Everybody, after three. One, two, three: BATMAN, dun dun dunnah, BATMAN….

I am astonished.

Really I am.

It’s not a joke.

How did Warner Bros actually do this? To recreate in essence, an extended version of the 60s version of Batman, with terribly corny dialogue, insane premises and in jokes about itself with some of the original voice cast in animated form? A Batman film which at only 80 minutes, surely should have been about as entertaining as scratching your arse with a cheese grater?

In a world where we apparently want gritter, more adult versions of things we were used to years ago, remarkably I found myself in a special screening of what has unbelievably has been the best Batman film of the year that I’ve seen so far! Granted the slating of Batman Vs Superman would have lent itself to mean that even playing with belly button fluff would have been better at the time.

It just baffles the mind of how this project got greenlit and basically it seems come out of nowhere.

We have the original Batman, Robin and one of the Catwomen, who let’s be fair, are getting on a fair bit. A much more meagre budget than the aforementioned mega-head-f**k of Batman Vs Superman, which as a result, it seems everything got outsourced to China judging from the end credits. But with frankly an excellent writing team, excellent music and it seems some real love in the project, they managed to produce something which was much much better.

GASP! I actually loved this! BASH!

It’s almost a disservice to contain this review to the limits of it being a mini meh, but in essence it’s better if you could take 80 minutes out of your day and just enjoy this. Don’t get me wrong, there will be plenty of people that will not like this at all given the silly nature of it. But the execution of this film, is impressive to say the least. Despite sounding old, (which they are) the original voice actors actually were pretty much on point with their performances. I can only imagine that everyone involved had a lot of fun getting tongue-tied with the sheer lunacy of the lines they had been given.

This is a really good homage and indeed even development of the 60s version of Batman. It’s all there, the happy go lucky theme tune, just given more oomph. The absurd situations which make no sense, like Batman and Robin being left to die on a large TV Dinner tray, going into a giant oven, which was labeled Giant Oven just in case we didn’t know. Which was also in an Abandoned Factory, which also was labelled as being an Abandoned Factory. The amount of ridiculous gadgets with the word Bat in front of it. The words flashing on the screen seemingly just going off the rail at one point with SPORK!! flashing on the screen.

Hell, even the roundabout way they put clues together with even on one occasion no real bloody clues before they run off is present! And yeah, don’t get me started about the walking up walls sideways thing, it’s f**king there son!

But while it starts off with those tropes and wears them as a badge of honour throughout the production, the story does actually take a turn for the darker side, and hell you actually have a really excellent role reversal. Even when everything is explained with the most ridiculous answers, you pretty much go along with it.

There were some things of course to get off the high horse about, such as the quantity of pauses in between lines, almost like they were pausing to ensurer you knew when to laugh it seems. If there were tightened up, it would have flowed a bit better. Also some of the jokes are just god awful and frankly you will just groan at them, but then again, surely that’s in keeping with the original TV show?

It’s a more innocent Batman film, with the over-the-top Dynamic Duo always being so good it makes your head hurt with the righteousness, possibly to the point of being sick. But in this day and age, it’s refreshing to see something like this come out, even if it will only be on DVD etc afterwards. It’s certainly more family friendly than what has been coming out of the DC cinematic universe headed up by Zack Snider and for those who loved the cheese of the 60s version, you will find it all here and actually more with some actual character growth! I know, right?!?!?!?!

There is already a sequel planned for this next year, with William Shatner playing Two-Face in this universe. Without a doubt, I am far more looking forward to the next endeavour in the 60s animated world than whatever is coming next from its more costly and frankly much less entertaining brethren.

I would happily recommend this to anyone who wants a break from the meh, and just have a good time. Well done to everyone involved, you did very well.

PS Batman does dance in this.

PPS I never thought I would write that sentence.