Encore! Encore! Singing superheroes, dancing gorillas, and top tier talent. If Bono and The Edge are reading this review, this much is true; Mayhem of the Music Meister has set the superhero musical bar pretty high for a certain Broadway-bound friendly neighborhood webslinger.
After watching another thoroughly entertaining episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, all this reviewer can say is kudos to the entire creative staff for not only taking chances with a much-beloved character, but doing it with such care and skill.
Well of course that’s not all I can say. If that were the case you’d be done with this article, my editor would be furious with me, and I’d be playing Madden, so I will say more - and I am compelled to say more.
Now I realize musical Batman might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re a fan of The Brave and the Bold you have to admire the love and admiration this team clearly has for The Caped Crusader.
There have been many different incarnations of The Dark Knight since the he first swung into popular culture, above the rooftops of Gotham in May of 1939. Most versions have been in step with the times, and most have been critically and publicly respected.
From the pulpy-inspired comics pages, to weekly radio and movie serials, campy television shows, kid-friendly Saturday morning fare, grim graphic novel re-imaginings and big budget blockbusters, Batman has always attracted a huge following. That said, Batfans are often overly protective of the character, and are not shy about voicing their displeasure when they feel the integrity of their champion is in any way handled inappropriately. (See The Brave and Bold episode 19, The Legends of the Dark Mite for a brilliantly droll example of said passionate discourse.)
This of course makes Batman’s latest adventure into the world of musical romance that much braver and bolder, and once again, we have a new Batman – and a baritone at that.
Going in, I had no idea this episode was going to be full of musical numbers, dance routines and enough spectacular overhead camera pans to make Busby Berkeley stand and clap. To be honest, if I had never watched a single installment of B&B, I would have had my doubts. That said, once I realized the audience was in for something completely different, I never had any hesitation this show would bring down the house. These writers, artists and voice actors are that good.
Fresh off his stint in Joss Whedon’s musical tragicomedy, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, guest star, Neil Patrick Harris once again showed off his humorous melodic chops; and if an animated villain who sets out to take over the world by turning the entire planet into harmonious zombies, slavishly compelled to do his bidding while he prances about in a different costume every 5 minutes while riding about on a motorized musical note can be comically underplayed, then that’s exactly what Harris pulled off.
From the sultry yearning of the Veronica Lake inspired Black Canary, to the loving winks to Adam West’s TV Batman, and the subtle nods to DC’s lesser known crime fighting super groups used as concert posters of fictitious rock n’ roll super groups (The Metal Men, The Challengers of the Unknown, The Inferior Five) this episode kicked as much ass as an outbreak at Arkham.
As the curtain dropped on the final act, we were once again treated to an inventive and inspired bit of storytelling. So while Black Canary will probably never move Batman to love her the way he loves fighting villains, but that’s because this adaptation of Batman knows that crime doesn’t take dinner breaks, and neither does he. And we, the audience are the better for it.
Check out Mania's Gallery of over 40 images from the episode...
Joe Oesterle is an award-winning writer and illustrator, but what he often fails to mention is that many of those awards were won on a New Jersey boardwalk. Pick up his latest books "Weird California" and "Weird Las Vegas" in any Barnes and Noble near you, and look for his next book, "Weird Hollywood," due out soon. www.JoeArtistWriter.com And be sure to check out his latest humorous animated video, entitled, “The Balloon Boy Song.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrYRquNyZxU
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