Just to say, I am a fan of the 1966 series. It is camp, but it is also colourful and fun, and actually the campiness actually works in its favour. This film is equally camp, but like the series it is also colourful and very enjoyable with great characters to drive it.
The pace does slacken a tad towards the end though it is quite fast and brisk up to then and the plot is quite thin and rather silly. However what does compensate a lot are some nice photography, colourful costumes, good scenery and a well-realised Gotham City. Also the music is great fun to listen to, the score is very driven especially. The dialogue is very cheesy, but that's part of the fun for me, and the gags are the sort of gleefully enjoyable throwaway ones that Schumacher's Batman and Robin could have dreamed of(I can't think of shark repellent without laughing uncontrollably now, and the "some days you can't just get rid of a bomb" line is one of the truest yet funniest lines I have heard in a film in recent memory). The direction is good and the effects and action are decent enough too.
The performances are very enjoyable and the characters are still fun. Adam West is a lot of fun, and does deserve some credit for making some of the cheesiest dialogue at least credible with a sly and deadpan delivery. Burt Ward is good enough, he is better in the series though, with some annoying/funny catchphrases and an easy-going chemistry with West. Alan Napier is a perfect Alfred, and Neil Hamilton is a hoot. The villains are what make the movie. Lee Merriweather is a very slinky Catwoman and that suit really suits her, and she is further advantaged by some fun lines and good delivery of them, also a fun and affecting chemistry with West. Frank Gorshin, Cesar Romero and especially Burgess Meredith show their successors how to play Riddler, Joker and Penguin, and all of them are great fun and this is one of a couple of times when the use of more than one villain works.
Romero is the least exceptional of the four for me, he is still great but Joker is written and used better in the series meaning he was rather underused compared to the likes of Penguin and I also think he suffers from constant comparisons with Nicholson, Ledger and Hamill(if he counts). Perhaps unfair yet understandable, whereas Gorshin and Meredith are definitive in my opinion when it comes to Romero while I love him he is my least favourite Joker of the four(counting Hamill).
In conclusion, a lot of fun and perfect to go with the classic TV series, not as good but worthy. 8/10 Bethany Cox
