  Mr. Freeze is certainly one of the greatest comic book villains of all time.  Sure, he’s got a men streak, but it’s hard not to feel empathy for his consuming passion to revive his lost frozen wife.     

The opening of “SUBZERO” seems promising.  Mr. Freeze is where he feels most comfortable, the arctic.  When a submarine destroys his surroundings, Freeze wreaks his own form of justice on the crew and then heads to Gotham, looking for live citizens to involuntarily give up their organs in the hopes of reviving his wife.  It’s an engaging premise, but the rest of this short animated film becomes sluggish and entirely predictable soon after!  Worse, the animation becomes decreasingly average in quality.  It lacks the depth and creativity offered in almost every other “animated” batman film available.  Even with “Batgirl” playing a part here, there’s just not much excitement.  It plays like a few mediocre episodes of the animated series, just strung together. 
 
The WARNER BROS. transfer offers a full-frame image. Colors are often bold, and the black levels are excellent, but there’s not much in the way of background design, so the overall image appears more flat than we’d wished for. 
 
The soundtrack offers a surround mix, but no dolby digital 5.1.  The surrounds are fairly active throughout, especially in terms of boosting the score, but there’s nothing incredible going on here.  The front soundstage is fairly restrained, although there are some directional effects.  Dialogue is intelligible and free of distortion.   

 WARNER BROS. is offering some supplements here, including sketches, pencil sketches and a simple game.

Also included, are some trailers for other “Batman” related releases, as well as the upcoming live action “Scooby-Doo” movie.