The title pretty much sums up this article dearest readers and devourers of the fountain of knowledge that is my cutey noggin :) I have never gotten the hatred towards Joel "Satan" Schumacher's interpretation of the Batman mythos; Batman and Robin. Lets face it here, the name alone is enough to send comic book lovers everywhere in to a violent, satanic frenzy not seen since I last watched a new "episode" of The Simpson. Fans hated this film soooo muchy much I am amazed his head is not on some guys shelf somewhere next to his original 50's Batmobile (still in the box of course) But why??????????? :(
I like to view Burton's Batmans (which are amazing) and Joel's as representing two very different era's of Batman and certainly being made for a different audience. Batman as we know him today is dark, moody, serious and void of any visible nipples when fighting crime. But no matter how much people try, no matter how much we may like to erase the campy 50's and 60's era from our mind, it will always be there, staring at you from the darkness like a photo of a bad mullet, or brightly colored spandex jumpsuits from your days of going to Van Halen concerts. And Batman has a lot to want to forget, he truly, truly does. And just as much as anything throughout the 90s comics were being targeted at kids and young teens, money was better all around, remember those days???? Cartoons, games, comics, heck most everything was being directed at our youth to spend their sudden surge in pocket money on. So Batman like everything else had a very large readership among kids, including me.
Which gets me right on to the point of this article, Burton made his Batman, it rocked, it really did, but that was a representation of "moody" Batman, Joel's was for the kids, for kids like me who went to see Burton's films and had to leave because it was scary, I was expected bright lights, fun fight scenes, cool car chases, basically the hero I saw in the comics, not a hero that scared me :( It took me a while to appreciate Burton's vision and how well it reflected the comics of the time. But what about the kids who still wanted to see a hero kick butt and deliver some cheesy one liners on the silver screen? Well Joel stepped in.
Batman Forever has always been my favorite, I think it properly married the darkness of the earlier films and the fun, campy nature of what came after it. Plus I don't care what anyone says, the cast was perfect, and they all seemed to be having a great time with their roles. Then apparently Warner Bros still wanted to push for the next film to be even more family friendly as kids finally took more of an interest in Batman Forever, I think Forever was perfect but there you go :)
As I child I remember B&R was getting a lot of hype, toys upon toys were being released, posters were plastered up in shops, video rental stores, games were already in production, it seemed like christmas had indeed come early to me. My hunger to see the film was near fever point when I finally got to see it. As the bright, neon logo appeared on screen I clutched my Batman toy to my chest and knew that the caped crusader had not let me down, how could he?
I knew a lot of people hated it, but to me as a young girl, it was everything I hoped it would be, and I know a lot of my friends and other kids felt the same way. If people love the Burton films so much go and watch them, they are always there and in better quality than ever thanks to Blu-Ray. But the kid in me will always have a soft spot for George Clooney and his bat nipples, when I watch it, it takes me back to a special time in my childhood, a time when I didn't want that much depth from heroes, as long as they looked cool, could reel of one liners as they punch someone in the face, used awesome gadgets and gizmos then I was happy. And I pray to God I will never, ever be mature enough to not enjoy that :)
Thats just my opinion, and it is the word of Jessica, so lets face, it counts for a lot :D We left Britney alone, so why not this? I don't know where you are going, but I am going to get some hot choccy, some nice, tasty treats and cuddle up with my Batman toy for some of the most awesomest, spandex clad action ever!
You and your spandex...but yes, you make some good points, and of course, who doesn't love bat nipples? It was campy, it was fun, and if you look at some of the comics from the 60's, or the Adam West years, you'll see it was nothing compared to what came before in that department. I think most people just have a general hatred towards the boy wonder.
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