What begins as a dreary, foreign-language comedy (not funny) with no fantastic elements picks up after the first half-hour and turns into a crazy BATMAN rip-off, complete with cheesy action, even cheesier costumes, over-the-top acting and even song-and-dance routines! Yes, another movie strictly for cult film lovers, ALYAS BATMAN EN ROBIN is an oddity made on the cheap in the Philippines, where the occasional line is in English while the rest of the dialogue is in the Tagalog dialect - making for a very odd listening experience! As well as this, the numerous song-and-dance numbers are also in English, which makes a romantic number halfway through and the sing-along finale (complete with a midget Spiderman for good measure) real laughs.
Intended as a comedy, as is often the way with these movies, ALYAS BATMAN EN ROBIN is often unfunny when it tries to be so, but unintentionally funny when it does not. The cast is made up of Filipino comedians who wink and talk to the camera, and their enthusiasm - if not their skill - shines through. The so-called "comedy" highlights include a band of villains breaking into a bank to discover it's a blood bank (groan), and an episode in the "Batcave" where Batman shows off his collection of Bat-milk, Bat-tea, Bat-coffee and Bat-juice! Other humour includes a girl's bikini top getting torn off (just like in CARRY ON CAMPING), a jailbreak through the sewers and much snivelling, whining and maniacal laughter on the part of the guy playing the Joker, who you end up wanting to kill.
The very, very low budget makes it look like someone just took a cheap camera out into the back streets and began filming, which they probably did. Little imagination is displayed in the plot, which just has Batman and Robin fighting the Joker and the Penguin; with the latter getting captured and escaping over and over again. The costumes are true to the original television series and there are some nice touches, and the final hour of is nothing if not lively. My favourite scene is where a bank robbery turns into a song-and-dance number. ALYAS BATMAN EN ROBIN - real one-of-a-kind entertainment with lots of fun action!
