I love Batman. He's always been my #2 hero right after Big Blue. This editorial is not only me talking about my most favorite and treasured CBM but it's also about a CBM that I noticed has been portrayed negatively on this site. So I'd like to clear up a lot of the confusions and or concerns about this film.
BATMAN RETURNS
Yes, yes I know the common complaints on here I've heard were how people didn't like the change to Penguin and his origin...nor the change to Selina Kyle and I know people complained that Penguin was too "sick" or "disgusting" one person actually commented one time that Burton combined Penguin with Killer Croc and that that was a big mistake.
Well to be honest...I actually LIKED the changes made to Penguin. Look I'm usually a traditionalist Batman-fan. But the old Penguin never seemed all that interesting to me, it wasn't until Burton re-imagined the character that I really actually LOVED it! Kids were supposedly scared of the way Penguin looked...but as a kid I thought it was REALLY COOL! I remember i had all the Batman Returns merchandise- toys, sleeping bags, video games etc-
As for Penguin...
let's compare shall we? ...
Yeah I think the choice is obvious. Danny DeVito was a GREAT Penguin- disgusting, spewed up bile, he was perverted LOL and plus I loved the fact that he was more "Penguin than human"
As a child I can honestly say- Batman Returns was my all-time favorite Batman film and remains that way even to this very day. And yes it was still way better than 'The Dark Knight' in my honest opinion.
Penguin also had a lot more character depth in this film. You could actually understand him better and WHY he hated Gotham so much. He was abandoned by his parents for looking 'different'...raised in the sewers by penguins and that is where he spent all of his Christmases.
Batman Returns also had the best music I've ever heard in a CBM. Danny Elfman played the score to near PERFECTION. Up to the very last scene especially when Penguin is dying from heat exhaustion and is reaching for his umbrella to wage ONE FINAL ATTACK against Batman with his dying breath...he utters these words- "Shit! Picked the cute one...I'll murder you momentarily...but first I need a cold drink of ice water!"
Plus I loved what Penguin wore in that film...crazy looking baby type victorian GOTH clothing. Here's what i copied and pasted from wikipedia that describes PERFECTLY how Penguin looked and just WHY I thought he looked sooo cool!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_(comics)
"His hands were now flippers, with a thumb and index finger, and the remaining three fingers fused together. An unidentified thick, dark green bile-like liquid sometimes trickled from his nose and mouth. Instead of a tuxedo, he wore a more gothic, Victorian-style outfit, with a jabot as opposed to a bow tie. Other instances show him in black boots, a dickey, and something akin to a child's blanket sleeper, or the old long john-style underwear of the 1800s (also known as a union suit). However, Burton's design maintained the top hat seen in the comics, along with a monocle and a cigarette in some scenes. In the film, the Penguin is born disfigured and his wealthy parents throw him into Gotham's sewers. The child survives, floating down Gotham's sewers and under the city zoo, where he is taken in by a group of penguins and later joins a circus freak show. While researching the Penguin, Batman speculates that the Penguin was responsible for the disappearance (and implied murder) of several children during his time in the circus freak show"
That is just AWESOME. I know lots of kids at that time were afraid of Penguin and the way Burton re-imagined him but as a kid...I [frick]ING LOVED IT!
Please watch this video, it describes it all in grave detail!
Another common complaint is that in this film and the one prior- Batman89, Batman would KILL his enemies. Well, I know Batman doesn't kill in the comics and heck he doesn't even want to use guns because his parents were gunned down. But let's look at this in a REALISTIC scenario...if YOU were surrounded by thugs and freaks who wanted to HURT and KILL you...wouldn't you kill them? Obvious answer is HELL YES. Putting the comics separate from the films it is easy to see why Batman killed. Plus in the early comics he did kill and even used a...oh what do ya know- a GUN. Plus he didn't kill Joker, Joker was weighed down by a gargoyle from the bat-grappling hook and Penguin simply died of heat over-exposure from the flames in his sewer dwelling.
Now on to Catwoman...
Michelle Pfeiffer was THE BEST Catwoman ever. Her costume...her attitude...loved the realistic and darker look of her costume with the stitches and everything.
This was the greatest villain-alliance I've ever seen in a CBM.
So on an ending note- The action, the dark tone/mood of the film, the villains...the MUSIC by Mr. Danny Elfman all of it just worked so well together. And of course the TRUE Batman himself-
MICHAEL KEATON
Among many scenes in the film, this was one of my favorites!
One thing I wanted to see in the first 2 Burton Batman films were these two teaming up...too bad Joker died in the first film ;P
I'd also like you all to think about something really fast. Who was the REAL villain in this film? Penguin? Who only wanted loving parents and to be accepted by society? Or Catwoman? Who was a hard-working woman, treated like shit then killed by her own boss? Or...Max Shreck...the man who single-handedly orchestrated the entire plot of this film. The man who used Penguin and of course CREATED Catwoman.
Max Shreck was the REAL villain in this movie and that's the twist I loved so much. Penguin and Catwoman were his pawns in a way.
BATMAN RETURNS