Everything that’s ridiculous about this film is 100% intentional, right down to Cesar Romero’s white Joker make-up that’s painted over his mustache. This comedy, made after the first season of the TV series, ages well for the exact same reason the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons age well. Kids enjoy the colorful characters while adults appreciate the humor. It’s full of the kind of fearlessly surreal gags that only seemed to come out of the 1960s. Among the memorable running jokes are how Robin (a perfectly straight-faced Burt Ward) always instantly solves even The Riddler’s most nonsensical puzzles (“What has yellow skin and writes?”, “A ballpoint banana!”) and how our heroes always escape certain death thanks to bizarre strokes of luck. At 105 minutes, the film is overlong what it is—a mere series of episodes in which The Joker, Catwoman, The Penguin, and The Riddler come up with insane plots to kill Batman—but it’s consistently funny.
Also, see this and hate the entertainment industry for their lousy treatment of the great Adam West. As Batman/Bruce Wayne, he’s hilarity on a stick. He’s a forbear to the stoic likes of Leslie Nielsen or Robert Stack when they started acting in comedies. Just about everything West says here is funny. Batman: The Movie actually achieves something that the later, more serious Batman movies don’t: It makes Batman the coolest character in the film. West is terrific here and it’s easy to imagine him reaching greater heights in good comedies beyond Batman if not for ruthless typecasting.