Of all the Batman movies that have been released over the years, few have received the as much negative feedback as Batman and Robin, starring George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell, Alicia Silverstone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Uma Thurman.
Right off the bat, no pun intended, one must recognize that this film had a star studded cast that does rival all the others or at least stand up well next to them. There was no shortage of star power here leading up to this film. There was some great anticipation for Arnold as Mr. Freeze and Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy, these two new villains were greatly anticipated and due to the casting there was optimism about them. People weren't in upheaval yet over Clooney as Batman although there was some skepticism, a game Alicia Silverstone was coming in to play Bat Girl which caused quite a buzz since we were going to finally get the 4th piece of the team (counting Alfred), it's also worth noting that Michael Gogh reprised the role of Alfred, as did Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon, and Chris O'Donnell was returning after a solid performance in Batman Forever so there were a few familiar faces to carry this film as well.
The story and plot of this film was actually pretty solid as well. There wasn't anything overtly bad about the plots for each individual character, each had their own back story which was covered or already well known, each had a clear cut goal and motivation, each went through developments through the movie, and we got some insight to each character on a personal level. Put it all together and what you had was a solid screenplay. There wasn't anything really horrible about the plot overall, Freeze is trying to find a cure for the disease that was going to kill his wife, Poison Ivy is an extreme environmentalist who wants to see plant life take back the planet, Batman is struggling with his love life as usual, there's a rift between him and Robin, and Alfred is dying which poses a big problem since he's the only family of any kind he has left. Meanwhile Robin is jealous of living in the shadow of Batman while dealing with the fact that he does need Batman to protect him as much as Batman needs him at times, and Barbara must deal with the change in her life and trying to continue her night time wandering ways. Poison Ivy and Freeze work together to take control of Gotham, The Caped Crusaders fight to stop them, it's a pretty simple story really, with it's own complexities as well. Overall though it's not what is wrong with the movie.
What really hurt this movie was the visuals, the dialogue, and the personalities as they were portrayed of the different characters. I think people expected this movie to be a bit more serious and travel to a bit darker place in the way that Batman Forever did with Riddler, Bruce Wayne delving deeper into dealing with his parents death, and Dick Grayson with the death of his parents as well, and the general concept of the Riddlers plot to take over Gotham. Instead the very things that people knocked this movie for, I felt, made it that much better. It went the completely different direction and didn't take itself as seriously overall, and tried to be a bit more surreal and fun in a way. What I think people failed to realize was that this movie was basically a modern day interpretation of the campy Adam West/ Burt Ward TV show Batman, and the shock of that with expectations of otherwise left people stunned and confused.
Look at it, George Clooney is the Adam West Batman, all the over the top stuff, the exaggerated Gotham, the one liners, the campy-ness of the whole thing, all of it points to the original TV show. For that reason I think this movie is actually very good, because they captured all of that very well. It was a fun movie that didn't take it self too seriously even though it dealt with some serious issues, it was full of some great action and special effects for the time, the stories and plot were actually pretty good, and it did give us something completely unique and original. Face it guys, Batman and Robin was a great movie.
Right off the bat, no pun intended, one must recognize that this film had a star studded cast that does rival all the others or at least stand up well next to them. There was no shortage of star power here leading up to this film. There was some great anticipation for Arnold as Mr. Freeze and Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy, these two new villains were greatly anticipated and due to the casting there was optimism about them. People weren't in upheaval yet over Clooney as Batman although there was some skepticism, a game Alicia Silverstone was coming in to play Bat Girl which caused quite a buzz since we were going to finally get the 4th piece of the team (counting Alfred), it's also worth noting that Michael Gogh reprised the role of Alfred, as did Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon, and Chris O'Donnell was returning after a solid performance in Batman Forever so there were a few familiar faces to carry this film as well.
The story and plot of this film was actually pretty solid as well. There wasn't anything overtly bad about the plots for each individual character, each had their own back story which was covered or already well known, each had a clear cut goal and motivation, each went through developments through the movie, and we got some insight to each character on a personal level. Put it all together and what you had was a solid screenplay. There wasn't anything really horrible about the plot overall, Freeze is trying to find a cure for the disease that was going to kill his wife, Poison Ivy is an extreme environmentalist who wants to see plant life take back the planet, Batman is struggling with his love life as usual, there's a rift between him and Robin, and Alfred is dying which poses a big problem since he's the only family of any kind he has left. Meanwhile Robin is jealous of living in the shadow of Batman while dealing with the fact that he does need Batman to protect him as much as Batman needs him at times, and Barbara must deal with the change in her life and trying to continue her night time wandering ways. Poison Ivy and Freeze work together to take control of Gotham, The Caped Crusaders fight to stop them, it's a pretty simple story really, with it's own complexities as well. Overall though it's not what is wrong with the movie.
What really hurt this movie was the visuals, the dialogue, and the personalities as they were portrayed of the different characters. I think people expected this movie to be a bit more serious and travel to a bit darker place in the way that Batman Forever did with Riddler, Bruce Wayne delving deeper into dealing with his parents death, and Dick Grayson with the death of his parents as well, and the general concept of the Riddlers plot to take over Gotham. Instead the very things that people knocked this movie for, I felt, made it that much better. It went the completely different direction and didn't take itself as seriously overall, and tried to be a bit more surreal and fun in a way. What I think people failed to realize was that this movie was basically a modern day interpretation of the campy Adam West/ Burt Ward TV show Batman, and the shock of that with expectations of otherwise left people stunned and confused.
Look at it, George Clooney is the Adam West Batman, all the over the top stuff, the exaggerated Gotham, the one liners, the campy-ness of the whole thing, all of it points to the original TV show. For that reason I think this movie is actually very good, because they captured all of that very well. It was a fun movie that didn't take it self too seriously even though it dealt with some serious issues, it was full of some great action and special effects for the time, the stories and plot were actually pretty good, and it did give us something completely unique and original. Face it guys, Batman and Robin was a great movie.
