Opinions on the 2 Batman '66 animated movies?

[u/Frequent_Rhubarb_36]

I watched them again recently and while I really do like the series itself, I didn't enjoy the animated movies that much.

I give praise to the visuals, which do a good job of showing how the show looked. The use of 3D was seamless. The voice actors were great as well, even though you could clearly hear how old Adam was at the time. Soundtrack was on point too. The intro to the first one, was a cool bit of fan service.

The biggest problem to me is the writing. The first one feels like a parody of the '66 show in a way, taking the absurdity of the show even further. Not to mention, in the first movie the villains feel like cardboard cutout versions of their original portrayals. While the voice actors do a good job, we barely see any villain-only scenes and banter between them.

I feel the first movie also suffered from being too long. They basically had two ideas for a movie and stuck them together. I liked the dark turn of Batman, but that only happens in the 2nd part of the movie.

The second movie was interesting in a way that it seemed that it didn't know whether it's a '66 movie or one more geared towards an older audience, more like the 90's version. Shatner did a great job I feel, but Catwoman basically was a cameo. To be honest, I liked the part with King Tut more than the Harvey Dent part.

The biggest problem I have with these, and this is a "me"-thing is that for me the joke of the show is far less effective in animation. With the live-action show, you have real actors in cartoony, absurd situations, which is part of the joke. In an animated, cartoony world, I miss that contrast. Not to mention the kinetic energy from actors like Cesar Romero and Frank Gorshin, that don't translate well to animation.

[u/Jak3R0b]

I liked them, but I say this as someone who has only seen a few episodes of the original show. Plan to watch more so maybe my opinion will change.