13 QUICK THOUGHTS — and NO SPOILERS!
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UPDATED 10/11/16: Hello, citizens! Check out an interview with Adam West about the movie by clicking here! And check out a special Batcave Podcast review by clicking here!
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1. Was it good? Yes, it was excellent!
2. I’ll do a review with spoilers down the line but I can tell you that it hits many of the major marks you’d want this movie to hit. I could watch the opening credits on an endless loop. The sequence features some of the most famous Batman comics covers ever — but with the Adam West/Burt Ward versions of Batman and Robin. (Worth nothing that I once suggested something like that. Click here for that bit of fun.)
3. I wasn’t that enthusiastic about the trailers. They seemed forced. The movie is far funnier and far wittier overall. They saved the best gags for the movie itself.
4. Adam West is terrific throughout. Yes, you can hear the age in his voice, but you get used to it very quickly.
5. The crowd at the New York Comic Con premiere went bananas at the end — and laughed throughout.
6. When I talked to him recently, Burt Ward was proud of his youthful performance. He was right to be proud. (For that interview, click here. And for a great Batcave Podcast with Ward, click here.)
7. That’s not to say it’s perfect. There are definitely details that are off, like the fonts on the “sound effects” and the sound of the Batphone. The creators — co-writers and producers James Tucker and Michael Jelenic and director Rick Morales — have made a point of saying that they are not replicating the show note for note. And they don’t. Part of it has to do with IP and rights issues. But the overall effect works. This feels very much like Batman ’66.
8. Julie Newmar’s Catwoman is barely in the trailer but trust me — she has a major part to play. It’s a big role. And she’s great, too — funny and flirty. (For an interview with Julie Newmar about the movie, click here.)
9. I really look forward to seeing it again because there were so many references crammed in that I just know that I missed some. There are even little Filmation and Hanna-Barbera gags. Blink and you’ll miss it but sometimes Robin’s emblem goes black on yellow like this:
10. There are also uproariously funny references to Michael Keaton and Christian Bale’s Batmen.
11. Julie Newmar’s sexy in real life. So is her animated counterpart. That’s all I have to say about that.
12. A note on the rest of the voice cast: It’s uneven. The standouts are Jeff Bergman as the Joker and Lynne Marie Stewart as Aunt Harriet. At times Bergman makes for an uncanny Cesar Romero mimic. Stewart doesn’t sound exactly like Madge Blake but she captures her cadence and style. Wally Wingert’s Riddler is solid, especially when he laughs.
13. I won’t give it away but something happens in this movie everyone’s been waiting 50 years to see.
Aaaand, a bonus:
14. In case you missed it, citizens, there will be a sequel — starring William Shatner as Two-Face! (Click here.) If that’s not perfect casting, I don’t know what is. And stay tuned to this Bat-channel over the next week — lots more to come about this flick, including interviews with Adam West and the producers!
He looks just like Shatner circa 1966!
October 7, 2016
Story goes that Two-Face was too scary looking for the producers in 1966, which is why we never saw him during the Batman series. It’s good that they are going to give the character the justice (no pun intended) he deserves!!!!
October 12, 2016
Actually the Two Face was slated as the Christmas special but canned when the series was axed. Clint Eastwood was pencilled in as the guest villain
I guess that’s one episode we would of lived to see
October 8, 2016
I want to see it 🙂
October 11, 2016
Loved the movie. It brought me back to my youthful days when I would race home from school to watch the television series (in living colour!). I told a friend, “We need to see the red phone” And Bam! it was there. The audience howled when the Caped Crusaders walked up the side of the wall.