Uma Thurman says that 1997’s Batman & Robin was the first to be made specifically for kids, which might be hard to argue with…
Go on and recall any moment from Batman & Robin. Maybe it’s the cartoony rogues gallery or Arnold’s pun-tastic lines or the barrage of fast food tie-ins. Whichever way you go, one thing is for sure: this is kiddie fare! Well, except maybe those Bat-nipples…
On her namesake talk show, Kelly Clarkson told Uma Thurman that Batman & Robin is the only one in the entire franchise that her kids enjoy, to which Thurman responded, “It’s the one that was actually made for children.” This is a tough one to argue with, especially coming just a handful of years after Tim Burton concluded his two-film run.
But is there anything necessarily wrong with that? We can judge the movie for its campy dialogue, lack of dimension, abuse of the comics, and studio insistence that it meet the needs to shill as many Taco Bell kids meals as possible, but can we really take it out on the product? Oh, well, yes, we in fact can. Then again, I have to admit I do find the vivid color palette to stand out as satisfyingly fresh from Tim Burton’s gothic interpretation – even if it’s a complete assault on the eyeballs…
And we’re not the only ones who take issue with Batman & Robin. Joel Schumacher would go on to be an apologist for the film, George Clooney said he can barely stand thinking about it (although we do thank him for his Flash cameo) and Alicia Silverstone claimed it pushed her away from the movie industry, tending to elephants on another continent! So many careers to try to kill, so little time…
Like Silverstone, Thurman also had problems with her Batman & Robin costume, complaining of the difficulty of getting it on and off every day. “Because it was all rubber, and we had to pull it on, like imagine the worst pair of airplane tension hose you ever got into in your life…It was the original, the meanest sort of Spanx imaginable…But it was fun and creative!”
More than 25 years later, do you think Batman & Robin deserves a total reevaluation or is its reputation right where it belongs? Climb down the ivy and let us know in the comments section below.