Monday, February 27, 2017

Monday at the Movies - February 27, 2017

Welcome to 2017’s first installment of “Monday at the Movies.” Today, The Cinema King catches up on DC’s animated movies.

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (2016) – After fifty years, Adam West and Burt Ward reteam with Julie Newmar to bring the ethos of Batman back to life in an animated film that captures perfectly the spirit of 1966. Return of the Caped Crusaders is one sustained self-aware giggle as the audience revels in every alliteration, pow-biff-bam, and straightfaced platitude that West & Co. deliver with the same wry camp from the 1966 television show. This installment finds less attention paid to the Joker/Riddler/Penguin/Catwoman team-up and more focus on a Batman descending into darkness, replete with metafictional nods to grimmer ’n’ grittier interpretations of the character. Yet despite the character’s fall from grace over the course of the plot, this film never feels out of place with the culture of the classic television show; it’s all done with a wink to the camera, an embrace of the audience, and most importantly an abiding love for the character of Batman. The filmmakers have even captured the frequently nonsensical attitude of Batman ’66, with headscratching science, overly complicated plots, and plot resolutions that practically have speed lines coming off of their rapid conclusions. There are also great one-off gags that one could imagine the show featuring, such as a temporarily unemployed Alfred Pennyworth resorting to rifling through dumpsters, replete with a rickety shopping cart. Overall, it’s just a real treat to hear West & Ward back in the voiceover equivalent of ill-fitting spandex, and it’s evident that the filmmakers are having just as much fun as the moviegoing public. The best compliment one can pay the delightful Return of the Caped Crusaders is that it’s so much of a piece with Batman ’66 that you shouldn’t be surprised if you see more of Adam West around these parts...

Justice League Dark (2017) – Meanwhile, over in DC’s more self-serious animation department, Justice League Dark follows on the new Justice League animated films with a look at DC’s magical underbelly, complete with a “darker” R-rating that doesn’t actually manifest itself as it did in The Killing Joke. I think this might be my favorite of the new wave of DC animated films that began with Justice League: War, in part because this actually feels like something new rather than a different paint job on more of the same. Not that the new Justice League or Batman cartoons have been bad, per se, but they’ve been a little forgettable. (I haven’t rewatched any, for the record.) Justice League Dark feels more – pardon the pun – magical because most of these characters heretofore haven’t gotten their day in the sun. Magicians Zatanna (Camilla Luddington, late of the Tomb Raider games) and John Constantine (Matt Ryan, late of NBC’s Constantine and CW’s Arrow) join Batman (Jason O’Mara, still growling his way through the role) and the spectral trapeze artist Deadman (Nicholas Turturro, who plays Deadman as a wise-cracking Jersey boy) to thwart a magical threat of global, demonic proportions. The film descends into a generic urban fight scene by the middle of its third act, but the character work up to that point ends up holding the audience’s attention, even as deep cuts like Etrigan the Demon and Swamp Thing show up (always a treat for this viewer!). Justice League Dark is, well, darker than its counterparts, but the grim humor that emerges makes these characters more than likeable and leads me to want more of this sort of thing.

That does it for this week’s edition of “Monday at the Movies.” We’ll see you next week!

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