Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (2016): When not being “good” doesn’t matter (again) (well, sort of)

2016 was not a great year for DC Comics when it comes to the film department. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was a galactic letdown of epic proportion, The Killing Joke was a complete butchering of the now infamous novel it’s based off of, and Suicide Squad (which I’m NOT taking a look like since Batman doesn’t a big enough role in that one) was a complete and tryhard mess that was poorly put together. While all of these movies have their fans of some sort (the first and last ones at least), there’s no denying that 2016 didn’t exactly give a good image to movie goers about DC adapting feature length films, especially after coming high off of The Dark Knight trilogy. Yet, we had one other DC Comics or even Batman related film that came that same year with Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, an animation flick based off of the hit 1960 series and the 1966 released feature film of the same name. What was originally intended to be released straight-to-dvd instead was giving a VERY limited theatre release when it premiere at New York Comic Con and had a simultaneous release a few days later in October 2016. There also came a sequel titled Batman vs Two-Face (which I’m also not taking a look at) that hit one year later, shortly after Adam West’s death (R.I.P champ!)

It’s really hard to imagine how one’s approach to making a sequel to 60’s Batman show along with the 66’s feature length Batman film. It was a movie that didn’t need to be “good” at the time, it just needed to “exist” as it’s own complete thing. By that logic, this makes Return of the Caped Crusader comes off as arguably the most inconsequential Batman movie ever released in theaters (assuming you don’t count Batman & Harley Quinn since that TECHINCALLY got a theater release for ONE night ONLY). Not just because it’s a movie that no one had any expectations for or even realized that this actually did come out in theaters or probably don’t even know is an actual thing, but it’s able to operate under his own set of rules and logic or lack thereof. If there’s a Batman movie to come out in the 21st century that is able to play in it’s own distinct sandbox which doesn’t involve legos, then this is the one. So, how exactly do they go by when making a movie that doesn’t really matter if it’s good or not? About as every bit as “good” as you could imagine. And by that I mean, not particularly “good good” but “good” on it’s own merits.

While it may not be anywhere near as memorable or carefree as the 1966 film, Return of the Caped Crusaders does come across as more heartfelt and even has something to say about it’s titled character. If anything, this is probably the most straightforward Batman arc imaginable. It’s not trying to deconstruct him or challenge him on a psychological level, it’s not trying to put a bold new spin on the character, and heck, it doesn’t even try to be up to date with trying to make this version fit into the 21st century, what it does try to do is just so how Batman can still be Batman without sacrificing any ounce of his Batman persona. The film argues that Batman can be a hero, role model, good person, and an inspiration all at once without needing to give up any of that.

Which makes it all the more ironic considering part of the plot is about him literally fighting different versions of his clone self. But that isn’t meant to be seen as an internal conflict or anything, it’s just simply about Batman needed to take down different clone versions of himself and prove to Gotham that he is the real deal. Even his relationships with other characters has that same clear but simple goal in mind. Robin is someone just there to be Batman’s sidekick, Catwoman is just there to be the femme fatale to Batman and try to make him change his ways, and even all of the other villains throughout the feature length animated tale including the Joker, Penguin, and Riddler are just there to be bad guys for Batman and company to beat up. It’s about as simple with it’s story and characters as it could possibly be and it’s all the better for it.

I do find it interesting how what work so well about this movie is also the same thing that brought Killing Joke down so badly, it’s refusal to adapt to the 21st century. I think that’s strongly because unlike the latter, the former realizes what the absolute appeal was with the tv show it was based off of. Because of that, it didn’t need to change anything because it was fine the way it was and only need a couple of modern pop culture references to make it stand out as it’s own thing. Killing Joke, on the other hand, was something that DID need change. The only change they bother to make with it was to add an abominable and pointless prologue completely butchering the female character they were actually trying to fix, making you look through an already outdated and infamous story and make you wonder why you ever liked it in the first place.

What also quite helps here is the animation. It’s quite baffling how this manage to have much better, more expressive, and creative animation than anything in Killing Joke (I promise this is the last time I will compare the two). The characters move fluently, their expressions are convincing, the action scenes are fun, and it plays great homages to the original serials with the exaggerated words popping up every time there are punches thrown.

I’m not gonna argue that everything in Return of the Caped Crusaders works out the way they intended. The voice work from the cast can sound very rusty (You can just tell how poor Adam West had trouble with most of his line deliveries), could have use some tightening in the second half, especially towards the climax, and I can’t help but wonder with the idea of multiple Batmans in one movie could have unlock the potential of endless memorable memes or at least prior voices for Batman coming together. Kinda like how Warner Bros ALMOST made Justice League it’s own thing in the mid 2000s before Marvel did Avengers in the early 2010s, they could have made their own version of Spider-Man: No Way Home before Marvel did. Yes, I get this is suppose to be low budgeted and was originally straight-to-dvd, but I still can’t get that out of my head.

Sorry if this comes across as a much shorter piece than prior ones but there’s not a whole lot that needs to be said about Return of the Caped Crusaders. It’s exactly the kind of campy, over-the-top Adam West adventure as you could imagine can exist in 2016. It’s doesn’t try to be anything more or anything less than that but sometimes that’s okay. Unlike with the recent Batman or even DC flicks that try or was at least pretending to be anything BUT simple, I think being simple in the case of Return of the Caped Crusaders was more than good enough.

A couple of side notes:

• No, I’m not looking at Batman & Harley Quinn. Because that only came out in theaters for one night and in one selection of theaters, I’m not gonna count that.
• The main theme to the tv series is an all-timer.
• I take that Rick Morales wasn’t a fan of The Dark Knight Rises or at least its ending. While I don’t agree with that jab, I couldn’t help but laugh at it.
• Seriously, just imagine every single person that has ever voiced Batman in this once playing some sort of different clone Batman throughout the movie. It wouldn’t even had to be anything meaningful, just pure fan service. With a movie like this, it’s okay to have fan service since it isn’t trying to be anything but that. But, I digress.

Next up: The Lego Batman Movie