Despite the controversies, this is the best live-action Batman movie.

Rating: 8/10 (26 April 2001)

Batman Returns was attacked by sponsors and parents for being "too dark". Indeed, it is the most grotesque and "adult" of the live action Batman movies. But, with the single exception of the short-lived Batman tv series, Batman has always been at his most popular when he has been portrayed as a dark avenger of the night. During his first year, as the cover hero on National Periodical's Detective Comics (from which DC Comics eventually took its name), he carried a gun and showed little compassion for villains, some of whom he would throw off of roofs. His background, with his parents being murdered in front of his eyes while a child; his single-minded obsession with avenging their death through a war on crime; and his environment (have you seen the whackos that populate Gotham's underworld?) lend themselves to film noir detective stories, and that's exactly what Batman Returns is.
Another complaint is the "mucking" with the Batman legend by changing the origins of both Catwoman and The Penguin. But, as I said in my review of the first Tim Burton Batman movie, even the comic books change various portions of the Batman legend every five to ten years. No one who is a true Batman fan can ever take seriously complaints that a given interpretation "changes" the Batman legend, because it has been changed so many times that there is no "official" version. Batman is a heroic archetype which has been interpreted in incredibly different ways by the various creators who have worked with him.
If your favorite Batman is the television show of the 1960's or the comics of the 1950's, then you almost certainly won't like this movie. But, if you prefer the original Bob Kane Batman from 1939, Denny O'Neil's Batman of the early 1970's, or Frank Miller's Batman writings in the 1980's, then you will love it.