YMMV / Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders

• Awesome Music: The film features appropriately theatrical renditions of many of the 1966 series' themes.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Evil Batman forcing Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara to do a Shameful Strip. Even with some of the other weirdness going on in the film this is pretty awkward.
• Broken Base: While Adam West and Burt Ward have generally been lauded for their performances, Julie Newmar’s return as Catwoman has been more contentious with fans, namely regarding if the novelty of having her back in the role was worth the inherent Vocal Dissonance, since her voice has noticeably aged, or if it was simply too jarring to work and she should have been recast with a soundalike.
• Critical Dissonance: Although very well-received by those who went to it, the Fathom Events midnight theatrical premiere was a financial disappointment with low attendance, given that the movie lacked the instant draw of a notorious story like The Killing Joke to pull in more self-serious fans.
• Ending Fatigue: Some fans could definitely get this impression. Having an evil Batman is certainly a villain to end all villains, especially for the '66 continuity, but the movie goes on for another fifteen or so minutes after he's beaten. That time is spent on a fairly rote climax where the Dynamic Duo (plus Catwoman) take on Joker, Penguin, and Riddler again — and even more disappointingly, they're not up to anything bigger than knocking over some museums.
• Fridge Brilliance: Depending on if this is supposed to be exactly the same continuity as the '66 show and movie, and if the sequel takes place before or after this one, Catwoman's sacrifice towards the end could explain why Eartha Kitt's version appeared in season 3 of the show rather than Julie Newmar. Set it between seasons 2 and 3 and it makes a lot of sense.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The film's massive Take That! at how dark, gritty, and violent Batman has become over the years is this after Batman: The Killing Joke, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad (2016); films either adapting classic incredibly dark Batman storylines or featuring a much darker take on the character than seen in film before. All three received incredibly divisive reactions, making this film the only theatrically released film featuring Batman in 2016 to receive a mostly positive reception from both critics and audiences. The amusing thing is, the makers of this film would have had no idea those films would be so divisive during production.
  • Batman's line about Robin "focusing too much on your upper body strength", now that The LEGO Batman Movie has a song with the line "Who never skips leg day?!"
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • King Tut, who was a well-known Breakout Villain in the original series, in the Evil Batman army vs. Robin and Catwoman plus Bat's Rogues Gallery battle where he actually defeats four evil Batman.
  • The Badass Bystander concertgoers who try to restrain the villains in the opening scene.
• Signature Scene: Robin and Batman's entire Rogues Gallery (sans Joker, Riddler and Penguin) vs. Evil Batman and his clone army.
• Win Back the Crowd: After the failures of the darker and grittier Batman movies, Return of the Caped Crusaders brought jaded fans back with multiple references to the '66 show, Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar returning to voice their characters, the loving lampshades and cheesy dialogue and more.

---