Batman: Caped Crusader

Honestly, I thought this was average at best. Mediocre at worst.

It gets quite tiring giving chances to the exact same kind of thing over and over again. What was it that they wanted to tell so badly that they had to do a new Batman for current generations? That Bruce was a jerk to his staff at some point? It doesn't even deviate from the original canon enough to be interesting, it's safe while feeling tampered enough to raise some eyebrows.

Sadly, episodes feel too short and too simplistic. There's no creativity, innovation or ambition. The last two should have been the beginning of the season (aside from the very last element of it), and the rest should have been better. Considering how Batman cuffs a villain to a small table's leg in a Museum and walks away.. it is not too much to ask for. The visuals are good enough, but might as well watch Timm's original work.

There is a popular misconception that Bruce W. Timm was the mastermind behind the classic Batman: The Animated Series and the whole of what became known as the DC Animated Universe, which also comprised of Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, The Zeta Project, Gotham Girls, Static Shock, Justice League, and Justice League: Unlimited...However, that is false. In actuality, there were several hands that crafted the series and its spin-offs over the years, the most influence Timm had on it all was his designs for the characters and the world around them. He is for certain a fan of the characters, but not quite the DC encyclopedia many had assumed he was, in fact, he found the whole of DC's heroes and villains to have been rather dull in as a youth and gravitated more towards Marvel when he was buying and reading comic books. In the years since the DCAU technically finished with the final episode of Justice League: Unlimited, the fan-concepted belief of him knowing exactly what is right for the iconic characters began to diminish, with some unimpressive animated features and television series that followed, and now more people have come to the conclusion that he is an over glorified cartoonist. Batman: Caped Crusader proves this quite well as Timm has been given more creative leeway than he had before and most of the people who were involved in Batman: The Animated Series and its continuations are absent, and the lack of quality really does make it clear what is missing.

It is not technically a bad series. The animation is generally nice, though lacking the atmosphere Batman: The Animated Series presented. The voice acting ranges from good to great, with Hamish Linklater doing a fairly good job at Batman and guests stars like Christina Ricci shining in the part of Catwoman. The stories are conceptually interesting but delivered between the lines of "okay" and "good enough", with sprinkles of unimaginative and flat action beats that don't leave enough impact. And if you are a purist in how these characters are to be traditionally portrayed in media, you will not be very satisfied by the results, and to a degree very upset.

Could've been great and could've worse. This is really an "in-betweener" sort of program, whether or not you are a fan of these characters.

As a Batman fan in all forms, it pains me to say this. Considering the talent and pedigree behind this version of Batman, it is easily the worst. 30 years after BTAS, you'd think they could do better than this. Stiff limited animation. At this point a more fluidly animated version is more than possible along the lines of a Blue Eye Samurai, but Netflix then Prime didn't want to spend the money or make the effort. Generic art design and pseudo-art deco design. It's not entirely clear what decade this is supposed to take place in. They took some of the best and most innovative ideas from BTAS and squandered them. Unnecessary character gender swaps and incoherent villain origins. We deserve better than this. Absolutely awful!

Horrible. I wanted to watch a Batman cartoon, but practically 60% of the screen time was devoted to Barbara Gordon and the other female detective, whose name I didn't even bother to remember. Batman did absolutely nothing in this show; it was the others who did everything, and he only showed up in the last 5 minutes to fight the villain.

While expanding the roles of supporting characters can add depth to a narrative, it shouldn't come at the expense of the hero that the audience came to see. Batman deserves better than to be a background character in his own show, and fans deserve a series that honors the legacy of the Dark Knight by putting him at the center of the action where he belongs.

That doesn't hold a candle to the original. Who asked for this? I don't think anyone did. Is it good overall? Nope, it is not even mediocre. Is the plot exciting? Nope, it is a snooze-fest and ridden with clichés. Are the characters intriguing? Nope, they are cardboard cut-outs. Is the animation well done at least? It's kind of meh. Is the new costume design better than was before? On the contrary. (Especially Harley Quinn's and Catwoman's.) The faces of Dent and Clayface are pretty badly drawn.

All of the villains are boring. The voice acting is horrible: they sound so differently than what you would expect by their looks.

They also had to infest it with their DIE-versity garbage (sex, color and weight changes) even though that doesn't add anything to the story but makes certain scenes laughable and questionable at the same time.

Conclusion: Binge it if you want to waste a couple of hours and you drank enough coffee to keep you from falling asleep.