Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward), in full â60s TV-era form must face off against Catwoman (Julie Newmar), The Joker, The Riddler, and The Penguin and their plot which involves a duplication ray. The daring duo follows them, even into space, to stop their dastardly scheme, but fails to take into account Catwomanâs plan to drug Batman into joining the side of evil.
Nostalgia is the thing, but anyway you look at it, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders is the best Batman movie of the year. With the troubled Suicide Squad and abysmal Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and The Killing Joke, it wasn’t the hardest crown to win, but still it won it. It casts off the dour nature of recent flicks and gives us fun and silliness and a lot of self-aware humor. This is a smarter movie then youâd think: a kids film made for adults.
If you canât stand that the old TV show exists, then this animated version isn’t for you. West, Ward and Newmar all return to their roles with the 70+-year-old Ward sounding the same as his long ago self. West and Newmar are a bit sketchier; they are passable, but no one will mistake them for anything other than the senior citizens that they are. Newcomers do their best to imitate the actors who are no longer with us in all of the other parts and pull it off well enough. And animation takes care of the visual side of that pesky aging, so we are back in the bright Gotham City I knew from my childhood.
If what you want is just to revisit the show you loved as a kid, you are in good shape here. All the old gags show up (walking up walls, fights that include bubbles that say “pow”), the great theme music is back, and it is all pleasantly familiar. Luckily they went beyond repeating what we’ve seen before, commenting on the old series (the âbeing a good citizen by using the crosswalkâ bit is hilarious) and on the wretched way Batman has been treated in other films and even the comics (with Batman going dark the proper way). They even take a shot at Nolan. And the hormones are turned up between Batman and Catwoman more than the old show would have allowed.
This isn’t a shining example of art. And for my money, it didn’t go far enough; Iâd have liked to see the meta-nature of it turned up to eleven. But it is fun and that counts for quite a bit.