“BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE” IS FIVE DAYS AWAY. I CONTINUE TO PUT DOWN MY THOUGHTS ABOUT TIM BURTON, AND THE LONG-AGO DAYS WHEN HIS MOVIES WERE MAJOR EVENTS IN MY LIFE.
In Batman Returns, the Penguin steals the spotlight. He drools black bile and bites off a person’s nose, yet lights up the screen, and Burton is clearly enamored with him.
Meanwhile, Catwoman almost steals the spotlight. She begins as a helpless victim, but quickly loses her mind and starts torching property, all while embracing high camp.
Only Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, stands in the way of these lunatics and disaster. Sadly, he could use some therapy himself.
Taken on its own, every element of Batman Returns is a masterpiece. Cinematography, prosthetic makeup, fight choreography, dialogue, costumes, sets.
Everything’s gloomy, and everything’s perfect.
Yet the pieces do not come together. Most egregiously, the characters seem to float in separate movies, which is problematic...
Or not. Maybe it’s just an expression of a theme.
As creepy loners looking for comfort in a cold, cruel world, Batman and Catwoman click. As physical enemies, they share a disturbing but undeniable spark.
They haven’t got a prayer, though. In Burton’s universe, even people as similar as Batman and Catwoman have no hope of uniting. Maybe all human beings are rattling around in their own private universes, alienated and desperate.
Tim Burton usually spreads a more forgiving worldview, but it warms my heart that Batman Returns is so genuinely twisted and depressing. At the peak of his creative powers, Burton managed to leverage his success and make a mega-budgeted movie with no restraints. In the process, he put one over on the system.
Batman Returns made a lot of money. It didn’t sell enough merchandise, though, and parents got angry because it was so inappropriate for children.
Burton wasn’t invited back to the franchise.
(One post to go, and then it’s Friday, and time to repeat the “B”-word)