This movie is by far one of the worst super hero films ever, it's on par with Superman 4. Bruce Wayne just sits in his study waiting for the Bat Signal to call him (and what the heck is up with all those reflectors mounted on Wayne Manor? I guess the next time the house needs a roof repair the secrets out). Tim Burton has a way of making humanity look disgusting and he want way over the top in this stink fest. Here are some of the major issues. Batman punches through the floorboards of the almost indestructible Batmobile. He easily rips through his bullet proof outfit to, yet again, reveal his secret identity (and notice the lack of black eye makeup). I don't know what to say about the penguins other than WTF?!?! And a secretary who gets thrown out of a window, gets bitten by cats, and suddenly has the ability to perform acrobatics, is a great fighter, and is a master with a bull whip. This movie was supposed to come out at Christmas time, but in need of serious reediting in order to make it look like something beyond the level of a 3rd grader with a camcorder it was pushed to the following summer. They should have worked a little harder.

This movie was not a Batman movie. It was Tim Burton fixing something that was never broken. Thank God Batman Begins came out to show the world how Batman should be done. Realistically and serious.

Spoilers

My brother woke me up out of a much-deserved nap to tell me how great this movie was and that I should go see it immediately. And by that he meant at the theater. When I finally did, I waited until 2:00 in the morning to call him up and tell him at length how much it blew. Penguins for pall bearers? I have never taken my brother seriously as a movie critic since then. Any time he says, "Trust me," I bring up this movie and throw it in his face.

And do they have to kill off the villains in EVERY Batman movie? Go rent the Batman movie with Adam West where they dehydrate the United Nations guys. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060153/

It's better. Oh, can't find it? That should tell you how good Batman Returns is. Blegh!

That's the question I kept asking myself after I finished watching this film. I know I'll be stepping on many peoples' toes by writing this review. I know a lot of people loved this film when it was released in '92, and I know a lot of people still love the film to this day. However, I'd like to ask all those people to keep an open mind, and to try to see this from my perspective. I never liked this movie! Not even after I first saw it. I wanna put all of you in my shoes: Your eight years old, Batman comes out, you go see it, and afterwords, you're blown away by its sheer greatness. Shortly after, a sequel is announced, and you're ecstatic! You can't wait for it, you expect it to be all that the previous film was and more, then, a few years pass, the film comes out, you see it, and its a complete dud! That's exactly how I felt when I saw Batman Returns. Batman Returns didn't even feel like it was in the same series as Batman! Where as Batman was exciting and fun, Batman Returns was dreary and depressing. None of the villains were charismatic, or fun to watch like Nicholson's Joker, they were all one dimensional and had no motivations! Keaton still plays Batman fairly well, but nothing at all is done with his Bruce Wayne persona. Which in and of itself, presents a huge problem when a semi love interest is interjected into the film. As with Kim Basinger's Vicki Vale, Michelle Pfeiffer does a decent job with what she's given, but that's the problem with her character. You don't know what kind of person Selina Kyle really is, and we have no idea what her agenda is as Catwoman. Why does she want Penguin to frame Batman? We don't know and we never find out. The Biggest problem of the film however, is Danny Devito as The Penguin. Aside from the fact that he rides around in a motorized rubber duck, and that the image of his army of rocket pack penguins is the most unintentionally hilarious thing I've ever seen, The Penguin has to be one of the most poorly done comic book villains ever! The problem is, that The Penguin is done in such an inconsistent way. One minute Tim Burton wants us all to feel sorry for him, and then the next, he wants us all to detest him as the evil villain. As for my experience with the film: It didn't leave me in a good mood or hungry for more, as the first film did. It left me feeling dreary, sick, and empty. For me, going from Batman to Batman Returns felt like chasing Champagne with sewer water. The first drink was great, but the second just left a bad taste in my mouth.

I enjoy watching movies when I'm high. As 'The Dark Knight' came close to theaters I decided to watch Tim Burton's 'Batman Returns' to hype my anticipation. What a waste of a Joint that was. This movie made me almost fall asleep. It was just too boring. As a loyal fan to the comics I absolutely refuse to believe that was the Penguin on screen. Killer Croc is more like it. Burton's version of the Penguin consist of a sewer mutant deformed freak who was raised and yes - educated by NAZI penguins with Rocket Launchers on his back. After the Penguins changing his diapers, feeding him and teaching him how to talk proper English grammar he rises from the Sewer to try and become Mayor of Gotham City. Sounds like a comedy? it's not. it's a movie that tries too hard to be serious. Things only get worst when Selina Kyle falls to her death out of a window and becomes the menacing 'Catwoman' after being half aten by Cats. It takes at least 20 minutes in between takes to see the hero of the story (Batman - In case you were wondering). This movie doesn't really have much of a plot. If you want to see it I'm not going to stop you. But don't say I didn't warn you.

Goodness me! I've never seen anything more grotesque than this aberration of a movie. They should have called it Penguin's Hour rather than Batman Returns. If Burton was trying to force people into vomiting, he could not have done a better job. An army of penguins with machine guns, o please! A sexually frustrated woman who is pushed out of a window, dies, is revived by cats and then becomes a maniac terrorist with no purpose or aim but being not just evil but incredibly annoying. Batman hardly ever appears and when he does, he makes no better impression than the revolting villains who are no better than sewerage rats.

It is beyond a doubt the worst movie ever made and should have been long forgotten and put into the same category as a cheap, nasty, horror and plot less freak. Don't wast your precious time with this piece of trash. I give this film one star because I am not allowed to give none.

Ever wonder why Burton was fired from the Batfilms? Watch this cinematic abortion. A penguin that drips chocolate syrup out his nose and eats raw fish. A "circus gang" that's campier than anything Adam West ever conceived of. A poodle lady and a batarang fetching poodle. Is Batman in this? Oh yeah, for like two seconds. Except this Batman is the worst hand to hand fighter in history...so he has to stick bombs down fat guys pants. An overly bizarre, pretentious script and storyline...that has no reason to be pretentious because it's about the most convoluted piece of hack-dom ever.

Michele Pfeiffer and the score were good...but not enough to save this movie. Keaton's sullen, middle-aged, nerdy Bruce Wayne is awful. At least Schumacher gives us a millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, and a Batman that can fight in the follow up to Burton/Keaton's garbage film. Well, at lease I think it's garbage. If you like ridiculous puppet-Penguin pallbearers...yes, puppet penguin pallbearers...you might think this the greatest thing ever made.

Other then the disastrous Batman And Robin, this movie takes the cake. Batman is yet again just a secondary character to the villains, getting as much time as The Scarecrow did in Batman Begins. In this movie, dumb-witted Tim Burton re-designed the Penguin. He portrayed him very simular to the villain Killer Croc. The Penguin, instead of being a Rich, snobby Nightclub and casino owner, who often supplies Batman with information was turned into a sewer mutant freak puking black and white mucus from his mouth, with feces on his pajamas. Raised and learned English grammar by a bunch of NAZI marching penguins with rocket launchers on their backs who tries running for mayor. While Selina Kyle is pushed out of a window, killed brought back to life by a bunch of cats trying to eat her and becomes Catwoman. But in the comics Catwoman is an ally. Just a sneeky thief. Burton portrayed her as a terrorist. Blowing up buildings and killing everyone in her path. There was no use for even Batman being in this film, he was portrayed as a psycho murderer, Killing petty thugs in his twenty minute cameo scenes. It had no plot at all and was just overly dumb.

I don't think I've seen this all the way through since it was in theaters when I was 13. I don't remember liking it much then, but I've long been thinking of re-watching it. It's developed a cult because of its excessive weirdness. It is that excessive weirdness that keeps it watchable. That, the awesome production design, Danny Elfman's score, and Christopher Walken. Without those elements, though, honestly, I don't know that this is all that much better than Batman & Robin (I'm not about to re-watch that one, but I did pick up Batman Forever on Blu Ray very cheap along with this - probably both will be a waste of money). If nothing else, it certainly plants a lot of the seeds that would grow into the monstrosity that was B&R. The script here is just awful, first and foremost. It's all just a mess, with all kinds of nutty crap thrown on the screen for little to no reason. It's terribly grotesque. Penguin isn't a rich man in a tuxedo, he's a mutant, and Catwoman is a zombie. It has a really dirty sexual streak. It gets really gross watching Danny DeVito perv all over everyone. It's chock full of terrible one-liners that sound awful even coming out of Michelle Pfeiffer. Batman is more or less forgotten for most of the film. Even when it's being aggressively weird, it's mostly boring. Walken really livens up the film whenever he appears - his murder of Selina Kyle is by far the highlight of the film. It's a shame he disappears for a long stretch in the second half. The first Burton Batman holds up pretty well. This one, not so much.

I watched this movie when I was a boy and I watched it again in these days because of the success of "The dark knight". I think Tim Burton has a great merit in some readings (the bat suit, the vehicle) of the batman character but he was too occupied with giving us his dark vision of the world and human relationships that he forgot the character itself and principle ones. Jim Gordon, always present in the comic book, is restricted as an appearance and the English humor of Alfred, like his very important role as MD, vanished. Yes, you can say that the penguin (Danny Devito) and catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) do their dirty job in egregious way but even the role of the villains is overtaken by the enforcedly dark atmosphere that you can breath everywhere. Not thinking about the physical capabilities of Michael Keaton, Bruce Waine is a lone wolf but he has a public figure of playboy and crazy rich boy. In this movie There isn't any difference between Bruce Wayne and Batwan, suit apart. However there are amazing visual effects, considering the age, and the photography is excellent. Five on ten stars. Giuliano Cicolini

This time around, Tim Burton messed up. With Michael Keaton returning to the title role of Batman, and adding Michele Pfieffer as the Cat Woman and Danny DeVito as the Penguin, you would think that this coupled with the hype from the first movie would be enough to propel this movie into the stratosphere. Well, in my opinion, you will find yourself being disappointed. While Michele Pfieffer is as sexy as could be in a sleek, tight, all leather black suit, Danny DeVito strikes out as the least scary villain Penguin. This movie is a big disappointment to the Batman saga, and should be forgotten.

Top of the list for worst movies. I don't know why these early Batman movies had our hero fighting two villains at once (actually three if you want to count Max Schreck). In my humble opinion, just fighting either the Catwoman alone or the Penguin alone would have had a tighter dramatic structure. However, watching a flock of penguins waddling around with missiles strapped to their backs, supposedly a threat to the citizens Gotham City, was unintentionally one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen.

I remember when "Batman Returns" was released in the summer of 1992. The notices weren't overly positive. After seeing the film at the cinema, it isn't difficult to understand why. "Batman Returns" was issued straight onto video after the box office takings were disappointing. I was glad to see Michael Keaton, Michael Gough and Pat Hingle again and Danny DeVito was a reasonably effective Penguin villain. The film's drawbacks, are that the script is pretty moronic and the film sets are too restricted in that they are all within the confines of soundstages instead of being on location. The whole film looks artificial. Tim Burton's direction is good but it's hampered by the production values. Michael Keaton is less business-like this time as the Caped Crusader and that annoyed me. Michelle Pfeiffer is irritating more than alluring as Catwoman. She can't hold a candle to Julie Newmar's unique portrayal. Christopher Walken is over the top as business tycoon Max Schreck. There are some good action scenes which go some way toward redeeming "Batman Returns" but the negatives outweigh the positives for me.

Out of all the Bat-films, Batman Returns is my favorite. This beautiful, dark, and funny film is one of Tim Burton's best work. Although it is much violent and darker, this is the Batman that creator Bob Kane envisioned many years ago. Michael Keaton reprises his role as the avenger of Gotham City. This time he's up against two deadly foes, Danny Devito's Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman. With a great cast and film score by Danny Elfman, the movie takes us on an adventure as Batman battles the evil forces that are trying to take over Gotham City. Christopher Walken makes a great appearance as Max Shrek, a shrewd businessman who has an evil scheme up his sleeve. But of course, Michelle Pfeiffer is the one that steals the show. With all of these components, you have a film that will blow you away. This is the reason why you go to the movies. It's got everything. It's really a shame that Tim Burton didn't get to direct the other sequels. If so I think the franchise would still be going strong today. Batman Returns is an awesome experience for fans that like cool movies.

Tim Burton's follow-up to his own 1989 hit "Batman" has Michael Keaton returning as reclusive millionaire Bruce Wayne who doubles as crime-fighter Batman; here, Gotham City is in the middle of a political shakedown, as former circus freak/now celebrity extraordinaire Oswald Cobblepot (a.k.a. The Penguin) has teamed with business tycoon Max Shreck into persuading the residents that he should be the next mayor (apparently no one has noticed the Penguin's henchmen terrorizing all the small businesses on Gotham's mean streets). Meanwhile, Shreck's secretary has learned too much and is pushed from a high window--her life is saved by mystical alley cats and she emerges with a new identity, Catwoman, but with no discernible agenda of her own. This overstuffed live-action comic book adventure features lots of dumb-funny double entendres and the overused plot-device of having the number one crime-fighter look like a dupe at the hands of the villains (they even manage to rewire the Batmobile so that it mows down pedestrians!). However, the picture has drive and imagination to spare, and for about an hour it's a fun ride. Still, Burton's wintry atmosphere and bleak vision of the City as Hell becomes wearing, and by the finale nearly all the juice has leaked from this vehicle. ** from ****

I have really never seen a film that is worse than this. There is one improbable situation after another and nothing is thought out to make any sense. It looked to me like the makers of this film figured that they had a gold mine on their hands and because the first made a ton of money, they could make a quickie film that has no concern for detail, plot, characterization, direction, script, stunts or anything that makes a film entertaining.

The film looks like it was filmed on a sound stage and you can tell because when it is supposed to be below zero outside, there is no mist coming from the breath of the people in the scene. And that is only one small complaint. The biggest one is that this film suffers from what I like to call the respected man is suddenly a bad guy syndrome.

Batman is a respected, hard working, guardian angel in Gotham City. He has been like that for a while now. Suddenly a shady figure that is grotesque looking and walks like a Penguin enters the picture. Within days of his arrival on the scene, not only has the penguin miraculously discredited Batman but he has managed to get the entire city against him. He has been ostracized from public safety and this leaves the Penguin alone to do his diabolical plans.

Is this the best they can come up with? I mean, aren't writers smarter than that? Can't they write a better way for the Penguin to do what he does? I really hate this movie. With all that I am, I hate it. But it made a ton of money because kids love this crap and for the rest of us that want to see a good film and hope to God that this film will be a welcome distraction for two hours of our summer, are not only disappointed, we are disgusted. Avoid this movie at all costs.

I do not like this movie at all, actually hated it, and this is coming from a loyal Batman fan. Every time Tim Burton makes a movie he constantly tries to remind you that you're watching a "burton film" rather then just a movie, and for Batman Returns, it's just that. I stopped watching this after my love for "Mask Of The Phantasm" came to DVD. Batman is still a homicidal maniac who hasn't been locked up in Arkham yet, speaking of Arkham Aslyum, where is it? Burton just rathered to kill off the criminals rather then adding the influential mad house from the comics. Batman is yet again playing second fiddle to the villains, having the Dark Knight in only about 25 minutes of the movie. Anyways, I'll get to the point. There is a new nutjob running around Gotham...wait? in the sewers? Finally, Killer Croc is introduced to the movies. No, wait....that's not Croc...that's...the Penguin? Burton portrayed Oswald Cobblepot as a sewer mutant freak, with feces on his pajama bottoms, puking black and green mucus from his mouth with an army of penguins with rocket launchers on their backs, marching around the town like nazi soilders from the '40s. The Penguin has always been a sophisticated gentlemen, a rich greedy crimeboss and owns a local dance club. Oswald always only carried an umbrella with him because his father died of pneumonia when he was a kid, and his loving mother didn't want him to catch it. In Batman Returns, his parents hated him, disown him and threw him into a river. Catwoman was shown as a psychopathic terrorist, killing random strangers and blowing up everything in her path when she was thrown out of a window and revived when cats tried to eat her. This movie is poorly plotted. Burton disregards anything he sees in the comic book and makes it his version and to me; that is not the Batman I grew up to love.

Well, Danny Devito and Chris Walken are fun to watch but I can't think of another thing to say remotely complementary about this movie. Just dreadful. First off, there's tons of reviews on here praising this movie for being so dark. I don't get this at all. This is an updated version of the TV show in my opinion, all that awful "camp" is back. I've also noticed that most of the good reviews are from admitted Tim Burton lovers, something I make no claim to be. "Batman & Robin" is constantly maligned for being the downfall of this franchise (before Chris Nolan got his hands on it, of course), but this movie is just as bad as that one. I don't know, Burton's first Batman along with the two Nolan episodes are wonderful, but the other three ("Returns," "Forever," and "Robin") are just a waste of time. Maybe a 13 year old boy will fall for this crap, but the only adult fans I can imagine enjoying this film are those who will buy anything Burton does simply because it's Burton.

Born so deformed that even his parents don't want him, a young baby is hurled into the sewers of Gotham City in the hope that he will die. But, incredibly enough, he is taken in by some penguins who live right there in the sewers and grows up into a repulsive creature known as "the Penguin" (Danny DeVito). And his first action is to kidnap the wealthiest man in Gotham City by the name of "Max Shreck" (Christopher Walken) and blackmail him into helping him rediscover his roots--or at least that's what he wants people to believe. But Max isn't the type who is easily controlled and instead attempts to manipulate him for his own evil schemes instead. At the same time Max Shreck's secretary "Selena Kyle" (Michelle Pfeiffer) happens to stumble upon a secret file that Max has which details an illegal scheme he is planning and she ends up being thrown out of a skyscraper to her apparent death. But she is somehow revived by some stray cats and having now gone totally insane decides to take her revenge upon Max as a costumed villainess called "the Catwoman". Needless to say, Gotham City isn't big enough for 3 such villains and it's up to "Batman" (Michael Keaton) to somehow save Gotham City from all of them. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that a dark and gloomy atmosphere is almost a prerequisite for a "Batman movie". However, this film probably went a bit too far in that department—and it got even more dark and gloomy the further on it went. Additionally, I didn't especially care for the rather bizarre ending either. Those issues aside, I thought all of the actors just mentioned performed credibly enough with Danny DeVito probably standing out the most in my opinion. Likewise, although I still believe Julie Newmar was the best actress to ever be cast as "Catwoman", I must admit that Michelle Pfeiffer wasn't too bad. But that's just my opinion. In any case, given all of the previously mentioned good and bad points I have rated this movie accordingly. Slightly above average.

Following the success of 1989's 'Batman', Tim Burton and Michael Keaton released a second movie in the franchise: Batman Returns. Gotham City retains the Gothic look of the first film, only this time the city is in the midst of an icy winter punctuated by the arrival of two new villains on the scene: Catwoman and the Penguin.

As a kid I loved this movie and the original Tim Burton 'Batman' movie, however after re-watching it over a decade later it doesn't quite hold up as well as I wished it would have. Part of this reason is the fact that Batman seems almost external to this plot which revolves around Penguin (Danny DeVito), Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Gotham businessman Max Shreck (Christopher Walken). Batman (Michael Keaton) seems to only step in momentarily to throw a few punches before exiting back to Wayne Manor.

All four lead actors, especially Danny DeVito, deliver great performances in this movie, but it is a real shame that the scriptwriters chose to not continue the analysis into the Bruce Wayne/Batman psyche. Instead, we are left with a fairly routine 'bad guy trying to overthrow the city' story; the Penguin character was well developed, but the action scenes in the movie are nothing memorable. Another complaint is the lack of resolution that is given to the Penguin's attempts to turn Gotham city against Batman. Surely the mislead public would be angry at Batman for the crimes that they believe him to have committed, however the Bat-signal at the end of the film gives the impression that this is not the case.

On the positive side though, the movie has a great feel to it; from the visual appearance of the winter Gotham, through to Danny Elfman's musical score. You can't help but feel some of the special effects - computer and real-life - are a little outdated 13 years down the track though.

Overall, this childhood favourite of mine is worth a look and a film that I will revisit in the future, but upon reflection should have been better. I'm glad that the newly released 'Batman Begins' dives head first into the exploration of the Bruce Wayne/Batman characters that this film avoids.

2.5 stars / 5

Batman Returns is a perfect film to watch during the holiday season as the winter/Xmas atmosphere that Burton creates for Gotham City is wonderful. It's weird that Warner decided to release this as a summer film. It doesn't fit.

But what's even weirder, when you consider the content of this film, is that it was aimed at families. An upper-class family throws their mutant baby down the sewer, a socio-phobic billionaire dresses up in leather as a flying rodent, a lonely secretary has a mental breakdown and dresses up in leather as a feline, and said grown-up mutant baby freak runs for political office. Not to mention the S&M subtext that Tim Burton somehow managed to get away with. His eccentric visual style fits this film best, and is the height of his career, IMO.

This and the Dark Knight are the only true live-action incarnations of the comic-book character. True, Batman Returns is not as grown-up and serious as the Dark Knight, but it's a helluva lot atmospheric, and I just prefer the oddball character development here than in TDK. I rate them both equally, but scoring points on different levels.

Darker and more violent than the first movie, the sense of Gothic pathos reaches a new high. I was quite keen on Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne (don't even get me started on George Clooney!), he displayed the right balance of weirdo loner and cool crime fighter. Michelle Pfieffer is great as Catwoman (much sexier and more 'realisticly' cat-like), she wears that leather outfit better than Halle Berry. And Danny DeVito was so convincing as the Penguin that his scenes become disturbing to watch. Special mention must be made of Christopher Walken, who is brilliant as the spooky Max Shreck (if you think you recognise Chip Shrek it's none other than a very young Leatherface/Butterfinger).

Danny Elfman's score is also even better than it was first time round. His powerful and engaging themes are way better than the dross that followed in the later Schumacher movies. This movie is the Batman phenomenon at its Zenith. Forget the following sequels and stick to the animated series after this. Christopher Nolan brought integrity back to the series, but before Schumacher destroyed it, Burton gave the original series integrity too.

A great Xmas film, and my favorite Batman adventure.

If given a little bit more content, Tim Burton could've made something good out of this, but it's just paper thin. Where the first one had a lightness about it and had very good rhythm, action and fitting humor, this one is explosions, explosions, more explosions and totally stale moments where one is left wondering why he's watching at points.

It takes itself seriously, has far too little matter at its core, and one has quickly paid off the excitement of seeing the Penguin or Catwoman, then it's just more of the same and it lacks rhythm and is much too predictable, thin.

4/10.

This comment does have spoilers

Batman Returns has got to be the most overrated movie I have ever seen. One of the main reasons why I hate it is because of the animal cruelty. In the beginning, the Penguin is born and his parents lock him in a cage, 2 seconds later, you see a cute cat going past the cage and you see the Penguin grabbing it and killing it, you hear the cats screams and crying out. It was just horrible.

Then halfway through the film, Catwoman is working for the Penguin and she eats his canary. What was the point in that?

Don't see this film if you love animals, in fact don't see it anyway because of the bad acting, bad story and bad special effects.

In the first Tim Burton Batman movie, Jack Nicholson stole almost every scene he was in as The Joker, but the film was still very much about Batman.

Three years later, and Batman returned, but on the strength of this sequel, perhaps it would have been better if he had remained hidden away in his bat cave.

Nowhere near as much fun as his original, Tim Burton's follow up focuses less on the bat and more on the villains: the Penguin (Danny De Vito), who emerges from the sewers, ostensibly to discover who is parents were, but in reality, to wreak terror on the people of Gotham City, with a little help from unscrupulous industrialist Max Schreck (Christopher Walken). And Catwoman, psycho secretary Selina Kyle, who loses her marbles and turns nasty after being pushed out of a window by Schreck.

Michael Keaton, as Batman, hardly gets a look in.

As well as featuring not nearly enough of its hero, the film also suffers from an air of unrelenting grotesqueness (Burton going overboard on the freaky stuff), a really drab aesthetic (the winter setting leading to lots of dreary grey and blue visuals), and a boring plot in which the Penguin runs for mayor. At over two hours long, I felt my eyelids drooping a lot.

4/10, minus one point for Walken's crazy hair and the unconvincing mechanical penguins/men in penguin costumes, some of the Stan Winston Studio's worst work.

Undeniably weaker entry in the second installment of this series of films. The production values are still high, yet the execution came off weak. This is unfortunate, as BATMAN RETURNS had everything going for a worthwhile sequel. You had the stars...righto! You had Tim Burton...righto! You had the great supporting cast, musical score and those effects...righto! You had the screenplay...UH-OH....

The story really did come off as one long homily about not looking down on people that we perceive as different. I can relate and think that is fine, but not for the length of the movie. Besides, I'm not ready to start thinking that all six billion of us on the planet need to be told such lessons in such a heavy handed nature. The character development came off as trying to fit too much, in one setting. The Penguin's character, in trying to be scary, degenerated into camp and became an object of humor. To see Devito's character traipsing about the underground sewers of Gotham, in those colossal, filthy undies bemoaning the fact that folks find him less than desirable, came off as somewhat ludicrous. Also, a question popped into my head while viewing this. If he spent all his time in the sewer, how did he eat? I mean the guy is tremendously obese. Who fed him? Ed Norton from "The Honeymooners"? Also, I heard a rumor that penguins can be found in cold climates, like Antarctica, and generally not in our sewers. I realize this is supposed to be fantasy, yet let's not make simpletons out of the audience, please.

The only saving grace in the whole shebang is Pfeiffer's Catwoman character. She basically stole the show, and is by far the most interesting character. Michael Keaton is solid, but like Danny Devito, are anchored down by the limited, innocuous scope of the script.

A small smudge off the neighbor's hibachi could have saved Warner Brothers a lot of loot, and the audience a lot of pain. This movie is by no means a dud, it merely means that with the right factors going, BATMAN RETURNS had the potential for a great film, instead of a so-so one. Recommended only for diehard fans, others should be wary of this weak fare.

I'm not going to lie, it straight up baffles me that there are people who like this movie. It's upsetting, unsettling, and completely incoherent and nonsensical. Just as a movie. Even if Batman never existed before tim burton this would be. A. Bad. Movie. Sets and costumes are garish to look at, character motivations are unclear, actions are inconsistent and senseless, the script is completely void of logic, it's all just completely a Tim Burton fever dream that I couldn't wait to get out of.

But then if you consider the fact that Batman is a character that exists with a long history that this movie is meant to represent and the fact that this bears no resemblance to besides some loose cosmetic ties, it gets more upsetting. It's painfully obvious he doesn't give a single dry fart about the characters' histories. Batman is out here killing people left and right and revealing his secret identity to whoever, the Penguin is some weird sewer rapist monster raised by penguins. How does that work? How did he learn English?

And catwoman is some kind of zombie cat person. She's actually IDENTICAL to Hallie Berry's universally panned Catwoman and yet somehow she's widely loved and I don't get it. Every way I look at it Batman Returns and Catwoman are on equal footing, yet somehow Catwoman's average score is 3.3 and Batman Returns has an average score of 7.0 on imdb.

The only differences I can think of is Batman Returns came out in the dying embers of the 80s when trash was still cool and a lot of viewers didn't know any better, and Catwoman came out in 2004 post-Batman & Robin, post-9/11 when everyone was finally getting sick of bad superhero movies and acts of terrorism, 2. Hallie Berry is black 3. This time Catwoman was the star of her own movie. So whether this discrepancy is the result of nostalgia, racism, or misogyny, I'm not having it. This movie is hot garbage and it's time everyone realized it.

and look, I consider myself an optimist and I love to find the good in every person and every situation but there is NOTHING to like about this movie and if I ever see Tim Burton in real life I'm punching him in the face and not stopping until I'm in handcuffs. Please submit this as evidence and consider it a guilty plea.

I hated this movie as a child, I hate this movie as an adult and I will continue to hate it when I'm old, senile and remember nothing but the burning rage inside my heart.