The filmic glow-up from Batman (1989) to Batman Returns is incredible. As a longtime Batman fan excited to watch a classic, the '89 film did next to nothing for me. It was impossible to take Batman seriously, the acting felt poor from a few players, and Nicholson's Joker didn't make nearly as much of an impression as I expected--only toward the end did I feel like it was starting to juice up, and even then, he was not a defining performance/directing portrayal. Alfred was my favorite part, honestly. I found much less comic-like Batman films like Begins and The Batman to be better movies and better Batman movies than the '89 film, so famed for being so very "Batman". And then from the very start of Returns to the end, everything hit. The directing is always on and conveying the intended mood. Penguin, for all the obvious concept-portrayal issues that deserve interrogating, is a heightened vile tragedy. Catwoman is magnetically broken and Michelle Pfeiffer is doing a great job. Batman has gravitas, and the twisted fanciful visuals and comedy still slot into a bleaker film. It's a great live-action take on the comics' atmosphere and operatic tone, and it's one of those sequels that clicks everything together and totally outmodes the predecessor for me because the first film just didn't land it. I can happily watch Home Alone 2 and Batman Returns while never revisiting the first films.
I may have to revise my disdain for the news of a Monster High Skullector Batman Returns Catwoman doll now, because now I do have an attachment to the character despite still being wary of a pleather-everything doll from a non-horror franchise.
