Batman Returns' 25th anniversary

[Grissom]

25 years...wow! It's a shame if WB does nothing to celebrate but I'm sure we'll get something. I'll celebrate in my own way and I'm sure every batfan will as well.

[johnnygobbs]

25 years...wow! It's a shame if WB does nothing to celebrate but I'm sure we'll get something. I'll celebrate in my own way and I'm sure every batfan will as well.

I'd love WB to release a special Making-Of Book, akin to what the publishers Titan did with Ghostbusters, Back to the Future and Labyrinth (albeit, they were all 30th anniversary books), but since they didn't do anything for Batman '89, I'm not holding my breath.

We should try to get interviews with people connected to the movie, no matter how small their part and contribution to the overall production.

The death of so many celebrities this last year makes me realise how limited the window can be when it comes to retrospective interviews.

[JokerMeThis]

Happy anniversary Batman Returns.

This year marks 20 years since I first saw it.

[Catwoman]

I feel so old. 25. A quarter century of quoting Selina, roleplaying the finale and other scenes, and not living in any fairytales lest I couldn't live with myself.

Damn.

[thecolorsblend]

As a fan, B89 is a far more vivid experience for me. My life was literally never the same after June 23, 1989.

But BR was significant because it marked the first time I kept an eye on a sequel from the time the announcement first came until opening day... which was a lot harder back in those days than it is now.

Burton took the character and the story in directions I hadn't been expecting. I could only conceptualize a sequel as something along the lines of B89 but with the Penguin and Catwoman replacing the Joker. That's not the film Burton made.

BR gets a lot of admiration for me for intentionally breaking the mold as it did and taking risks with the material. For comparison, Superman II (the regular version or Donner's) isn't too radical a departure from Superman: The Movie. It doesn't take much imagination to see the second as a pretty clear continuation of what came before.

But an alien who comes here from Mars and watches BR in a vacuum wouldn't necessarily assume something like B89 had preceded it.

My dad took me to see it on opening day... and came out of the theater a little freaked out by the S&M overtones of the movie. As for me though, BR may be the closest a Batman film gets to the horror genre in my life and I would cherish it for that reason alone but thankfully there are many reasons to love the movie.

25 years. I feel so old.

[The Dark Knight]

Basically, Batman Returns is The Penguin's movie. He's the main character. Some people would think this is a dirty thing to say, because in their mind it ceases to be a legitimate 'Batman' movie. But not for me. Because it all comes back to Batman. The Penguin was abandoned as a child and was raised by circus performers.

Batman was 'abandoned' by his parents after their murder, and was raised by Alfred. They were both lonely, and were broken down in various ways. One festered in their abandonment, and the other used it as a positive force. Both characters are driven by their childhood and it still dictates their future. The Penguin harboured deep resentment to society and always had a back up plan to destroy Gotham, but Max got in the way temporarily. He was distracted from his end game.

Batman lived on the edge - namely toasting the fire breather and detonating the strong man. But in a weird way, the messed up Selina brought him back from the edge. She was his beautiful distraction, just like Max distracted The Penguin. It wasn't a complete 360, but he was becoming a more refined person.

He was thought of in higher esteem, and this gave him a glimpse of what was possible. And he liked it. When the mask slipped, he automatically went back to being a violent animal. Because he literally had nothing left to lose. Batman evolved from that, as shown with his 'we're the same' speech with Selina. And in Batman Forever, even though it's not a pure Burton storyline, Batman continues with his more disciplined approach even though Catwoman leaves him. He doesn't say 'to hell with this'.

The Penguin went back to being the ultimate outcast. The Penguin became consumed by his hate and died alone as a freak. Batman would've realised this, and also how he could've very easily suffered the same fate.

[Wayne49]

As I posted on another thread, I was older then (27) than the movie is now. Want to feel old? That's how you get there. Returns gets the award from my personal collection as being the one film where my personal opinion has evolved the most. No, I never disliked the movie and aesthetically speaking it has always been my favorite looking movie in the franchise since the day I saw it in theaters newly released.

But this was a movie I think we can all agree easily caught you off guard on that first viewing. The first film had a flow and narrative to it that really didn't exist in this one. So the first time I watched it, my mind was trying to make it flow a certain way and the film kept pushing back in a different direction. The movie was so heavy in satire and metaphors, I left the theater thinking, " I missed allot of that movie." I was looking for something straight ahead when I needed to let this film come to me on its own terms. Not something you tend to do on a Batman product. At least not back then.

What fascinates me is how directors like Nolan don't seem to catch or appreciate the higher ambition Returns sought in this genre. Typically directors side with one another when one of them is working outside the box and has an established reputation for being a visionary artist. It's incredibly odd any of Burton's peers would take exception with this film. Oh well. The best part is the rest of world have mostly caught up with this film and appreciate the film for it's thoughtful approach and colorful reflections so cleverly conveyed.