| | | |"The Bat, the Cat, the Penguin."
Features: DVD, Special Edition, Aspect Ratio 1.78:1, Dolby Digital (5.1); DTS 5.1; Dolby Surround Sound, Featurette, Documentaries, Music Video, Interviews, English, French, Spanish Subtitled, 2 Discs
Gotham City faces two monstrous criminal menaces: the bizarre, sinister Penguin (Danny DeVito) and the slinky, mysterious Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer). Can Batman (Michael Keaton) battle two formidable foes at once? Especially when one wants to be mayor and the other is romantically attracted to Bruce Wayne! Like the groundbreaking 1989 original, Batman Returns is directed by the wizardly Tim Burton. And like the first blockbuster, it's a dazzling adventure that leaves you breathless.
"Funny, wild, imaginative. A visual marvel!" David Ansen, Newsweek
"Darker, more brooding and weirder than the first...also funnier and layered with more texture." Chris Hicks, Deseret News
"Bigger, louder, more relentlessly action-packed than its predecessor..." Geoff Andrew, Time Out
"Wow! Absolutely riveting. Better than the first." Joel Siegel, Good Morning America
"A fast, funny, exciting assault on the senses that outshines the overrated original." Michael Dequina, Mr. Brown's Movies
Editor's Note
In director Tim Burton's sequel to his successful BATMAN (1989), the Caped Crusador (Michael Keaton) is pitted against the demented, ravenous Penguin (Danny DeVito), a pitiful, orphaned psychopathic freak who once went on a baby-killing spree, and a "power" hungry capitalist villain Max Shreck (Christopher Walken). As the two criminals plot to gain domination over Gotham City, BATMAN must plot to stop them.In the highly stylized BATMAN RETURNS--complete with dark, Gothic architecture and moody lighting--Batman (and his alter-ego Bruce Wayne) is thrown a third enemy, a terrible distraction: Cat Woman (fearlessly and fabulously played by Michelle Pfeiffer). She is the slinky, sharp-clawed alter-ego of Shreck's secretary Selina. Batman must overcome his own dark past, and his present love entanglements, to rid Gotham of it's evil enemies, this time with even more intricately designed sets and tongue-in-cheek humor, making BATMAN RETURNS an action-packed, but darkly fun adventure.
Plot Summary
Gotham City is once again under siege, this time by the sinister Penguin. A malformed baby thrown into the sewers to drown, The Penguin survived and decided to exact revenge against the hated metropolis during its grand Christmas celebration. Batman must stop the madman and his band of furry, but deadly, little penguins. To complicate matters, the caped crusader also has to contend with a sexy new vigilante whose moral stance is slightly more ambiguous than his own -- the cruel and sexy Catwoman.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital (5.1); DTS 5.1; Dolby Digital Surround Sound, French Dolby Stereo (2.0); Dolby Surround Sound
| | Subtitles: English, Spanish French | | Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight, Pt. 4 Documentary | | "Face to Face" by Siouxsie and the Banshees Music Video | | Beyond Batman Documentary Gallery | | Widescreen Presentation | | Commentary by Director Tim Burton | | The Bat, The Cat, and the Penguin Interviews | | The Heroes and Villains Profile Galleries Featurette | | New Digital Transfer with Both 5.1 Dolby and DTS Surround | | Theatrical Trailer |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Batman Returns - DVD Review By: James Brundage - filmcritic.com DVD Reviews Published on: 2/27/2009 5:25 PM | |
It was the end of an era. The year was 1992 and the movie was Batman Returns. It marked the end of the Batman franchise as a series of good movies. It was, friends, the last great Batman. Gotham was dark and so was the script. Darkly comic, darkly romantic, and darkly dramatic. This tale told of Michael Keaton as Batman in a love/hate relationship with Catwoman, of a freak raised by penguins, of a power hungry industry giant who sought to leave the legacy of a polluting power plant. The Penguin: a man raised by what became his namesake, seeks to discover the identity of his parents, and then exact vengeance upon the world....read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 2/10/2009 |
| Running Time: 126 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1992 | | Catalog ID: 4321 | | UPC: 00012569432123 | | Number of Discs: 2 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
MTV Award (1993) | | | Danny DeVito, Nominee, Best Villain | | | Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nominee, Best Kiss | |
British Academy Awards (1993) | | | Michael L. Fink, et. al., Nominee, Best Special Effects | |
Oscar (1993) | | | Michael L. Fink, et. al., Nominee, Best Effects, Visual Effects | |
MTV Award (1993) | | | Michelle Pfeiffer, Nominee, Most Desirable Female | |
Oscar (1993) | | | Ve Neill, et. al., Nominee, Best Makeup | |
British Academy Awards (1993) | | | Ve Neill, Stan Winston, Nominee, Best Make Up Artist |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...Sprightly....Burton creates a wicked world of misfits..." 06/19/1992 p.C1USA Today
"...As Catwoman, terrific Michelle Pfeiffer goes from mousy secretary to liberated lionness. As flipper-fingered Penguin, Danny DeVito is an orchestra of evil intentions..." 06/19/1992 p.1D Entertainment Weekly
"...The runaway star here is Pfeiffer, whose performance is a sexy, comic triumph..." 06/26/1992 p.90 Los Angeles Times
"...[Burton's] dark, melancholy vision is undeniably something to see....[An] always visually inventive film..." 06/19/1992 p.F1 Chicago Sun-Times
"...A most intriguing movie, great to look at, fun to talk about..." 06/19/1992 p.43 Rolling Stone 8 of 10
"Batman Returns" matches up the Caped Crusader with Catwoman. Wait'll you get a load of Michelle Pfeiffer's ravishing kitten with a whip. "How could you -- I'm a woman," she says to Batman when he slugs her, meeting his apology with a kick in the groin. Meow, indeed. Though her lusty licking of Batman's face may arouse kinky thoughts, Catwoman is no bimbo in black leather. Pfeiffer gives this feminist avenger a tough core of intelligence and wit; she's a classic dazzler...The follow-up to the blockbuster of summer '89 is faster and funnier, but that's not always a plus. To keep this astounding fun house humming with frenzied action, director Tim Burton spends less time investigating the Dark Knight's dark side...Still, the gifted Burton hasn't lost his subversive spirit, and the script, by Daniel Waters ("Heathers"), puts a sharp edge on the fun. Michael Keaton's manic-depressive hero remains a remarkably rich creation. And Danny De Vito's mutant Penguin -- a balloon-bellied Richard III with a kingdom of sewer freaks -- is as hilariously warped as Jack Nicholson's Joker and even quicker with the quips...Still, the movie's heart resides in two creatures who feel uneasy in their normal skins. Keaton plays Bruce Wayne, Batman's alter ego, as a moody playboy. And Pfeiffer brings the same discontent to Selina Kyle, the mousy assistant to corrupt Gotham City tycoon Max Shreck (a fiendishly funny Christopher Walken)...To the crashing chords of Danny Elfman's score, Burton trots out every gimmick, from a Batskiboat to a Penguin umbrella-copter. But the best gimmick is neurosis: Everyone has one. Batman and Catwoman, unable to function without dressing up their psychic wounds in fantasy, are a dysfunctional Romeo and Juliet. Burton uses the summer's most explosively entertaining movie to lead us back into the liberating darkness of dreams. - Peter Travers
Chicago Sun-Times 6 of 10
The gloomy undertone of the Batman movies is like a tow line, holding the movie back, keeping it from springing free into the wind...Tim Burton's "Batman Returns," even more than the original "Batman," is a dark, brooding film, filled with hurt and fear, childhood wounds and festering adult resentments. It is also a most intriguing movie, great to look at, fun to talk about. There is no doubt Burton is a gifted director, but is he the right director for Batman? The film opens in cruelty and shame, as the parents of a deformed baby put him into his bassinet and drop him into the river on a cold, snowy Christmas night. The frail little craft floats downstream and into the sewers of Gotham City, where the infant is rescued and raised by the penguins who luckily happen to live there...It is a common theory that when you have a hero, like James Bond, Superman or Batman, in a continuing series, it's the villain that gives each movie its flavor. "Batman" had the Joker, played by Jack Nicholson, to lend it energy, but the Penguin is a curiously meager and depressing creature; I pitied him, but did not fear him or find him funny. The genius of Danny DeVito is all but swallowed up in the paraphernalia of the role. "Batman Returns" is odd and sad, but not exhilarating...I give the movie a negative review, and yet I don't think it's a bad movie; it's more of a misguided one, made with great creativity, but denying us what we more or less deserve from a Batman story. Looking back over both films, I think Burton has a vision here and is trying to shape it to the material, but it just won't fit. No matter how hard you try, superheroes and film noir don't go together; the very essence of noir is that there are no more heroes. I had a feeling by the end of this film that Batman was beginning to get the idea. - Roger Ebert
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