Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Come one, come all!

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown October 2, 2014

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Batman: The Brave and the Bold deserves a shot. Not a half-hearted attempt, but a real honest to God, in-the-face-of-cynicism chance to earn a cozy place in your DC fandom. I know it's hard to believe; peering through the kid-friendly trappings and Saturday Morning Cartoon fisticuffs. The Dark Knight is supposed to be... dark!, you say. And you're right. An emotionally scarred, near-psychotic vigilante dressed as a bat requires a certain veil of darkness. Otherwise it's all a bit silly. (The Adam West TV series, the cheesier runs of "Detective Comics," and Batman & Robin, anyone?) Yet James Tucker and Michael Jelenic's The Brave and the Bold manages to walk a very, very tight rope between corny cowl and classic Bats, and somehow makes it look easy. Once you warm to the premise -- and you will warm to the premise -- there's a lot to love, including a fantastic voice cast, spirited animation, dozens upon dozens of obscure character cameos, and plenty of opportunity for father-son bonding. Not a parent? Don't worry, you don't need a comicbook cadet by your side to enjoy B&B. Just an open mind, a good sense of humor and a willingness to have a little fun.

The setup is deceptively simple. Each episode of The Brave and the Bold finds Batman (Diedrich Bader) teaming up with one of several lesser known and/or under-appreciated heroes -- Plastic Man, Booster Gold, Zatanna, the Spectre, Black Orchid, the Atom, Firestorm, Enemy Ace, the Haunted Tank, Detective Chimp, the Question, Dr. Magnus, Sgt. Rock and the G.I. Robot, Kamandi, Dr. Canus, the Challengers of the Unknown and the Outsiders, among others -- to bring down whatever random baddie or league of second and third tier villains the showrunners yank from the farflung corners of the DC Multimediaverse. Superman? Wonder Woman? The heavy hitters? They're hardly involved. (Aquaman, Captain Marvel, Flash and several other higher-rung powerhouses do make appearances -- more this season than last -- but not very often.) The result? A wholly unpredictable and irresistibly madcap adventure packed into each and every episode. The villains employed are just as much of a sweet surprise as the heroes too, and instantly familiar faces are few and far between. Half the fun of watching The Brave and the Bold is seeing who pops up next, and learning exactly how and why they're making an appearance. (Or what style the show will tackle next. There's a fantastic episode near the end of the season in which Bat-Mite provides a tour of alternate Gothams, including the Adam West/Burt Ward Bat-verse.)

The series lacks weight and high stakes, sure. But only by design. The Brave and the Bold is steeped in comics lore and revels in the number of characters it can cram into any given episode. Lifelong comicbook junkies should be prepared to endure geek-out after geek-out; casual fans can play round after round of superhero grab-bag, even if 50% of the names and origins of the many, many alien races, talking beasties and super fiends escape them; and newcomers needn't concern themselves with learning any of it. The show is as much a crash course in DC Comics color as it is an introduction to the wild and wacky denizens of the Batman mythos. It's that rare television experience that can appeal to all walks of comic-geek life. It even softened this cold Marvel purist's heart, inspiring me to make room for a few dozen DC castaways looking for a good home and a little respect.

The Brave and the Bold still won't win over everyone. It's an acquired taste; one whose greatest hurdle is convincing adults it has something worth their time. Stylistically, there are seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and the joke-a-minute dialogue (full of wit as it is) and whipped cream action sequences (invigorating as they are) won't help. If you do accept this smartly penned incarnation of Batman on its own terms, though, you'll quickly discover how delightful and deliriously entertaining it can be. Why does Batman always have to be taken so seriously anyway? On that note, why do we, as comic fans, always have to take ourselves so seriously? Could it be we Dark Knight enthusiasts, like so many readers, are so hungry for legitimacy, so determined to validate and defend our hobby that we feel the overwhelming need to make the case that comicbooks aren't kids' stuff? Do we always need dark heroes and even darker villains to live up to the pressing demands of our age bracket?

Bah. One of the joys of adulthood is being free to cast off adulthood whenever it suits us. So sit back. Spoil the young boy tucked away in the deep recesses of your brain. Let him out to play with Batman and the members of the Almost JLA, if only for an episode or two. If you're a parent, use your son or daughter as an excuse. I'm watching it for them! Whatever works. Just don't pass judgment on the series too quickly. There are enough twenty, forty and sixtysomethings out there playing adult 24 hours a day. You don't have to be one of 'em. Take a break. Take a load off. Take a look into Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Like its first-season predecessor, The Brave and the Bold: The Complete Second Season features a strong, vibrant 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation. I noticed a few more instances of minor banding and slight aliasing this time around, but most of it was source-based and very little of it proved distracting. Color and contrast are punchy and powerful, with bright explosions of primary brilliance and deep pools of inky blacks. Even when night falls or shadows engulf our brave heroes, striking colors pierce the darkness and make their presence known. Detail is excellent too, without anything in the way of wayward softness or errant eyesores. The animators' line art is crisp and clean, and only takes a hit when the animation employs "camera" movement to push in on an otherwise static scene to create the sense of a dynamic zoom. Serious macroblocking and other compression issues are also kept to a bare minimum, meaning there just isn't much to gripe about. Fans of the series will be pleased.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As was the case last season, The Brave and the Bold's second hurrah offers a solid DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo mix. It's not the six-channel lossless beast I would have liked to see included, but it's quite effective when it comes to tackling the series' outlandish adventures and off-world escapades. Voices are clear and intelligible at all times, with nothing in the way of prioritization mishaps, and power blasts, explosions, body blows, street-leveling fist-slams, invading alien hordes and machines of war sound great. The experience isn't exactly enveloping without a full soundfield, and the lack of LFE support certainly leaves something to be desired, but the track is more than serviceable and will do just fine.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray release of The Complete Second Season doesn't include any bonus features.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Batman: The Brave and the Bold is no more. Cancelled in 2011 after just three seasons, the little superhero series that almost could nearly made it to a fourth season but simply couldn't drum up enough of an audience to make it any farther. Ah well. Warner Archive's second season release remains a blast, and will hopefully lead to a Blu-ray release of The Complete Third Season. If, ahem, enough fans make a point of picking up The Complete Second Season. Which shouldn't be too hard, considering it offers a solid AV presentation and another great run of episodes. Special features and a full 5.1 surround track would have sealed the deal, but so it goes. Don't miss out.