Holy predictable review opening Batman!...sorry, yep I know, no more. Way back in the vintage days of 2003 this TV movie came out on CBS in America, so basically no one outside of America knew of its existence. What's it about you say? well its simply a comical retrospective or quickfire trip down memory lane for Adam West and Burt Ward over their three season career as Batman and Robin. Its made around a silly little plot involving someone stealing the Batmobile at a convention, so the ancient dynamic duo set out to find the culprit.

The bookend plot is frankly meaningless really, I've no idea why they even went down that route when a simple bio approach would have been much better. The minor problem being that the actual sequences of West and Ward in their superhero days are flashbacks dotted throughout the plot. This means they are all too brief which is a shame because they are the best bits by far and you wanna see more.

The general approach of the entire flick is a harmless ridicule of the original show and is in no way meant to be anything but a good laugh. So on that note I can't complain, it is a silly ride, there are some nice moments that homage the old show, mainly a lovely punch up between the aging pair and some goons...the camera of course being suitably tilted at an angle. There are a few cameos from stars of the show naturally, Frank Gorshin and Julie Newmar being part of the daft plot, Meriwether makes an appearance and is still pretty darn hot (as is Newmar),whilst other old stars are played by actors and I must say they are very good, Tony Tanner as Meredith/the Penguin is excellent.

During the wafer thin and pointless Batmobile mystery plot you get nice cameos, homages and general cartoonish tomfoolery which is of course all in the same camp slapstick vein as the classic show. At the same time the retro flashbacks show highlights from West and Ward's lives in the famous outfits but in a light-hearted family orientated manner. These little snippets mainly focus on things we've heard about in the Batmania documentary like Ward and his audition, meeting West for the first time, Ward getting injured on set often, Waggoner's audition, the duo squabbling, Ward's troubled married life, the intro of Yvonne Craig as Batgirl, some of the big star cameos etc...It does seem to follow Ward more as the underdog, where as West (as in real life) was the more experienced older ladies man who could do no wrong.

The two actors playing the young versions of West and Ward are really good and they look like their real life counterparts, plus the stories from behind the scenes during the time of the old show are really interesting. I really liked how the retro flashbacks were done, think Tim Burton's 'Ed Wood' but not quite as cheeky. So while is it cool to see West and Ward firing dialog at each other again (don't forget about the awesome OAP bar room brawl),overall I would have liked to see more of the well created flashbacks.

7/10

After a nod to the Tim Burton films with an opening sequence depicting Adam West at home as a male Norma Desmond in monogrammed slippers, 'Return to the Batcave' sets about lovingly recreating the bright shiny look of the sixties TV series; although the music continues to stress comedy more than Nelson Riddle's exaggeratedly 'dramatic' music ever did in the original. The flashbacks to the history of the original series (such as Burt Ward getting burned by sparks so often during the first week of production he earned the nickname 'Sparky') are so good, with vivid cameos by actors recreating the original villains - not forgetting Jim Jansen as William Dozier - they could have made a film in themselves. But Adam West (who is also credited as 'Executive Creative Consultant') and Burt Ward are as charmingly game as ever as themselves in the present day searching for the purloined Batmobile (there's a nice running gag that Burt is constantly having to pay for everything). Along the way there are enjoyable cameos by Julie Newmar and Lee Meriwether (both still hot!) and a splendid gag appearance by Lyle Waggoner parodying the unmasking of the Wizard of Oz.

A blonde Newmar, resembling a cross between Lizabeth Scott & Marlene Dietrich, having been absent from the 1966 movie, is finally paired here with Frank Gorshin; and what a pair they make! Julia Rose (who actually looks more like Lee Meriwether) has a tremendous scene demonstrating at a script conference Newmar's take on Catwoman as a cold-hearted tease (too bad she's not in costume at the time!),and Newmar's appearance here in a bar in a cowgirl hat provides a glimpse of the scarier Catwoman we might have been treated to had she had her way...

This movie is basically just a look behind the scenes at the making of the old tv show. Unless you are a hard core fan of the show you probably won't enjoy this.