Before Ben Affleck or Christian Bale, there was Adam West who made Batman the favourite superhero of all. That was some 50 years ago but even today, he is the quintessential Dark Knight for some.

In Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, both Adam West (now 88 years old) and his trusted sidekick Burt Ward (71 years old) reprise their alter egos as voice over artists and the result is electrifying!

The story takes place in modern day Gotham City, where crime is on the rise. Batman and Robin must stop the four fearsome villains namely Penguin, Catwoman, The Riddler and Joker, from a plan that will destroy Gotham City and affect the world. The dynamic duo succeeds at first but with the passage of time, they learn that the villains made them believe that they had succeeded, in order to go ahead with their plans.

With the original Batman, Robin and Catwoman (voiced by Julie Newmar, now 83 years old) reuniting after 50 years of the original Batman The Movie, things couldn’t have been better. The moral policing by Batman, the dialogues of Robin and Catwoman’s ‘purrrrfect’ planning combined to save their city. Yes, you read it right, Catwoman plays the good girl here because she had her own reasons. And yes, the story involved a gadget through which anybody could duplicate anybody, and it ended up in the ‘wrong’ hands.

For those who think this new animated venture of Warner Bros. looked outdated, go and first watch Batman: The Movie that was released 50 years back. The same theme has been carried off here to give the young audience a feel of what Batman was like five decades ago. You don’t only hear the sound of kicks and punches, but also view them on screen and it was gimmicks like these that kept the audience glued to their seats when the TV series was on air. Go ahead and get to know Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, who were normal people until they got into their costumes to become saviours of the world.

The movie is rated PG for action and rude humour.

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 5th, 2016