Presumably without knowing, the sheer campiness of the beloved Batman live-action TV series of 1966-68 helped perpetuate the myth of Batman and Robin being homosexual lovers. Fifty years later, this animated feature spin-off has no designs on setting the record, er, straight; it opens in Wayne Manor, with young Dick Grayson practicing ballet moves in front of a roaring fire. Holy pas de deux, Batman!
Reuniting Adam West and Burt Ward — if only their voices — as the respective cowled detective and his Boy Wonder sidekick, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders pits Gotham City’s finest crimefighting duo against a foursome of their most fearsome foes: The Joker, The Riddler, The Penguin and “that dominatrix of deviltry,” Catwoman. The latter is voiced by Julie Newmar, one of three actresses to have filled that catsuit opposite West in the show and its 1966 big-screen adventure — a fact this film acknowledges with a wink as a noggin-conked not-so-Dark Knight sees her in triple vision, yet two of them look remarkably like Lee Meriwether and Eartha Kitt. The movie is full of kitschy digs like that, such as commenting on why everything in the Batcave is labeled.
And yet, for how purposely and appropriately silly it all is, it left me cold. Wally Wingert may have Frank Gorshin’s Riddler laugh down pat (assuming it’s not sampled straight from the old show), but Return of the Caped Crusaders feels more like a fan film than a real-deal reunion, as if it exists purely to wring dollars from nostalgia rather than because there was a new story to be told. It’s not bad — it’s certainly not drawn that way — but I quickly grew tired of its unrelenting need to poke me in the ribs. To be reminded of the TV series this much, I’d rather just watch the TV series. —Rod Lott