Batman Returns- Or does he?

Batman is set to go up against The Penguin in this episode of Batman. On par with previous batman plots, the villain (Penguin) finds an accomplice villain, (businessman Schreck). Penguin wants to live on the surface and find his parents and he believes his ticket to this lifestyle change is Schreck. So he kidnaps him and blackmails him, the deal is, he won’t tell Gotham of his plans to wreak havoc on the city if he helps Penguin become an accepted part of the surface society. And, so, the two devise a plan to get Penguin elected as Mayor and turn the city into a black hole of crime. We get to meet Catwoman in this venture as well. She is the quirky secretary of Schreck, Selina Kyle. As a result of her overhearing his plan to take over Gotham, he shoves her out the window of their high-rise office building. Alley cats/kittens rescue her, subsequently causing her to “turn into” a cat-ish, Catwoman. She makes herself a crazy leather outfit and gloves fully equipped with super sharp, cat-like claws. There’s some romance between Selina Kyle (Catwoman) and Bruce Wayne (Batman), obviously. Batman seems genuinely interested, after-all he does portray a lonely and depressed character in this movie, but Catwoman seems to just be toying with him. Ultimately, her goal is to turn the city against Batman, which she doesn’t know is the Bruce Wayne she has an attraction toward, and she becomes “alliances” with Schreck and Penguin: Not for long though, because Penguin wants her for more than an alliance and she isn’t having it, so she soon becomes an enemy to him. But not before the two successfully begin the demise of Batman’s heroic reputation as we know it. As a press conference held by the Penguin as an effort to hammer in the last nails in his reputation’s coffin, Bruce Wayne and Alfred play a recording of the Penguin where he proclaims his anti-gotham stance. Penguin reveals his actual goal as seeking revenge on his parents, which he believes can be achieved by killing the wealthiest families first born sons. The movie ends with the usual action packed back and forth fight between good and evil, a quick involuntary recount by your brain of how many lives Catwoman has actually lost,  a penguin funeral,  a stray cat adoption?, and a happy-ish ending, until next time of course.

Burton immediately sets the dark depressing tone of the movie. A couple has a “baby” who doesn’t quite “fit in” so they hurl him into the icy river as if he were last week’s garbage. It was interesting to see a typical Tim Burton design sort of mesh with a typical Batman plot, except I don’t feel like it was a “typical” batman plot, ok mostly, but not completely. This film is artistically very pleasing to look at, I use the term “pleasing” loosely and just to describe the talented and brilliant mind behind it, but it is very dark, gloomy and depressing, far from emotionally pleasing. But, this is the mood that Burton knows is required in order to cohesively pull together each of the characters’ underlying stories that are being portrayed. A penguin boy neglected and left for dead by his very own parents, a man who has it all yet is still so greedy and full of destruction, a lonely, mousy and super awkward woman just trying to find her place, even Batman is very depressed, reclusive and confused, exuding the opposite of happy heroic characteristics one would expect out of a Super Hero, who mind you, was lucky enough to be “chosen” to do good for his city and have super abilities and endless access to stellar gadgets and cars. This movie is battling shame, acceptance, revenge, cruelty and an onslaught of other negative emotions and these are made clear by Burton. There were subtle Burton-esque pieces of humor thrown in, like when Catwoman is thrown from a building (again) and lands in a kitty litter truck, but all in all a pretty depressing film. I just, personally, would like to have a consistent feel good super hero who knows his place in the world as both a humanoid and a hero and can appreciate and differentiate between them both. Again, aesthetically beyond pleasing, but in my mind, the story could have used some oomph. Burton does a stellar job getting his vision across to viewers but I am wondering if maybe a slightly tweaked plot or character tune-up would have made for a much cleaner “Burton Batman”. Though, I can’t complain a lick about the sound, lighting, camera shots, set and costume design etc because it is evident that this film’s entire crew consists of professionals who have mastered their art and who know how to produce a technically sound film.