Premise: The Penguin takes over Gotham.
1989's Batman was an unbelievable success. It was behind only E.T. as the biggest movie of the 80s. It's blew away the opening weekend record at the time. It could not have been a bigger movie. Given that that success, Tim Burton was given all the freedom he wanted to make the sequel...and it shows.
I saw Batman Returns a ton as a young child when it first came to cable, but I last saw it now over 20 years ago. I needed a rewatch. Oh my god is this movie "full Burton". It's grotesque. It's weird. It's funny. It's silly. I would've loved to be in the room with Burton and the studio execs as he made this movie. I want to hear the studio notes and see the way that Burton shut them down. I can't believe he was able to make this movie this weird.
The style, score, and design are all back from the first movie. Everything else is amped up too. I'm amazed that he found a way to go bigger than Jack Nicholson playing The Joker. Danny DeVito is an inspired (if not obvious) pick for the Penguin. That guy is delighted to get as weird and disgusting as anyone asks him to be. Michelle Pfeiffer remains the best Catwoman. At the time, she was the opposite of casting Danny DeVito. She was known for being beautiful and glamorous, so it's such a thrill to see her so odd in this. Like any good Batman movie, Batman mostly falls to the background of this. Michael Keaton is fine in it. He's just asked to be way more serious than anyone else.
This is easily my favorite of the Pre-Nolan Batman movies. It's not the most action-packed and it's maybe a little too focused on all the things that could be turned into toys. However, it's a genuinely creepy and unsettling movie at times. Gotham is so visually striking, and it has my favorite villain pair. Part of me wonders what a third Burton Batman movie would've looked like. Or would that have pushed things too far?
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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