Saturday Morning Cartoon: Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Mac here, once again acting in my purely unofficial capacity as TV Verdict’s self-declared “cartoon guy.” With another early Saturday a.m. look at the world of TV animation.

Remember last summer, when a bunch of people complained about The Dark Knight, saying that it was too dark and scary for little kids? Somebody at Cartoon Network must have been prescient enough to see this coming, because this weekend’s debut of Batman: The Brave and the Bold is the most kid-friendly take on the character I’ve ever seen – and that includes anything starring Ace the Bat-hound.

This isn’t just “Batman for kids,” this is “really watered down Batman for kids.” I actually have no problem with a lighter Batman – I grew up on a steady diet of Super Friends – but in this new series, there’s only Batman. There’s no Bruce Wayne in the pilot, and as such, there’s no Batcave, no Alfred, we only see Bats in his element, without any discussion of who he is or why he’s a crimefighter, etc.

The gimmick here is that this is a team-up show, with Batman working alongside a different DC Comics hero each week. In the pilot, we get a cameo by the young, pre-beard Green Arrow, and the young, modern-day continuity “scarab tech” Blue Beetle. Previews for upcoming episodes show a return to TV for Plastic Man, and rumor has it that Wildcat, Fire and – brace yourselves, Entourage fans – Aquaman will make appearances in upcoming weeks.

Have I become too jaded by my enjoyment of Tim Burton’s and Christopher Nolan’s versions of the character? I’m going to say no. Like I said, I’m totally on board with the idea of a humorous, lighthearted Batman. This is something less than that, though. This is bland, generic Batman. He’s got the cape and the gadgets, but not a lot of personality. He instructs Blue Beetle on what it means to be a hero, and there’s a little internal monologue about how much he values his friendship with Green Arrow. Batman is just this unstoppable always-does-the-right-thing hero that the other heroes all look up to. It’s like Batman is just reading all of Superman’s lines. As for Blue Beetle and Green Arrow, they were just stuck doing Robin’s old shtick.

Yes, I know the target audience here is the barely-out-of-diapers crowd, so we’re not going to have Bruce breaking down in front of his parents’ graves or the Joker acid-burning smiles onto his victims’ faces. But just because this is a kid-based show, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have interesting plots, character development and the like. Ben 10: Alien Force, which aired a new episode on the same night as Brave and the Bold , attained the same “lighthearted superhero adventure” thing, but it did so with a lot of nice character moments and interaction, something I felt was lacking in this new Batman.

So is there anything here I did enjoy? The animation looks great, achieving a nice “retro” look, with a lot of smooth movements and bright colors. Also, if your show is a comedic Batman, then casting Diedrich Bader of The Drew Carey Show and Napoleon Dynamite as Batman is a great choice. Bow to your sensei!

Overall, though, I watched Batman: The Brave and the Bold’s premiere focused on how great the episode could have been, instead of how great it is. Here’s hoping it will improve over time. (And I dare them to do a Bat-mite episode.)