Batman Beyond: The Movie

This is an interesting experience, putting the entire direct Powers storyline together into a movie. As someone who enjoyed the original show, I'm not sure this format quite gels. In the first season, there was a gradual build-up of suspense in the various Powers appearances throughout the season and his mental degradation was able to be much more gradual.

Not sure if a first-time watcher would think it rushed or not. That being said, I think this TV-to-Film does make a great companion piece to the 'Return of the Joker' film and the storyline from that movie does naturally flow from the close of this one, so I think it does its job well enough.

A/V Quality
Pretty good quality, but the blacks and shadows looked overly pixelated for a file of this length and size. Since this show is very dark visually, it's a bit distracting.
I'm basing this area and score with the assumption that the source comes from the Blu Rays.

Visual Editing
The editor chose to crop the image to create a more modern friendly look. It's done tastefully and creates that cinematic feel they are going for. The cuts made to the source are well hidden and support the editor's intention to streamline and focus the story.

Audio Editing
For the most part, the audio is exactly what you'd expect. There are some audio transitions that are abrupt when the fade to black visuals were cut. I think a simple extending of the audio in those scenes could help those shots feel a bit smoother.

Narrative
The combining of the source materials feels like it should and doesn't detract from the narrative of the source.

Enjoyment
I'm not the biggest fan of Batman Beyond due to the technopunk look and feel, but it's a part of the Batman TAS universe so I can't help but try and enjoy it. Belgarath did a great job at combining the story into what I'm surprised WB didn't create seeing that they made the Return to Joker version. I'd personally liked to see a different or excised show intro as it kind of steals from the cinematic intention of the edit. Aside from some audio transitions and some overly crushed shadows, This was just as enjoyable as the source, if not more so as it streamlines the story for the viewer. Great execution on the idea. If you like Batman Beyond, you'll like this edit.