The nerd community has lost a great man. No, not just a
great man. A Batman. For Adam West, 88 was still too soon to leave.
I got this movie earlier this year, but I didn’t have the
time to watch or review it. I figure now is a more appropriate time than ever.
Adam West and Burt Ward reprise their iconic roles as Batman
and Robin again for this animated movie celebrating the 50th
anniversary of the 1966 Batman TV
show. Gotham City’s criminal masterminds have joined forced yet again: the
Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, and Catwoman (with Julie Newmar reprising her
role). The Caped Crusaders once again leap into action to thwart their nemeses,
but they have an extra trick up their sleeves: a special formula that is slowly
turning Batman evil. With a more brutal Batman on the rise and intent on taking
Gotham for his own purposes, Robin forges an uneasy alliance with Catwoman to
bring his friend back to the stalwart crusader we know and love.
This movie is one big love letter to the camp ridiculousness
of the TV series, and I love every minute of it. You can really tell that the
people who worked on this movie loved the ‘60’s series so much and wanted to
make a product that celebrated everything that made it memorably goofy. From the
array of progressively sillier Bat-gadgets, to the impossibly accurate
deductions to the Riddler’s puzzles, to the arduous assault of amaranthine
alliterations, all of the classic tropes are there. It’s got so much awkward
timing, corny humor, and bombastic jazz music that it feels like I’m watching a
cheap 1960’s TV show or cartoon. Not that that’s a bad thing. And while the TV
series was a tongue-in-cheek satire of the silliness of the comics, this movie
presents itself as a good-natured exaggeration of the TV series itself. And it
absolutely revels in the lengths it can extend these ‘60’s-era gags to.
Being a movie rather than an episode of the TV series, this
film makes sure that the plot feels big for the Adam West Bat-verse. All of the
series’ classic villains are there, Batman and Robin go to freaking space (in their patented Bat-rocket, no less), and the
biggest threat is a Batman who acts more like his violent modern incarnation
than his squeaky-clean ‘60’s version, and who plans to make duplicates of
himself to take over Gotham City. That last bit alone is a brilliant addition,
with Batman’s descent into edginess and evil presenting itself as a commentary
on the current comics industry. The highlight is Adam West reciting lines from
darker incarnations of Batman like “You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts!” while
brutally beating the snot out of his villains with Bat-brass knuckles.
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| "And that's for mailing used condoms to the cast of Suicide Squad, you fiend!" "Wrong Joker, Batman." |
Speaking of Evil Batman, this movie features, in my opinion,
Adam West’s best performance as the Caped Crusader. The first part shows that
even as age overcame him, he could still give a solid performance as the
stalwart do-gooder dressed in tight fabric. But he also convincingly plays a
much more intimidating Batman for the majority of the flick. For an actor of
his age who is mostly known for a low-budget superhero show (and a recurring
role on an adult cartoon also of questionable quality), he provides a solid
range in his performance, and you can really tell he’s giving it his all and
having fun with it.
The rest of the cast isn’t bad, either. Surprisingly, Burt
Ward – over seventy years old at the time of the film’s release – still sounds
uncannily young as he voices the Boy Wonder. Sometimes he sounds a bit old to
be voicing a supposed teenager, but it’s not as distracting as it should be. The
same can’t really be said of Julie Newmar, unfortunately. Out of the three
reprisals from the TV series, Newmar is the one that I feel hasn’t aged as
well. Whereas West’s age didn’t prevent him from giving a good range for Batman’s
performance, Newmar was more one-note and obviously sounds a lot older than
what her youthful character model suggests. But considering the woman is 83
years old, this can’t really be helped. Not everyone can send their vocal
chords back to 1966 like Burt Ward apparently can.
The rest of the cast are voice actors replacing the rest of
the deceased original cast, and they’re all pretty decent. Jeff Bergman (Bugs
Bunny and Daffy Duck from The Looney
Tunes Show) and William Salyers (Rigby from Regular Show) both deliver pretty good impersonations of Cesar
Romero’s Joker and Burgess Meredith’s Penguin, respectively. Wally Wingert
reprises his role as the Riddler from the Arkham
games, only this time adding in more Frank Gorshin influence than what was
presented there. The others – Gordon, Alfred, O’Hara, and Aunt Harriet – are
just okay; nothing too memorable, but then again, these characters didn’t have
over-the-top quirks like the heroes or villains (save for O’Hara’s excessive
Irish-ness).
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| "Holy I-Don't-Want-To-Miss-A-Thing, Batman!" |
The only major complaint I have regards the ending, and how
the film seems to drag on for just a bit too long. Evil Batman and his
duplicates are defeated using a fitting, overly prepared deus ex machina, but then it’s revealed that everything that has
happened in the film thus far had been the machinations of the Joker, Penguin,
and Riddler. So that means that stealing the duplicator ray, turning Batman
evil, hijacking a rocket to supposedly duplicate the Earth, having Catwoman
turn on them, getting thrown in jail, and having Evil Batman enact a plan to have
his own duplicates take over Gotham City was all an elaborate distraction to
make sure that the three could steal some valuable crap from museums. And then
Batman, Robin, and Catwoman need to go and stop them, adding about ten more
minutes on to the film.
Even for the campy standards of the show and movie, this is
a bit too much of a stretch to be believable and needlessly complicates the
plot. They could have just had Batman be the ultimate bad guy – with him taking
out his three arch-villains showing just how big a threat he is – eliminating this
complicated plot thread and keeping the film from overstaying its welcome.
Also, it throws in a random bit where Catwoman supposedly kills herself to
prevent going back to jail. Um…sad?
But I thoroughly enjoyed Return
of the Caped Crusaders for the sheer love and appreciation it shows towards
the classic Batman show. It’s retro,
it’s funny, it’s campy, it’s got everything you’d expect from an Adam West
Batman movie. In tone, it’s similar to The
Lego Batman Movie: a lighter and goofier take on the franchise that pokes
fun at the history of Batman while also celebrating it. Comparing it to the
live action movie based on the ‘60’s show, this one definitely feels larger in
scope and more important to the overall universe. Honestly, this movie could
have potentially served as a finale to the TV series.
So if you love the campy, onomatopoeia-throwing antics of
the Batman TV series, then you’ll
definitely want to check out this animated tribute. There’s supposedly a sequel
in the works based on the lost episode featuring Two-Face, and if what I’ve
read is true, Adam West finished recording his lines for it late last year. So
if they still plan on finishing and releasing it, there could be a chance that Return of the Caped Crusaders is not the
last time we’ll hear Adam West as Batman.
 |
| "I love you." "I know." |
Final verdict: 8/10.
And so, we say goodbye to another beloved celebrity. At this
point, the onslaught of celebrity deaths have left me a little numb every time
a new obituary pops up on my news feed. But this one…this one stung more than
others. I never really thought of Adam West’s death as a possibility. He was
always there, and I foolishly thought he always would be.
No one can deny the influence of the ‘60’s Batman TV show. It didn’t just leave an
impact on the Batman mythos, it left an impact on the world. It gave us
striking visuals like the Bat-poles and the sound effect bursts. It reminded us
that some days, you just can’t get rid of a bomb. It brought villains like the
Riddler and Mr. Freeze to the forefront of Batman’s rogues gallery, laying the
groundwork for the memorable characters they would become. It gave us the
character of Batgirl, who would go on to become one of the strongest female
role models in comics. And if you ask anyone to sing the Batman theme song,
there probably isn’t a person alive who couldn’t indulge you.
And at the front of it all was Adam, this strange, funny man
who played a superhero dressed in bat-themed tights with a straight face and a
sense of humor drier than the Sahara. He showed the world the deadpan comedic
potentials of the Caped Crusader that would shape the lighter aspects of Gotham
City for decades to come. To many, he was their first Batman. To others still,
he is their Batman. Despite the silly
nature of the show, he’s just as much a Batman as Bale or Affleck, Keaton or
Conroy. And in his cameos in various Batman media – from The Animated Series’ Gray Ghost to The Brave and the Bold’s Thomas Wayne – you can always feel just
how much he is appreciated by fans and creators alike.
But he wasn’t just a Batman. He was a husband and father, a
grandfather and a friend. He was a lover of pot roast. He went to Mars and the
Old West. He met Johnny Bravo and the Three Stooges. He was a crazy celebrity
on The Fairly OddParents, and one of
the only consistently funny things on Family
Guy.
I never got to meet him to personally extend my thanks to
him for all he’s done for Batman and geeks everywhere, and now I never will.
But if I ever run into Burt Ward or Julie Newmar, I’ll be sure to let them know
just how appreciated they are.
And if Heaven has a bright red Bat-phone, I hope Adam is
listening in to all the things the people on Earth are saying about him right
now.
Then, I hope he puts down the receiver to go and dance the
Batusi with Cesar and Burgess, Eartha and Frank, Neil and Alan and Yvonne.
Thank you, Mr. West.
1928 – 2017
‘Til next we meet, old chum.
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