Batman and Robin is one of the most hated (and certainly the most well-known) the many superhero movies that fell flat on their faces. Joel Schumacher’s directorial decision to film the movie as child-friendly, live-action cartoon was criticized both audiences and viewers alike, and effectively killed the Batman movie franchise for eight years until Christopher Nolan rebooted the thing and changed the game with Batman Begins.
All things considered, there were some redeemable features to the movie. To say that Batman and Robin is the worst comic book movie or worst movie ever is unfair. This article will not try and convince you that Batman and Robin is a “good” movie – rather it will try and help you see past the ice puns and bat-nipples and understand that Batman and Robin was an important movie and that – believe it or not – some good came of it having existed.
10. It Was A Cautionary Tale
The stylistic choices made in Batman and Robin were obviously very poor. While it was perhaps not a terrible idea to portray Batman as a sort of live-action cartoon, the execution was mis-judged. This film strived to be family friendly, but really became only child-friendly as pretty much all adults hated it. The overall dislikable nature of Batman and Robin – in some ways – killed the superhero genre for a bit. However, when superhero movies came back, they were for the most part, far better.
For one thing, studios focused less on marketing the movies to children. There may still be toy tie-ins and young fans, but Batman and Robin took such things to an extreme and failed, and thus, nobody since has tried to duplicate that level of child-friendly corporate selling out.
Since Batman and Robin, no mainstream superhero movie has marketed so much to children despite the fact that they are a large part of the audience. Batman and Robin taught movie writers that it is important to write for adults. Children will like superheroes regardless, but adults are the critical and important audience (and the ones with money). Batman and Robin served, then, as a massive script of what not to do when writing a superhero movie and some good has come of that.
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I see what you’re going for with the article, but this movie actually is much worse than it’s given credit for. That’s how bad it is.
The best thing I can say about B&R is that it’s more enteraining than Batman Forever (which is just dull). Beyond that, I’ve got nothing.
I also found it less obnoxious than Batman Forever. Batman Forever is worse in my opinion
you must be 12 or something, if you were an actual Batman fan and a young kid when the movie came out it was an incredible fun movie. I can watch it today and still enjoy it for what it is and dont care about the silly elements because it doesnt matter! At the end of the day, the movie IS memorable and thats all it needs to be to enjoy it, just like the article proved.
good stuff Mary ; )
thanks! Also I’m not 12, I’m 18
I enjoyed the article more than the film so thank you…although i would probably enjoy castrating myself with two bricks more than the film.
It may have launched Clooney but not in the way you think. The experience of working on this piece of dreck motivated Clooney to pick his roles more carefully. As a result over the next few years we saw him in Out of Sight, the Thin Red Line, Three Kings, Oh Brother Where Art Thou and The Perfect Storm. It was on that run of films that he built his career. By its end he could essentially star in semi-vanity projects (Oceans Eleven) and direct his own films (A Dangerous Mind).
I think it’s more amazing that you could actually find positive things to talk about concerning this movie. Which is a terrible, terrible movie. It’s painful to watch and was so long before Nolan hit the reboot button. Every last person is overacting in this (Michael Gough excepted because he’s a stellar Alfred, but he was going to be good no matter what) until you get to George Clooney who is playing less Bruce Wayne than Dr. Doug Ross playing dress-up with all the emotion of cold oatmeal. It’s infuriating to watch, especially having had Tim Burton’s version to compare it to.
you wasted your time, and everyone else’s, writing this
I must admit that this is one of the most enjoyable articles I’ve read in a while; I was expecting a dull article about someones desparate attempts to justify their bad taste (I’ve read a few about how Seltzer and Friedberg are great… sigh…), but I cannot deny any point you’ve made here. Kudos to you good madam!
Terrible list. It nearly killed George Clooney’s career, and yes, it was memorable, but so is rape. Does that make it good? And no Hulk is not worse than Batman and Robin, not by a long shot.
A BAT…CREDIT CAAAAARD!!!!!
HA Nostalgia Critic reference!!!!
While I do think this movie is pretty bad, I find Batman Forever to be far worse, a much more boring, pointless film
I absolutey hate Green Lantern and Ang Lee’s Hulk, but…are they really worse than Batman and Robin? Come now…
I really think they are. Green Lantern had much poorer CGI and Hulk had literally the worst scene transitions I’ve ever seen. The other fact is they came after Batman and Robin so they should have known better
I agree on what you say about both films. I don’t think bad CGI or a really bad gimmick used by Ang Lee should be used as what defines Batman and Robin as the better movie. Using that, one could say Arnie’s terrible (and virtually endless) puns make Batman and Robin worse than the the two other films.
One of my deep dark shames as a Batman fan is that I find this movie to be infinitely rewatchable. My favorite part of the movie though is Arnold as Mr. Freeze.
Mary, have I found my female doppelganger on Whatculture. Check out a list I did about a month ago that stirred similar controversy. http://whatculture.com/film/joel-schumachers-batman-6-things-he-did-better-than-nolan.php
I actually found your article pretty inspiring. I read it a few months ago and it helped me think about what was redeeming about this movie beyond its entertainment value
Batman & Robin > Batman Forever > Batman Returns
Hi Mary, very nice article! I, too, am a fan of the Batman films, both of the Burton/Schumacher era and the more recent Nolan trilogy. Batman & Robin CAN be defended – to a certain extent, at least – and, as a Batman fan, I will certainly go to bat for it (no pun intended) and defend it to that point. It’s nice to see another Bat-fan do the same, so thank you!
As a fan of the Incredible Hulk, I feel I must come to the defense of Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk film, as well. If you take some time to deconstruct the film, you may find that it isn’t a bad movie at all (it’s not a _terrible_ film, at least). What it is, is a more involved, psychological take on the character, deeply rooted in the relationship between Bruce Banner and his father. Bruce Banner’s exposure to gamma radiation released what was already inside him (“what has been passed on?” Bruce’s father writes in his notes) and manifested itself as a 15-foot Hulk. An oversimplification, maybe, but you get the point and this is really the heart of the matter.
BUT… that’s not why people go to see a Hulk film! People go to see a Hulk film to see HULK SMASH! It is here where Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk from 2008 succeeded, where Ang Lee’s film failed.
Again, great article!
Wailer I discovered this site about half an hour ago and I’ve already seen you acting like a douche 5 or 6 times. Grow up you idiot.
I enjoyed this movie but to be honest it was just what it was … Fun but rubbish!
Great article. I recently rewatched Batman & Robin because it just so happened to be the best thing on, which says something for the scheduling that day but more for the quality of the film. It’s terrible but there’s a lot you can laugh at in it.
Loved your point about the film’s feminist themes. I never thought of Batman & Robin’s suiting up scenes as being a counterweight to Batgirl’s, providing a sort of commentary of sexualisation in cinema. Marvellously observed!
B&R is a mess. Schumacher has a very hit-and-miss CV, and this DEFINITELY falls into the MISS column. It’s the TOP of that column. A long-time Bat-fan whom I saw the film with dubbed it “Bat-Spam & Rogaine”. And, FYI, George Clooney’s 90′s film career was launched by a little film called FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, which despite being a grindhousey crime/vampire flick, is TEN TIMES better than B&R.
While I really can’t agree with you on the topic, I have to admit that your writing is very nicely done, I hope to read better articles with more agreeable content by you!
Nice article. I always have a great time watching this laughably bad “film”
I’ve really enjoyed this article and agree with a lot of the points on it (especially how the hulk is worse). I’m gonna stand up and be mildly controversial and say that I like batman forever. This is mainly because it stirs a lot of nostalgia and because I ate pancakes watching it as a child I will forever associate it with pancakes. I also think jim carrey is an excellent riddler. Another good point of this film is that it doesn’t really need a lot of concentration to watch it, so it’s perfect for when you’re recovering from a hangover.
FYI – there were nipples on Val Kilmers suit in “Forever” but no one ever talks about that, and Clooney is the only one who gets dumped on about it.
Also Kilmer’s Batsuit had a butt zipper which I think is much, much weirder
The decision to make the film more child friendly and toyetic was made by the studio, not Schumacher. Schumacher’s plan for the ultimately aborted sequel were just as dark if not darker as the two Tim Burton films.
You keep saying this movie is bad and has such serious “fails.” Did it never occur to anyone that this movie is intentionally campy and funny?