Tim Burton seems to have a strange
relationship with Christmas. In 1993 he released “A Nightmare Before Christmas”
his stop-motion animated opus in which Jack Skellington of Halloween Town takes
over Christmas, scaring children everywhere. The year before he released
“Batman Returns” his second foray in bringing the Dark Knight to the big
screen. This time Batman (Michael Keaton) is fighting the maniacal Penguin
(Danny DeVito), the whip-snapping Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer), and the greedy
Max Schreck (Christopher Walken). During their battles, children are kidnapped
from their homes in the middle of the night, henchmen are burned alive, a
character is pushed out of a window, and another one is electrocuted, leaving
his face with a grotesque expression of pain. This funfest takes place, of
course, during the Holiday season.
Despite the dark and gothic tone, the movie
has achieved somewhat of a cult status, even taking advantage of the Christmas
setting. The first time I saw it was in the late 90s when I was living in
Chile. The Spanish announcer on TV for the teaser was describing how The Joker
from the first movie was dead: “Now it’s Christmastime and there are new
villains in town.” They show footage of city officials throwing presents at a
crowd and then suddenly evil clowns armed with automatic weapons burst out of a
giant box creating panic in the streets. That certainly looked fun. Although,
just like Burton’s first Batman movie, some of the film’s content are a little
much for a ten-year-old kid. That didn’t stop Warner Bros. from spitting out
the merchandising in the form of action figures, a Super Nintendo game,
costumes, accessories, and even a colouring book. If I recall well, I was
pretty good at the Super Nintendo game.
The plot: on a cold and snowy Christmas
night, a couple throw their baby into a river. To be fair, the baby had just
killed the cat so imagine what he would have done to the other kids at the
playground. The baby’s basket floats in Gotham City’s sewers until it reaches
an embankment and is picked up by four penguins. Years later, the baby is The
Penguin, the leader of criminal gang who are also circus performers. They
attack the city’s lighting of the Christmas tree to kidnap Max Schreck, one of the
most powerful men in the city. The Penguin blackmails Schreck in helping him
become a recognized citizen and find out who his parents were. Noble goals, but
Batman rightfully believes he has ulterior motives.
Max Schreck also has plans of his own. He
sees The Penguin as his way to cement his foothold in Gotham. The mayor won’t
approve his plan to build a power generator, so he convinces The Penguin to
become the alternative candidate in a recall. Of course there needs to be a
reason for a recall, so The Penguin’s goons attack the city, weakening the
mayor’s credibility.
Meanwhile another villain emerges. Selina
Kyle, Shreck’s shy secretary, discovers damaging information about the
generator. When Shreck catches her, he pushes her out of the window of his
high-rise. She lands dead on the streets, but alley cats swarm her, lick her
wounds, and she awakens as something else. Gone is the secretary who could
barely utter a word in a meeting. Now comes a woman wearing a rubber cat suit,
hell-bent on destroying Schreck’s operation. Batman tries to stop her, resulting
in an uneasy alliance between her and The Penguin.
This makes for a somewhat muddled plot. I
find the best Batman movies are the ones where there is one central villain
with a grand plan. Here we have three villains, each with their own separate
agendas, who end up overshadowing Batman. Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman
gets top billing this time around, unlike when Jack Nicholson played The Joker,
but he almost ends up being a supporting character. DeVito is very impressive
as the deformed Penguin, especially when claiming all he wants is to be recognized
as a human being. Then there is Michelle Pfeiffer, who gives a career best
performance as Catwoman. She was so committed to the role she actually put a
live bird in her mouth.
This being a Tim Burton movie, the
production values also end up being more prominent than the story. The Penguin’s
lair is an abandoned Zoo, covered in snow and filled with giant animal statues.
Gotham City itself looks like a dark and foreboding place to live. Then in the
third act, The Penguin unleashes an army of remote-controlled penguins equipped
with rocket launchers to destroy the city. Those birds were a combination of
CGI, men in suits, and robotic penguins commissioned by the late great Stan
Winston.
In terms of story, “Batman Returns” has
been eclipsed by the masterful work of Christopher Nolan with both “Batman
Begins” and “The Dark Knight.” Yet if it ever plays on TV in late December, as
it often does, it’s still a pleasure to watch it. I could say it’s nostalgia
for the 1990s, but mostly it’s for that scene when Catwoman cartwheels out of a
department store, comes face to face with Batman and The Penguin, says “Meow,”
and blows up the store.
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