What a pleasant surprise.

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2015)

I didn't really like the 1989 Batman movie much. Sure, Mike Keaton was awesome as Batman, but Jack Nicholson's Joker was way too over the top and silly for me to get any enjoyment out of it. Not to mention the complete disregard of the stellar comic-book character that Commissioner James Gordon is. I didn't like the angle of Joker killing Bruce's parents, and overall the movie was largely ineffective to me. It wasn't nearly as dark as it set out to be.
So I obviously go into this expecting mostly more of the same, right? I was half-wrong. Batman Returns is definitely as cheesy and over the top as the first movie, maybe even more. The only difference is, it accepts that and rolls with it. And director Tim Burton greatly succeeded in making this one just as dark and Gothic as its unbelievable madness. It's a balance, one that stays pretty consistent throughout the film.
Right off the 'bat', anyone with a brain can surely tell that the acting is greatly improved. Michael Keaton is still the same as Batman, and Michelle Pfeiffer flares it up with a stunning and surprisingly believable performance as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. Christopher Walken is pretty top-notch as his character Max Shreck, but the REAL star of the show here, is, of course, Oswald Cobblepot himself, Danny DeVito.
I gotta say, Danny did great with his role. He IS the Penguin, no doubt. This is a really different take on the character of Penguin, probably about as different as Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight. As different as it is, however, it is that much original, and a really entertaining and satisfying interpretation of the character. In my opinion, it was DeVito's Penguin that was the most interesting, as well as the most well-acted villain of Burton's two Batman movies.
However, the movie DOES have its flaws. Most of the action is pretty unbelievable, and overdone (starting to show some camp here, this is thin ice for the Burton/Schumacher difference). James Gordon is still gravely underused, but his persona wouldn't really fit with the tone of this movie I guess. Batman is still a murderous psycho, and isn't bound by any 'no-killing' rule. But given this movie's madness as it is, it didn't bother me as much as it did with the first one (I don't even think he kills in the first one, save for the Joker) There is a lot of sexual humor and I don't really think that sort of thing really fits with Batman, but it IS balanced by the grotesque and sometimes even gruesome imagery and violence. I just think this movie is a pretty hard PG-13. Even more so than The Dark Knight. Also, where did Billy Dee Williams' Harvey Dent run off to?
Overall, this movie caught me by surprise, I expected it to be a cheesy Batman movie, and I got exactly that, but a lot more FUN than I thought it would be. Something I really liked in the '89 Batman was the Danny Elfman soundtrack, which eventually even got carried over to the amazing Animated Series. I can truly say even the score was improved with this movie. It's a lot more Gothic and haunting, and I like it more.
8/10. Good comic-book movie, one not to be missed, watch it, especially for DeVito's Penguin.