Batman Returns (1992)
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 64
Fresh: 52 | Rotten: 12
Director Tim Burton's dark, brooding atmosphere, Michael Keaton's work as the tormented hero, and the flawless casting of Danny DeVito as The Penguin and Christopher Walken as, well, Christopher Walken make the sequel better than the first.
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Critic Reviews: 16
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 4
Director Tim Burton's dark, brooding atmosphere, Michael Keaton's work as the tormented hero, and the flawless casting of Danny DeVito as The Penguin and Christopher Walken as, well, Christopher Walken make the sequel better than the first.
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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 634,338
Movie Info
In this first sequel to 1989's Batman, the Caped Crusader (Michael Keaton) is up against the Penguin (Danny DeVito), the hideously deformed scion of a wealthy Gotham City family. The Penguin plots with evil businessman Max Schreck (Christopher Walken) to become mayor and then turn Gotham into a cathedral of crime. Upon overhearing these plans, Schreck's mousy secretary Selena Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) is tossed from a high-rise window by her boss. Rescued by a covey of kittens, Selena transforms
Jun 19, 1992 Wide
Apr 29, 1997
Warner Bros. Pictures
Watch It Now
Cast
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Michael Keaton
Batman / Bruce Wayne -
Danny DeVito
The Penguin/Oswald C... -
Michelle Pfeiffer
Catwoman/Selina Kyle -
Christopher Walken
Max Shreck -
Michael Gough
Alfred Pennyworth -
Cristi Conaway
Ice Princess -
Michael Murphy
The Mayor of Gotham -
Pat Hingle
Police Commissioner ... -
Andrew Bryniarski
Chip Shreck -
Jan Hooks
Jen -
Paul Reubens
Penguin's Father -
Vincent Schiavelli
Organ Grinder -
Steve Witting
Josh -
Steven Brill
Gothamite 1 -
Debbie Lee Carringto...
Emperor Penguins -
Lisa Coles
Volunteer Bimbo -
Joey de Pinto
1st Shreck Security ... -
Frank di Elsi
Security 1 -
Joan Giammarco
Female Victim -
Robert Gossett
TV Anchorman -
Doug Jones
Thin Clown -
Anna Katarina
Poodle Lady -
Henry Kingi
Mugger -
Stuart Lancaster
Penguin's Doctor -
Neal Lerner
Gothamite 2 -
Travis McKenna
Fat Clown -
Erik Onate
Aggressive Reporter -
Branscombe Richmond
1st Terrifying Clown -
Diane Salinger
Penguin's Mother -
Felix Silla
Emperor Penguin -
Ashley Tillman
Gothamite 3 -
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Sean Whalen
Paperboy -
Biff Yeager
Security 2 -
Rick Zumwalt
Tattooed Strongman -
Margarita Fernandez
Emperor Penguin -
Elizabeth Sanders
Gothamite 4 -
John Strong
Sword Swallower -
Gregory Scott Cummin...
Acrobat Thug One -
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All Critics (64) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (52) | Rotten (12) | DVD (24)
As Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands reminded us, Burton always has been more absorbed by what his audience sees than by what his movies say.
Top CriticBatman Returns is the rarest of Hollywood beasts -- a sequel that's better than the original
Burton, once an animator at Disney, understands that to go deeper, you must fly higher, to liberation from plot into poetry. Here he's done it. This Batman soars.
As in the first movie, Burton gives the material a luxurious masked-ball quality and a sly contemporary wit without violating the myth's low, cheesy comic-book origins.
Burton and company return to the prickly humor that gave such a jolt to the earlier film -- frequently finding it in unexpected places.
This time the richness of the Batman movie is not in its production design but rather in Burton's and screenwriter Daniel Waters' Freudian view of adult human behavior.
If Christopher Nolan never decided to direct a Batman movie, 'Batman Returns' would easily reign as the best film starring the Caped Crusader.
DeVito and Pfeiffer make formidable foes and formidable fun.
Batman has begun to exhibit more of the qualities Burton finds so interesting.
It's not really a movie. It's a painting and Burton is a painter, a Hieronymus Bosch for our time. The thing seems to come straight from his subconscious and unspool in dream-logic.
It's the kind of film which has great stills but never quite comes alive when it actually moves -- likely to win at the box-office quicker than it does in the mind.
Batman Returns is as bitter as it is biting. Ingenious though it is, it makes you squirm as often as it makes you laugh.
Retains the original's dark currents while adding some colorful new characters.
Kind of a lousy Batman film, and also kind of a great Burton film.
A step up from "Batman" but not by much, unfortunately...
Batman was no longer torn from the pages of a funny book, but peeled off the bottom of a pair of Dr. Martens.
A darkly violent take on the comic-book hero.
It's a triumph of style over substance, a romantic tragedy both as a story and as a movie.
Audience Reviews for Batman Returns
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Movies Like Batman Returns
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- The Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot: Why is there always someone who brings eggs and tomatoes to a speech?
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- Max Shreck: What did curiosity do to the cat?
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- The Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot: You've gotta admit, I've played this stinking city, like a harp from hell!
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- The Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot: I saw her first, got to fly.
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- Max Shreck: Bruce Wayne, what are doing dressed up as Batman?
- Catwoman/Selina Kyle: He is Batman, you idiot!
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- Catwoman/Selina Kyle: I am Catwoman, hear me roar.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| The Best Of The Older Batman Films | 3 months ago | 2 |
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Foreign Titles
- Batmans Rückkehr (DE)
- Batman, Le Défi (FR)
