The monstrous Penguin, who dwells in the sewers beneath Gotham, joins up with corrupt mayoral candidate Max Shreck to topple the Batman once and for all. But when Shreck's timid assistant Selina Kyle finds out, and Shreck tries to kill her, she's transformed into the sexy Catwoman. She teams up with the Penguin and Shreck to destroy Batman, but sparks fly unexpectedly when she confronts the caped crusader.
**Batman Returns overplays the comic book campiness of the decade and Burton's strange style but is balanced by astonishing performances and a more contained superhero story.**
Warner Bros was quick to begin production on a sequel to Batman (1989) after its colossal success literally saved the studio from bankruptcy. This time Tim Burton was given complete creative control over the entire film, and it shows. Batman Returns cranked up the campy weirdness that the studio had restrained in the first Batman. This film focuses on Danny DeVito's Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman over Batman, making Michael Keaton feel like the supporting cast to Pfeiffer and DeVito. As disappointing as that may sound, Pfeiffer took this over-the-top campy Catwoman and delivered a truly iconic performance, and DeVito performed much the same in his role. I appreciated Batman Returns avoiding the comic book movie trope of putting the entire world or whole sitting at stake. Instead, the story concentrates on corrupt businessmen and politicians avoiding giant sky beams. The climax risks a more significant part of the city, but it's still more localized than most comic book films. Batman Returns has its flaws, but the Christmas setting, the return of Michael Keaton to his career-defining role, and Pfeiffer and DeVito's incredible acting overcome the severe campiness and lack of Batman, resulting in a decent entry in the Dark Knight's 90s franchise.
Tim Burton's original Batman definitely deserved a worthy sequel. Unfortunately, this just doesn't cut it. Keaton's Batman deserved more grit and drama, not corny comical antics. It's worth a look, but keep your expectations low.
Michael Keaton returns as the caped crusader, but he doesn't actually feature so much as this story is dominated by the megalomaniac "Shreck" (Christopher Walken) and the even more bonkers "Oswald Cobblepot" (Danny DeVito). The latter man was dumped into the sewers by his parents when he was a baby because he resembled a penguin rather then a child. Brought up in the sewers by squillions of other penguins, he has now determined to enlist the help of the crooked entrepreneur "Shreck" to find his real parents. That doesn't go so well, but as he searches he discovers that he has a certain popularity with the ordinary citizens that "Shreck" thinks could make him mayoral material. Together they could unscrupulously manipulate the civic authorities and make even more money - assuming either can be trusted. There could be one fly in their ointment though, and that's the observant/nosey secretary "Selina" (Michelle Pfeiffer) - but he finds a way to dispose of her, only, well that doesn't quite work either and soon she is rejuvenated with a penchant for leather, somersaults and milk, lots of lovely milk. For reasons that did rather escape me, she allies with her former boss and his clawed friend and now we see more of "Batman" as he and his gadgets arrive in "Gotham" to save the day. Really this film belongs to DeVito as he waddles with a certain comedy menace throughout delivering some pithy double-entendres and gelling well with a Walken who reminded me more of the child catcher from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". Michael Gough provides a degree of stability as the butler "Alfred" and with Pfeiffer proving to be as acrobatic as she is acidic, this moves along entertainingly to a conclusion that is hardly a surprise, but that fits neatly into a mould we've come to expect from Tim Burton. It's also one of the earlier Hollywood examples of a film that takes a ping at pollution and industrial profligacy - only very thinly disguised under a bowler hat an is a worthy successor to Burton's original reboot from 1989.
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