Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders Blu-ray Movie Review

Holy 1960s!

Reviewed by Michael Reuben November 2, 2016

A calculated exercise in nostalgia, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders restores a much-needed dose of comedic wit to Warner's and DC's animated Batman series. Set in the 1960s, Caped Crusaders benefits from the voices of Adam West and Burt Ward, TV's original Batman and Robin, and of Julie Newmar, one of the series' three incarnations of Catwoman, in a feature-length animated romp imbued with the light-hearted spirit that made the original Batman television series a cultural touchstone.

Gotham City is threatened anew by an alliance among Catwoman, Penguin (William Salyers), the Riddler (Wally Wingert) and the Joker (Jeff Bergman). The quartet's plans include an attempt by Catwoman to turn Batman evil, a trip to outer space and extensive use of a stolen invention, the Replicator Ray, which makes perfect copies of anything and anybody. In the film's third act, Batman is replicated numerous times, with shocking results.

But Caped Crusaders' plot is mostly an excuse to invoke familiar tropes and devices from the original Batman series, with everything from the Shakespeare bust in Wayne Manor, with its hidden switch that reveals the concealed Batpoles, to the dotty intrusions of Dick Grayson's Aunt Harriet (Lynne Marie Stewart), to whom Bruce Wayne and Dick feed a steady diet of excuses for their abrupt disappearances. Just as they did on TV, Batman and Robin walk laboriously up walls (including a space station variant that made me laugh out loud), while Batman ceremoniously instructs his sidekick on virtue, morality and civic pride. The panels with sound effects punctuating the fight scenes display a variety that exceeds the original show ("Sploop!" "Fwok!"), while the alliterative dialogue adds to the absurdity ("You moronic meatheads!"). And who could pass up the opportunity to see a shocked Commissioner Gordon (Jim Ward) and Chief O'Hara (Thomas Lennon) temporarily stripped of both their rank and their uniforms?

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Warner's animation group continues to produce bit-starved images with average rates hovering around 15.00 Mbps and vast amounts of space left blank on the disc (in this case, about 8 GB of a BD-25). The encoding is capably performed, but until the division updates its practices to match those of the Warner Archive Collection, we'll never know how much better their Blu-rays could look. Although Caped Crusaders isn't technically part of the animated DC Universe, its image on Blu-ray is consistent with DCU entries, except that the palette is somewhat brighter and more saturated, reflecting the Sixties TV style. Minor occasional banding was observed, but depending on one's setup and sensitivities, it could easily go unnoticed.

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

With occasional exceptions (including one that's particularly attention-grabbing), Caped Crusaders' DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix remains front-oriented, no doubt in deference to the mono soundtrack of the TV show it is replicating. The dialogue is clearly rendered and properly prioritized, and the score (by a trio of composers) aptly replicates the mock-serious tone of the original series.

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Those Dastardly Desperados (1080p; 1.78:1; 10:29).



• A Classic Cadre of Voices (1080p; 1.78:1; 10:01).



• A Sneak Peak at Batman vs. Robin (1080p; 1.78:1; 10:07).



• A Sneak Peak at Son of Batman (1080p; 1.78:1; 9:28).



• Trailers (1080p).
• DCTV Brands
• Wonder Woman Coming to Theaters
• The LEGO Batman Movie
• Wonder Woman Animated Movie



• Additional Trailers: At startup, the disc plays a trailer for Suicide Squad and a promo for the DC All Access app.

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Although Caped Crusaders was originally intended for direct-to-video release, Warner decided to give it a short theatrical run, no doubt motivated by fan enthusiasm. Anyone who loves the Batman TV series will want to add this disc to their collection. For those who don't know the Sixties show, Caped Crusaders serves as a worthy introduction to its sweetly antique charm.