reddragonhero17

At long last after many years of waiting the fans finally got the Batman movie they were waiting for. A Batman movie that puts the hero in the spotlight, not his enemies, putting more emphasis on his growth and internal struggles than the heroics. Forget about the Biff! Pow! Campiness of the 60's series or the tongue-in-cheek darkness of the Tim Burton movies, this one gets it right with the origins and more. We see our hero go through many painful stages before finally becoming Gotham's protector. As much as I loved Tim Burton's first take on Batman, this one expands upon it even more, and you get great actors to back it up like Michael Caine, Katie Holmes, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman in their roles and they play it straight not hamming it up here. Christian Bale is a strong contender for the role of the Caped Crusader bringing both torment and duty to his role. Throughout his character has to make difficult choices between vengeance and justice. The question is can he put everything together and save Gotham from a deadly menace? That remains for you to see.

I love watching old fantasy movies especially ones that have the wizardry of special FX wizard Ray Harryhausen. This doesn't have him doing the creature effects, but it adds to its charm factor. We do get the return of Nathan Juran at the helm of director plus the return of Kerwin Matthews and Torin Thatcher as hero and villain respectively. Thatcher obviously relishes playing the villain through and through. We do get some nice little set pieces for the fantasy and the makeup effects can be quite creepy. The creatures themselves, while not up to the realism of Harryhausen, they're more cartoonish and choppy, lacking the endearment of the creatures in 7th Voyage of Sinbad, but they're not so threatening for the youngsters. If there's any real flaws it's the writing, it just feels familiar to 7th Voyage. Otherwise, this is a good movie looking for a little Sunday adventure.

Adam Sandler is a comedian who is an acquired taste for many with his unique style of humor. Here his style fits him like a glove to a hand, a grown man-child with a hot temper but a heart of gold trying to save his grandmother from foreclosure. We follow him from an unlikely player with a bad temper to a likeable guy once he finds ways to control himself and build up with skill with good people including Carl Weathers as a golf legend to be his mentor. Of course the real fun and humor is his antics on the putting green and when they happen they're sure to get you laughing out loud! I won't reveal if Happy accomplishes his goal, but I will say that this will be one you'll want to return to time and time again!