tek's rating: ¼

Batman: The Movie (PG)
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This is a 1966 movie based on the 1966-68 series Batman. (I'm actually kind of surprised that it came out the same year as the first season of the show.) Um... I suppose I'd seen bits and pieces of the show when I was a kid in the 80s, but I'm still not terribly familiar with it. Anyway, I got the DVD at some point, either the late 90s or sometime in the Aughts, I suppose. And I must have watched it, but didn't write a review at the time (whether this was before I started writing reviews, or just didn't feel it warranted one, or what, I dunno). But I'm watching it again in 2013, and finally writing a review, though I don't think there's really much I can say. The cast is pretty much the same as in the TV show, except that Lee Meriwether is playing Catwoman, who was played on the show by Julie Newmar. (Looking all this up now, it's weird, because I thought Catwoman had been played by three different actresses on the show, including those two and Eartha Kitt, but apparently Meriwether only played her in this movie. That surprises me.) Anyway... I've always known the series was ridiculously campy (whether that was intentional or not), but this movie... wow. It's about the most redonkulous thing ever, and therefore absolutely freaking hilarious. (Again, whether intentionally or not. It seems like the actors take it all super seriously, but that is not humanly possible.)

So, um... what to say about the actual plot? Well, Joker, Riddler, Catwoman, and Penguin have teamed up to take over the world. They've kidnapped a commodore from his yacht, and stolen a new technological gizmo he was transporting, the nature of which I don't want to explain. But for much of the movie, the villains don't even use the thing, and it's a long time before they finally get around to implementing their plan for world domination. Most of the movie is spent repeatedly trying to kill Batman and Robin, so that they won't be around to stop their evil plan. And really, I can't think of anything else to tell you. I'll just reiterate that the whole bloody thing was super redonk, and hilarious. (Because those things bear repeating.)


comic book movies