Blu-ray Movie Reviews

When Batman and Robin get a tip that Commodore Schmidlapp is in danger aboard his yacht they launch a rescue mission. But the tip is a set-up by four of the most powerful villains ever who seek to defeat the Dynamic Duo once and for all! Armed with a dehydrator that can turn humans into dust the fearsome foursome intends to take over the world! Can the Caped Crusaders use their high-flying heroism and groovy gadgetry to declaw Catwoman? Ice the Penguin? Upstage the Joker? And stump the Riddler in time?

I’ll admit I was a big fan of this show when I was real young. Though it was way before my time I liked the adventures and the silliness never bugged me. Now older this film just didn’t have the affect of yesteryear. At first it was a little fun to point and laugh at the outright silliness of the plot and production design but that wore out its welcome pretty quick. After awhile I just wasn’t having nearly as much fun and found myself glancing at the time remaining far too often.

While I didn’t get much out of the movie I was impressed with the video presentation. Older films are typically a mixed bag lately but this one was consistently solid throughout. Sure some of the visual effects were distracting but the sense of dimension in the image was quite impressive. Color rendition was almost too revealing and I almost wonder if the filmmakers ever thought the level of detail present in this Blu-ray release would be seen in homes. Most of the limitations of special effects and make-up effects are a bit more obvious than you’d be used to from the TV show. The print was in excellent condition and film grain and fine object detail is preserved wonderfully. Fans of this one will be really happy with this one.

Fox has included its signature DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix but this soundtrack is largely mono in soundstage. Given the age of the production and the obvious limitations in budget the sound design is lacking in dynamic range and wizardry. Dialogue sounds quite good though and the sense of balance is better than I expected. The mix never really extends to the surround soundstage but the front soundstage is wide enough to not cause distraction. Some of the music and effects are on the shrill side but not too objective overall.

Fox has gone all out in the supplements department for this one. There are a bunch of featurettes on the series and production and a look at the props. Two feature commentaries are included along with the trailers and a fun trivia track. Last up, Fox included an isolated score track in full lossless DTS-HD.

While I didn’t get much from the film itself Fox did do an outstanding job on the A/V presentation. Fans of the film will be more than happy with the presentation and the scope of extras.