Chase Me (2003)

Pretty Good

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Fresh and Exciting

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

"Chase Me" is an American 6-minute cartoon from 2003, so this one will have its 15th anniversary next year already. Writer and director is Curt Geda and if you take a look at his body of work, you will see that he has worked on quite a few animated superhero films in his career. this is one of them as Batman is in the center of it all. Bruce Wayne is throwing a party at his house and all the girls are after this handsome man. But he is genuinely bored and Catwoman having a night out makes almost for a delightful change for him. There he goes and the two are on the same level in terms of their skills and speed. this is a pretty fast action-based duel for the most part, but at the end it also has some nice depth when we seem him looking her direction again as she managed to pull him out of the boredom. No spoken language in this little film as we hear music from start to finish while watching what's going on. I cannot deny I somewhat enjoyed it and this includes both the style as well as the story and emotion somewhat attached to it. there is a sense of longing, maybe belonging even, in this work and it makes me curious about Geda's other works. I recommend checking it out, for Batman fans even a must-see because it feels somewhat different compared to your usual superhero movie, like the film equivalent of a glass of cognac in the evening.

This animated short was included on the Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman DVD. It's actually better than that movie, although that's not saying a lot. The "plot" here is basically that Bruce Wayne, bored at some swanky party, happens upon Catwoman robbing a safe. He quickly changes into Batman and gives chase. He pursues her across Gotham on rooftops and on vehicles before ending up at the zoo. It's not a bad idea for an artistic little short but the execution is lacking. This is done in the style of the later Batman cartoons, not the classic Batman: The Animated Series. So Catwoman weirdly has blue skin. Never figured out why they did that. The whole thing is without dialogue and has a jazz soundtrack throughout. It isn't my favorite genre but I've heard some jazz tunes that would have been better suited for this. The music here does not feel like it was done originally for the short, nor does it fit well. It doesn't match the images on screen which kind of undermines the concept. Oh well, at least they tried.

Millionaire Bruce Wayne is at a party and is having a quiet moment to himself at the window when lots of young women flock to him and try and get him to dance with them. He slips away downstairs but finds his safe being emptied by none other than Catwoman! She escapes but he quickly gets into character and Batman is in pursuit.This DVD extra is a mixed bag but yet deserves credit for what it tries to do even if it doesn't really work. Visually the film is good and indeed it is this style that attracted me to watch what I originally dismissed as a children's cartoon. The animated series and films may not have the dark material I still want but at least they are not the day-glo hell that Joel Schumacher was handsomely paid to create (or "spew-forth" to use the correct terminology). In this regard the film flows really well and is quite exciting; the audio however is another matter.The score is a light jazz affair that at different points of the film - interested me, annoyed me, delighted me. It interested me because it was different, because it seemed a brave and experimental step to score Batman using anything other than Gothic orchestration. It annoyed me though because at times it jarred badly with the images on the screen. This combined with the lack of sound effects made it feel a bit like some kid's poor job of putting a score on the top of an existing video. However it worked at the start and the end so I'm wondering why they didn't try to do something to make it work better during the action in the middle section.Visually it is impressive and I did enjoy the style and the flow, but it is broken up by the lack of effects and the soundtrack. A nice try that deserves credit for using jazz instead of Gothic music but it does feel like a track has been plonked down onto the film rather than the film has been scored.

A great musical short, bonus feature on "Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman" DVD.The animation is in the style of the classic Batman animated series from the 90s. I watched this show more than a decade ago when I was in primary school and it still remains unsurpassed!The atmosphere of "Chase Me" is exquisite and stylish, and reminds me of a James Bond movie. The colors are bright and eye-pleasing.The music combines some classic soundtrack motifs with jazzy saxophones and creates a theme that fits perfectly to the concept of the film.This is definitely one of my favorite music videos! Pure delight, not only for Batman fans. Strongly recommended :)