"Dear Penguin. The children regret they are unable to attend - Batman."

Rating: 7/10 (30 April 2010)

Having seen off the evil Joker, the Caped Crusader now has to deal with with two other deadly foes to keep Gotham City safe. The crazy mutant like Penguin and the power crazy megalomaniac in waiting Max Shreck. But wait, just who is this women dressed up like a cat? Friend or Foe? Seems the Dark Knight has a lot on his hands this Christmas.
In 1989 director Tim Burton rekindled the super hero genre for Warner Brothers with his take on Batman. Made for $35 million, recouping over that in its opening weekend, the film went on to make a Worldwide profit of over $375 million. The sequel of course was inevitable, as was the return of Burton, even if he dallied around trying to bluff that he would only return if a script was fresh and exciting. Sure enough, and with Burton getting the script he wanted from Daniel Waters, Batman Returns turned over a profit of over $185 million. Thus ensuring that further franchise instalments were to follow, even if, as it turned out, Burton didn't.
Batman Returns is more breezy than its predecessor, not in humour terms, but in action. In fact for a genre so steeped in sense of humour, Returns is surprisingly devoid of comedy. A charge of both Burton & Waters taking things a little too seriously is hard to argue against. But that's not to decry the good things that run abound in the film. Burton's trademark Gothics exist all told, and it has its darkness, both in themes and in actual visuals. All of course accompanied by a whirling Danny Elfman score. But what of the story itself? Well this perhaps would have been better served as being titled something along the lines of "The Penguin Cometh," for make no fish bones about it, this is the Penguin movie. Batman and Catwoman are in essence just playing henchman and henchwoman, with Max Shrek serving only as plot device that's saying the real villains of our world don't wear masks or costumes. A bold move by Burton to have the Penguin as the lead protagonist, one that financially paid off. But one that ultimately turned many away from revisits for its perceived un- family friendly being. Guilty as charged said Burton, it's his vision and he stands by it. Thus Batman Returns stands up as the most adult of the four Batman movies made in the modern wave from 1989 to 1997. Quite a feat when you consider the film is set during the bastion of all family holidays! Sadly what was to follow would be kiddie friendly fodder served up by Joel Schumacher-reaching a crushing and chronic nadir with Batman & Robin.
The cast are mostly excellent, Keaton does what he can in what is ultimately now a cog in a big wheel role. While Max Shreck gets to play Christopher Walken with relish and oratory menace (yes I did it on purpose). However, it's with Michell Pfeiffer's Catwoman & Danny Devito's Penguin that the film reaches its acting heights. Pfeiffer plays it mousey for Selina Kyle and then leaps at the chance to vamp it up as the delicious Catwoman. With a sultry miaow here and a tippy tappy skip there, this Cat is all in one sexy and very dangerous, something poor Bats is going to have to contend with. But it's DeVito's show all the way. Charged with having to follow Jack Nicholson's film stealing turn from the first film, DeVito immerses himself in the role of the pathetic, deformed, yet dangerously criminal Penguin. It's a monstrous creation fit to grace any modern day horror movie, with DeVito's physicality proving a necessity for the mutant flippered one who was raised in the sewers. If only Danny had been given more opportunities like this to show his talent.
There's many missteps in here too, though. Burton is no master of directing action, and some of the one liners shoe-horned in are poor and pointless. While the whole birth of Catwoman story arc just isn't explained in any way. In fact it's all a bit lazy in truth. Burton though, remains a film maker with his own visual flair, his layering of atmosphere as Gotham is on the brink of collapse is expertly crafted. He has stuff to say and he's going to have fun saying said stuff. Often frustrating he can be for sure, but always he carries a uniqueness into many of his films. Batman Returns is no different in that respect. 7/10