alright as a movie, pathetic as a batman movie

Rating: 4/10 (9 September 2008)

First of all, Michael Keaton is NOT the person to pick to play Batman. Bruce Wayne is supposed to be the young, slick, playboy millionaire. Keaton is middle aged, ugly, balding, short, stocky and NOT slick or suave. Batman is supposed to be badass and menacing. He is a vigilante not the town mascot! He is disturbed and almost as much a problem for the cops as he is for the robbers. Most of all he is supposed to strike fear into his enemies. Keaton simply does not pull this off. He is short, stocky and looks like a kid trying on his dad's clothes when he puts on the suit. Combine that with his rigid movement and pathetic attempt at fighting and he can only succeed at making the criminals laugh.
Add to that the pathetic villains -we have the penguin and catwoman, neither of who seem very menacing at all and really pose little threat to Batman. Also, WTH is with the thousands of little penguins with rocketpacks?? I might like this movie if I was a pothead but otherwise the march of the penguins is just too cute for such a dark movie.
Burton's trademark dark visuals are really the only good thing about the movie. I always liked his representation of Gotham but this can't save a movie doomed from the get-go by bad casting/choice of villains.