Gotham Zoo Tycoon

Rating: 6/10 (11 March 2020)

"Batman Returns" is an American movie from 1992 that runs for slightly over 2 hours and is moving closer to its 30th anniversary. It was the second collaboration between director Tim Burton and lead actor Michael Keaton, well actually they have more collaborations, but their second Batman movie. Two other Batman films followed with other directors and leads, but they received a far worse reception than Burton's and Keaton's combined efforts from the early 1990s. But besides Keaton, you will find many other really talented actors in here, such as Oscar winner Christopher Walken. Now I really had to laugh when I saw him the first time here, mostly because of his hair. He plays Max Shreck (not vampire-related) and is maybe the only character who is an antagonist from beginning to end, even if he likes to act as if he was a benefactor and only had the best for Gotham on his mind. But at the end of the film, the only thing he cared for is probably his son as he tried all he could to switch places when his young man is taken hostage by the Penguin. Oh and what a last shot of Walken's character('s corpse). Pretty scary. But also very Burton. Okay I just mentioned the Penguin. Now Catwoman in here may also be a tragic character, but nothing tops the Penguin's tragedy, especially looking at what we find out happened to him as a baby. I liked the parallel between how he is thrown down from the bridge and it is the very same bridge that he jumps from eventually when his plan to have a career as a politician is not working out. He may be bad and a psychopath, but he is also used by Shreck. And then thrown away again. And the fact that he is a psychopath also has a lot to do with what happened to him early on. It is impossible to say what he is doing next. Like when he is treated as inferior by Shreck's two assistants, he bites off basically the man's nose and is lusting over the woman. He may indeed be more of an animal than a human. This is also confirmed by the ending, no his ending, when all his human helpers vanish, but the penguins show up and pay him a last salute. This was honestly almost touching and deep there and once again you can only feel sorry for the Penguin somehow. Sure he contributed to his misery, but he did not create it. It may sound a bit pathetic, but he just wanted to be loved. And I am pretty sure that the search for his parents was not a tactical plan, but he really wanted to know who they were and what happened to them. And even there he suffers a setback because they are both deceased. All he gets is his real name: Oswald Cobblepot. This is also a crucial factor because of how he says that he is not the Penguin, but he is O.C. and finally the other way around when all is lost again. Also pay attention to how this film takes place during the Christmas holidays, before Christmas Eve, and there is snow and ice everywhere, not just down there in the Penguin's hideout, but also up there in Gotham. Certainly a link to this antagonist. Also there is cold weather when his parents get rid of him at the very start and he is "adopted" by the penguins. But why oh why are there so many penguins in Gotham's sewers? Now that surprised me a bit. We could have gotten a rat antagonist by realistic standards otherwise. In any case, I thought that DeVito did a magnificent job here and he should have been nominated for an Oscar, not worse than Nicholson in the first film. In general, he should have gotten much more awards recognition and honestly, if there is anything that disqualifies the Razzies, then it is them saying DeVito was bad. It was a really challenging role and for good reason Nolan never touched the Penguin character. Nobody could have played this better than Danny DeVito and I say this although I am not even as much of a DDV fan anymore as I was years ago.
Okay I already mentioned that he was really a penguin more than a human and there is a second animal character here, who is more animal than human too eventually. I am of course speaking of Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman. She may be antagonistic too at times, but there is also a connection between her and Batman, or rather between their two human forms you could say. That would be more accurate. Now her transformation after Shreck pushes her out of the window is one that reminded me a bit of Spider-Man's. She is dead apparently, but brought back to life by all the cats coming to the occasion, walking over her body, biting her and somehow giving her cat DNA this way and she lives again and has nine lives apparently from that moment on. Or only 8 left. I think they overused this nine lives reference a bit eventually with the several gunshots from Shreck's firearm there. Fantasy does not equal superstition. Anyway, after seeing this film last night (first time on the big screen), I must say I liked Pfeiffer's turn and character more (in the sense I found her more interesting) than the first time I watched the film years ago. Also pay attention to how she falls through a big comic book style cat image before she is resurrected. I guess those cats wanted to give back to her because she cared so much for her own cat before that. She also gets the final reference of the film with the other two antagonists dead as Batman sees her briefly and picks up a stray cat. Was it Selina's own cat? Maybe. My idea there was that they wanted to imply that she no longer lived in her apartment, has become a part of the streets now, a stray cat herself if you want to say so, and she cannot take care of her cat anymore because of that. But there were also weak moments related to Catwoman here and I totally do not see her (or Pfeiffer) as the sex icon many do. The scene when she returns from the dead and shocks Shreck is pretty embarrassing. 3 bad moments there. The dialogue in front of the elevator with Wayne, how Wayne is stupid enough to say he knew her already and briefly afterwards also how Shreck is not even scared of admitting to his son he killed her earlier, although maybe the son did not even understand his dad meant it literally because obviously she still exists. But ih he admitted it all, it is nonsense. I mean the two are close, but still... Also the scene later on Kyle and Wayne find out about each other's identity with this particular quote is pseudo important and poorly executed, already the lead-up too with them speaking about losing their masks. The simpler moments where better here like when Catwoman is about to eat the bird. In another scene, Penguin eats the fish. Another piece of evidence of how both have become animals pretty much, even if Catwoman swallows it, but only to save the cat from Penguin.
You can see this is a Tim Burton film and not Christopher Nolan. There is some (subtle) comedy in here on many occasions. Like how the really dumb girl is abducted and killed too I think. Or the entire idea of the penguin army going out to destroy Gotham and kill everybody. It was dangerous, but also somewhat funny because of how absurd it all was. By the way, what was up with the idea of turning the Batmobile into a bomb? That was so random and luckily quickly forgotten. Pay attention to the parallel how Penguin tries to frame Batman and make him look evil, but it goes wrong and when Batman does it the other way around, it works out when we hear the evil words from Penguin. Okay, a few minor references now that caught my attention. There is not a great deal of violence in here, or I should say bloodshed. Even when people (or the Penguin himself) fire with automatic guns into crowds, it seems nobody is really hit/hurt and everybody quickly gets up again. Until close to the end when Penguins shoots his helper who dares to disagree with him. And that shows how inhumane Penguin really was by then. And that was a pretty graphic shooting, how he sinks to the ground there, as if they waited for it and built up to it with all the "minor" violence. Tim Burton was never a filmmaker known for bloody massacres though and it shows here. This could have been a far more violent movie. Also the penguin's helpers, despite the use of the colors black and white, were mostly clowns that also could have been from the first film supporting the Joker. Or maybe not because they (except Schiavelli's character and the actor is once again so easy to recognize) were rather cult followers than criminals. Shreck is out for almost the entire second half of this film and there is more focus on Kyle's story there. But he returns at the end being a crucial essence of Catwoman's revenge, i.e. the main target. I loved the Penguin, but come on the story that he could really be considered a candidate for mayor is just absurd, only because people liked him and thought he has a good heart with how he wanted to find his parents. Oh there is a global warming mention in here, quite ahead of its time. I thought how Batman really found out about everything evil here, especially the penguin army attack, and managed to prevent it was really a bit fast and rushed and he looked too competent there. It did not feel too credible. They could have done a better job with regard to that. Still interesting how remote control was a factor there too like it was also with the Batmobile earlier. Okay, this would be all that comes to mind. It's enough I think. DeVito deserves 4 stars out of 5 and the film itself too during its best moments, but overall I say 3 out of 5 is pretty accurate. This deserves (even with how old it is) to be seen by many more than the 3 people (including myself) who were there during my showing. If you haven't, go for it. It is good quality and nice to see it received two Oscar nominations. Not undeserving. Oh yeah, as for the title of my review, there is so much here: penguins, cats, monkeys, bats (obviously) probably more. Animal kingdom. And again, why are there penguins in the sewers??? Haha okay I'll stop.