Since the show was never, or barley released on DVD and VHS, the only source to own the show when I was a kid was the movie. I used to watch this film a lot as a kid, and now that I know the show, I'm curious to know if the film did anything different that the first season didn't do. Does it still hold-up and offer new things outside of the actual show; ON WITH THE REVIEW!
The plot is simple. The Penguin (Burgess Meredith), The Joker (Cesar Romero), The Riddler (Frank Gorshin) and The Catwoman (Lee Meriwether) have banded together to take over the world and destroy the Dynamic Duo. It is up to Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) to stop these crooks, in probably the most challenging fight against crime that the Duo have ever faced in their career. Can they defeat them and escape their Death-Traps? "The Worst Is Yet To Come"!
Adam West (Just like in the show) naturally plays Batman. He's over the top, he's serious, he's over dramatic, and sounds like how Batman would sound like in the 60's comic book. We also see him as Bruce Wayne getting kidnapped by the villains and kicking their butts, which is something I've never seen Bruce do on the show. But on top off seeing Batman as Bruce kicking the villains butts, we actual see a bit of a dark and emotional side to his character as well, which he hardly had on the actual show. Burt Ward as Robin is a lot of fun. He's just as over dramatic as he is in the show and it surprises me that he doesn't get kidnapped in the movie. He also has a lot of clever "Holy" catchphrases in this movie that are always fun to listen too, while watching his comical energetic reactions. Sadly, we briefly see him as his alter ego Dick, and see a few seconds of his worried Aunt Harriet who doesn't have a single line. Which is weird considering that she is one of the major supporting characters on the show. However, Alfred, Chief O'Hara and Commissioner Gordon do share a decent amount of screen time of being just as much fun as they are on the show that this film spun-off from. Thanks to the film being on a slightly bigger budget than the actual show was places like the BatCave look more colorful than it did on the show. And the catchy theme song that everyone knows and loves, sounds bigger with a few of the notes changed to fit this cinematic spin-off, which gets me hyped up every time I hear it while watching the characters appear during the opening credits. The film also introduces some new BatGadgets such as the "Oceanic Repellent Bat-Sprays", the “Bat-Transmitter”, the “Bat-Charge”, and more. There's even now a switch by the polls that give them their costumes, which were never shown on the show until now, which I think is a nice to addition to the scenes of Bruce and Dick sliding down the Bat-Polls . This is also the first time when we see two new Bat-Vehicles such as the Bat-Copter and the Bat-Boat. Don't worry; you will see the BatMobile, as well as the Bat-Cycle.
The villains are all wonderful choices and it's really epic for the first time in both film and TV to see them all together scheming. I think what makes the partnership so fun is that they both can't stand each other. Almost every scene you see them in together, they're either arguing or insulting one another. But what keeps them together is they all want to get Batman and take over the world, and if they all use each of their skills and brains together, they can accomplish it. The performances from all of them are just as fun as they are in the show. Burgess Meredith as The Penguin brings his devilish look, and elegant and animistic behavior. Cesar Romero is always fun to watch, even when he's mad. And Frank Gorshin as The Riddler at first acts normal, but once we get to the middle of the movie, he's off the walls crazy. Instead of Julie Newmar playing Catwoman, we get Lee Meriwether playing the role and I must say she's just as puuuurrrrrfffffeeeeecttttt as Newmar is for the role, by bringing her classy and Cat-like personality. I also love her performance as she disguises herself as Ms.Kitka the Russian journalist, which I at times find hard to believe that it's really Catwoman underneath that disguise. The henchmen who serve the villains are a gang of pirates who are just as fun to watch as our quartette of villains are. And thank heavens that we don't have one of those stereotype molls who are just in the gang to look pretty and secretly admire the Dynamic Duo.
Throughout the film, the villains keep leaving deadly traps to kill the Dynamic Duo, as our heroes try to figure out ways to get of them. The Penguin tries use to an (Incredibly fake looking) exploding shark to kill Batman. The Joker fires torpedoes at the Dynamic Duo. The Riddler figures out ways to use everyone’s skills to create one giant Death-Trap. And Catwoman disguises herself to lure Bruce Wayne into the villains clutches. And each and every one of these Death-Traps and schemes that the villain's come up with lead all lead to one funny scene after another, thanks to the writing, acting, and campy effects. My favorite scene in the movie that involve our heroes trying to avoid one of the villains deadly traps, is when Batman's trying to get rid of a bomb (That has the slowest fuse ever) to the save the citizens and himself from being killed by the explosion. It's a great scene that's timed, written, and acted-out humorously, especially when West delivers his most quotable line in the whole entire film, "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb"! There's also of plenty of Bat-Fights that take place numerous places such as the villains hideout, the Penguins submarine (That's modeled after a penguin), and even in the BatCave with the Penguin and his pirate, which makes this the first time in the Adam West series, (And probably the Batman film and TV franchise in general) that a main villain has ever entered the BatCave.
While the film does carry a lot of new things that the show itself didn't offer, it still has almost everything that the show itself is is known for with its writing, style, and of course humor. There's even some hidden Easter eggs that fans of the show might have seen in a Bat-Episode before this film, as well as having an actor who played the captured King Boris in an episode with the Riddler, play another wealthy and classy kidnapped in this film. The film however does have its noticeable flaws. The flaws are not in special effects wise since they're supposed to be bad effects, but flaws that don't add up. For example, the still images of villains that are shown on the TV screen where our heroes discover that they are not in prison, are stills of them that were not only obviously taken from the trailer, but the still image of Catwoman's involves her standing inside the private study of Wayne Manor. What was she doing there? I also question how Batman and Robin escaped from the magnet Buoy, where the film does explain how they were saved; but not how they got out? Also in most of the Bat-Fights that take place no fighting words would pop-out, which as a result we can clearly see some fake punches. And when we finally do see the fighting words popping-out for the last Bat-Fight, it feels pretty inconstant and out of nowhere since the earlier scenes of the movie didn't include that effect (Especially for people who haven't seen the show). I mean was the effects team running low on money, or something?
Despite it's flaws, it's still a really an entertaining movie and has the same amount of fun as the show has. I'd even recommend this film to anyone who hasn't seen the show because to be honest it doesn't feel like a movie, it feels like a four parted Bat-Episode that's been tied together and on a slightly bigger budget. Just like the show, it's a love or hate, so I'm giving the film the same rating that I rated the first season.
RATING 3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment