Batman: Return of the caped crusaders is the latest DC animation. It brings us back to 1966 and introduces us to the Batman and Robin of that time. We follow our heroes as they endevour to stop some of thier 'deadliest' villians from carrying out an evil plan.
From the very start you can tell that this film is a homage to the Batman of 1966, with familiar music playing through the opening credits and plenty of 1966 refernces througout. It is however also a look back on the silliness of the show in '66 and it pokes fun at many of the campy ascpects of the show. The 1966 nostalgia is reinforced by some great voice acting from some returning cast members, we hear the familiar voices of Adam West as Batman, Burt Ward as Robin and Julie Newmar as Catwoman; all of which perform very well and the voices are just as iconic today. As well as this, the new voices for the other characters, also deliver very good performances and you can tell they are having a fun time. These great voices are paired with very clean and fluid animation, quite a step up from the more recent DC animated films, in my opinion.
The film is also very funny, there were laughs from everyone in the cinema, the whole way through the film. This comedy comes from some very clever writing and line delivery. The lines that are the funniest are the ones that take no notice of the ridiculous situation and continue to be very serious (as they were in 1966). There were also plenty of laughs to be had in the references to the '66 show, of which there were many. The comedic aspects are not the film's only merit, the story is also engaging and I was left wondering what would happen next. The story does however escalate very quickly and gets very silly, but this is all in the spirit of the show.
Overall I would definitely reccomend Batman: Return of the caped crusaders, to anyone that was a fan of the show or is just a huge batman fan anyway. It is a well written, laugh out loud funny and enjoyable homage to the 1966 era of Batman, with plenty of references and nods througout (with some refernces to other eras of Batman as well). The film comes out on DVD and Blu Ray on November 1 2016
-Sam