Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Ask a group of people their opinions of the Batman movies as a collection and you might get almost as many different views as people giving them. I think that while not as good as the first, Batman Returns is better than the two that followed and is a terrific movie. I love the continuity of Keaton returning as Batman as well as some of the supporting cast coming back. Michelle Pfeiffer is amazing because of her acting performance and because she can reduce a man to a quivering, drooling zombie in that tight cat outfit of hers. Beauty and talent often go hand in hand in Hollywood, but Michelle has more than her fair share of both.

Danny DeVito does a good job with this incarnation of the Penguin. I have to commend his willingness to be so vile and disgusting, it sells the character. He was more high society in the books from what I remember with the tophat and tailcoat and all. While the movie version keeps those roots, his true natural habitat is lowest of low, he’s more animalistic than I’ve seen him before. While this is my favorite incarnation of him, though, he simply can’t match Joker’s personality and danger level.

Max manages to bend Penguin to his own purposes. If he'd tried that with Joker he might have found himself on the wrong end of a TNT whoopie coushin. Talk about laughing your butt off....

Christopher Walken doesn’t sell his role as well as I would have expected. Maybe the flat, forced personality is what he intended for the character, but I don’t find it very interesting.

The movie is as pleasantly dark as the first although the Christmas atmosphere and circus theme add a fairy-tale feel that doesn’t work as well in a Batman movie as it does other Tim Burton films. Perhaps they were just over done. Penguins (the animal not the character) as pallbearers don’t work, either. These little negatives don’t keep the movie from being good, but do keep it from reaching the level of its predecessor.

There are other elements that largely make up for the problems. Selina’s struggle with insanity is a great part of the story, and her dual relationship with Bruce Wayne and Batman is fittingly ironic for such an important character as Catwoman.

There is perhaps a little more action than the first. It’s exciting but nothing stunning. There is nothing too fancy in the effects department, the benefit of making a super hero movie about a guy that has no inherent powers like flying, which keeps everything looking realistic. Mostly, anyway. I thought the computer guided batarang was a bit too far-fetched.

Danny Elfman’s music is every bit as good as the first. It was one of the first soundtrack albums I ever bought, and I still greatly enjoy it. It’s catchy and easily recognizable building on familiar themes from the original but adding new tunes as well. The Siouxsie and the Banshees track is quite possibly the best song the group has ever done.

I never understood why this one didn’t fare better than it did. Maybe it was too dark, or maybe the darkness alongside the normally positive themes of Christmas and circus disturbed too many people. Was Penguin just too disgusting or his huge subterranean penguin and acrobatic armies too hard to swallow? It has its problems, but I still love the darker portrayal of Batman, the relatable humanity Keaton brings to the character while still keeping him super-heroic, the character layers of Selina/Catwoman, the struggles with duality, and the contrast of how Batman operates as a crime fighter and the limits he will not allow himself to go beyond.

Content:
A little bit of language and some violence particularly at the end. There’s some minor sexual innuendo and dialogue between Catwoman and both Batman and Penguin. It’s a mostly tame movie.

DVD:
As with the first movie the 2-disc DVD is extremely well done. All too often even successful sequels don’t get very good DVD treatment no matter how much attention is given to the first (Superman 2 for example has squat despite being popular). Batman Returns is loaded.

The cover is the classic image of Batman, Catwoman, and Penguin aligned vertically. The boarder, font, and colors form a continuity with the design of the first movie’s cover. Unfortunately, like the first, there is no insert which also means no chapter list.

The menus are also similar in design though with images specific to this movie. The menus aren’t very creative, but aren’t boring at least.

EXTRAS:
Disc 1 contains an original trailer and a commentary by Tim Burton. Tim is not a very good speaker, but it seems that he may finally be getting the hang of the commentary thing. This one is the best I’ve heard him do.

Most of the extras, as you might expect, are on disc 2. The main behind the scenes feature must have been a TV special originally. It has some great interview segments.

The Shadows of the Bat series continues from the first movie and is a behind the scenes feature that focuses on the people that made it happen. Some of it is the same as the TV special, but it is still worth watching.

Another group of behind the scenes videos look at the more technical aspects of making the movie: design, costumes, Penguin make-up, working with penguins, visual effects, and music. Each one is a separate video, but a play all feature ties them together.

There are character profiles that explore the history and motivations of key players: Batman, Alfred, Penguin, Catwoman, and Max Shreck. While it would have been easy for them to just copy the Batman profile from the first movie they instead made another one unique to this release. The get a pat on the back for the effort.

There is but one music video this time, but it’s the best song and the best video of any of the Batman releases. "Face to Face" by Siouxsie & the Banshees has a sound and visual style that fits perfectly with the gothic feel of Burton’s Batman. Prince’s songs work well enough in the movie itself (first movie, that is), but are weak when presented as singular works. I wonder what the first movie would have been like if we’d had music more like this. Later songs like "Kiss From a Rose" are good, but just can't quite match this one for tone.

Final Thoughts:
This movie may not be as good as its predecessor, but there was never any doubt in my mind that I wanted to own it. It’s a great movie given a worthy DVD treatment. Certainly worth an addition to anyone collecting Batman or super hero related releases, or fans of dark action movies. Despite it’s comparative measure to #1 (which got 5* out of me) I’m giving this one 5* also based partially on the effort put into the DVD release.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12