From Cat-Scratch to Kitty Litter & Flightless Birds of the Sewer

Rating: 3/10 (23 March 2008)

I get sick thinking about this movie. Really, seriously, legitimately sick to my stomach. It's either because it was really bad, or it had so much muck in it that cinema screens across America had to be scrubbed after showing it.
Actually, it's both.
This sequel to Tim Burton's groundbreaking 1989 version of "Batman" features the return of Michael Keaton as the Dark Knight. With Burton's trademark directorial style, there's bound to be some darkness. But not only darkness-- dankness as well! Danny DeVito, as the sewer-reared Penguin (there are penguins living in the sewer?), looks like an escapee from a low-budget toothpaste commercial. Michelle Pfeiffer, as the other villain, the kinky Catwoman, looks like she lost her way on the road to that elusive porn awards ceremony.
Even the Joker's tumble into a vat of green acid was pleasant compared to the sickening imagery of this movie. Beyond the look and unsavory feel, the film dreadfully wastes such talent as Burton, Keaton, and Christopher Walken (of course, he visits the bottom of the barrel quite frequently) on a much more nauseating re-tread of the exact same shtick.
The one main thing going for this movie is something it only acquired in 1997: the fact that it was nowhere near as bewilderingly awful as "Batman & Robin."