Back in the day, I felt dissapointed when I saw it in theathers and I really disliked the movie for many reasons: it wasn't dark like the first two (same thing for "Foverer"),the dialogues ("chicks dig the car") the over-the-top silly acting, the props (batmobile, suits, weapons, etc),the goofy villains... However I loved the colour palette and cinematography - it's pure Schumacher of course. Over the yearss I have watched it again several times and when the BluRay came out I watched it more in depth, kind of I was "trying" to like it - and finally it happened. Why? How? Well, after more than 20 years since it was released means that I'm older too and my thoughts about the movie changed as well. Now when I watch it I feel like I'm watching a "modern" take on the 60's TV series and it really makes sense to me for the very same elements I mentioned before: goofy villains, lots of colours, over-the-top cheesy acting, family-friendly overall tone. Gradually I started enjoying the movie in this context and I can say that I like it for what it is. Unfortunately, this was the latest entry in the "comic-style" franchise.

"Batman & Robin" is currently #58 on IMDB's infamous Bottom 100 List....which would indicate it's a truly horrible film. Interestingly, despite there being many horrible superhero movies (such as "The Spirit" and "Catwoman"),this and "Superman IV" are the only ones currently on the list....so it's quite a dubious achievement!

Despite "Batman & Robin" being a terrible film, it is interesting to note that despite the film costing an ungodly $125,000,000 to make...it DID manage to earn about double the cost...making it Warner Brothers' biggest moneymaker of the year. It's bad press did, however, help destroy the franchise until it was revived and revamped several years later with Christian Bale and Chrisopher Nolan.

When the film started, I could almost see instantly why the movie was a stinker. It was completely cartoonish compared to the previous Batman films of the 80s and 90s. Seeing Batman and Robin in a hockey game with Mr. Freeze and his minions simply made me cringe...as did the sound effects throughout the film. Several times, the punching and kicking sounds were pretty much straight from the campy old TV series....and fans must have been infuriated to see the series turned into a dumbed down cartoonish nightmare. Did the stupidity in this scene get any worse in this opening scene? Yup...when Freeze escapes in a rocket (???) and Batman and Robin chase the film leaps into ultra-stupid mode! It ended hellishly, with Batman and Robin both jumping from the rocket on sky surfboards and they miraculously survived--and during their descent Robin yells out 'Cowabunga'!! What follows rarely got much better...and again and again the film resorted to cartoonism instead of making a decent film that wouldn't infuriate audiences.

Another horrible scene was the homage to Marlene Dietrich in her dance scene from "Blonde Venus". The Dietrich dance was dumb....the version with Uma Thurman managed to make it even stupider. Seeing her in magenta gorilla costume was indeed stupid!

To make everything worse, Miss Thurman overacted terribly throughout the film and I'd say she was the weakest and most annoying actor in the cast....and I assume she was only doing what the director and writer instructed her to do. The same can be said about all the horrid puns uttered by Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze....he was just doing what he was told to do. And, ultimately the crap dialog between the three crime fighters is pretty much the same...the delivered the crap that they were given.

In order to have made a good film, "Batman & Robin" should have learned SOMETHING from "Batman" (1989). It should have been darker, had one GOOD villain instead of three lousy ones and not given way to cheap stunts and gimmickery. Instead of a dark, brooding story, this one looks almost like it was filmed inside a carnival fun house...complete with glow in the dark neon paint and one dimensional characters.

Overall, a truly horrid pile of vomit. The film manages to earn a 2...but only because for $125,000,000 the film ultimately must look good...at least at times.

So was there anything I liked about the movie? Well, I did laugh at the scene where Mr. Freeze was watching the Snow Miser from "The Year Without a Santa Claus" TV special...and he tried to make his minions sing along with him. It was dumb...but it did make me laugh and was one of the few moments that I didn't hate myself for watching this movie.

The film does have nice costumes, and nice sets. Unfortunately that is about it. One major problem is some of the choices of actors.They were all wasted. George Clooney is quite a charming actor, but he is not my idea of Batman. Batman I don't think is supposed to be charming, he's supposed to be dark and brooding, and Clooney lacked that. What would Michael Keaten and Val Kilmer and even Christian Bale say when they see that Batman has turned charming? Chris O' Donnell looked uncomfortable, and in almost every movie where he is a hero, this includes the 1993 version of the Three Musketeers, he is rather lifeless. Uma Thurman does her best, but what they gave her to work with was ridiculous, and she just failed to deliver, while Alicia Silverstone was extremely annoying. The worst case was poor Arnold Schwarznegger. He was completely miscast as Mr Freeze, completely lacking the coldness and evilness that makes the character so memorable. Schwarznegger is a talented actor, but his skills are hidden beyond recognition in this movie, he just looked so uncomfortable and totally out of character. The direction from Joel Schummacher was disappointing as well, it lacked the artistic flair and the temperament that is needed to make a great film. This is further disadvantaged by a truly pathetic script that nobody in the cast could do anything with.(these actors deserved so much better)The special effects were okay, but very confused in terms of execution. In conclusion, not the worst movie, I have ever seen, but it is one of those films, where everything needed to make it memorable falls flat. 3/10 for effort. Bethany Cox