Blu-ray Movie Reviews

This year the BAT goes BLU... Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology" includes "Batman", "Batman Returns", "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin".

With the recent success of The Dark Knight and everyone hyped up over the latest incarnations of the Batman world it was only a matter of time before we saw the popular series from the minds of Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher come to Blu. I have very mixed feelings about these films. I really enjoyed both of Burton’s efforts when they were first released and they still hold up pretty well today but Schumacher’s visions just don’t do anything for me. Burton tried to balance the darker side of the series with the comic book flare and while it does come off as a bit gimmicky it still manages to work pretty well. The latter two films just come off as popcorn comic book films that are more flash than substance and just too over the top for me. There is great talent involved here, but the dramatic style just gets in the way. I can’t tell you how happy I am that Warner stopped this train and did their reboot, the newer films in the series take this character and icon to an entirely new level.

All of these presentations held up better than I expected. Each gets a tad better than the last in terms of video presentation, but the gaps aren’t nearly as large as I thought they would be. Burton’s films have a drearier look with grays and blacks and only touches of color here and there. Blacks still look quite good though and the prints are in very good shape with little to no wear and tear. I didn’t see any ringing and fine detail is preserved nicely. The latter films bring more color to the table and at times it can be a bit too much. There is definitely more flash but it also adds a bit to the dimensionality of the images and the onscreen contrast. Overall though, Warner has done a great job with all four films.

Each film is presented with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. All of the films had great sound designs that fit the production design perfectly. Elfman’s scores have always been a highlight of Burton’s films and they do a great job here. The sound designs do have a slightly dated feel and dynamic range isn’t quite what we get today, but there is enough range to give a fun ride; especially with the later films. Dialogue always sounds natural and imaging is solid throughout. The last film is probably the highlight in presentation despite the fact that it is by far the worse film of the bunch.

Warner rehashes the extras from the previous Batman boxset on DVD. You get plenty of retrospectives on the films plus insight into each film’s production. Each film has a feature commentary and all of them include music videos for their more popular soundtrack selections. Some deleted scenes and interviews are also scattered throughout. Warner also includes a digital copy of the first film for portable devices.

It was interesting revisiting these older films after just watching The Dark Knight recently. It is surprising just how cheesy these can be compared to the more serious tone of the new films. I still enjoyed Burton’s visions though, but the last two films just didn’t do anything for me.