'Batman Returns' 30 years later: Tim Burton, Michael Keaton version of movie is still divisive after decades
Just as Matt Reeves’ The Batman with Robert Pattinson is released, 2022 also marks the 30-year anniversary of arguably the most divisive Batman content to date, Tim Burton’s Batman Returns starring Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken.
This latest Batman movie will bring back Batman Return characters Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) and The Penguin (Danny DeVito). This moment in the Keaton Batman era marked some box office success, but there also wasn’t an absence of differing opinions on the '90s film.
Why 'Batman Returns' was so controversial
Right from the outset, the controversy started with significant criticism related to the violence in the film, with reports that Burton had been fighting about censoring the film to move away from the proposed R rating, to PG-13. Warner Bros. even claimed to have received thousands of letters from parents upset at the extent to which the movie scared their children.
There was also the notable issue of a deal-gone-wrong with McDonald’s, after backlash against the film’s darker, more gory scenes that were a departure from the planned “family friendly” marketing with the fast-food chain, which also led to the end of Burton’s two-film Batman saga.
“I think I upset McDonalds,” Burton said in a 2014 interview with Yahoo. “[They asked] ‘What’s that black stuff coming out of the Penguin’s mouth. We can’t sell Happy Meals with that!’”
“It was a weird reaction to Batman Returns, because half the people thought it was lighter than the first one and half the people thought it was darker. I think the studio just thought it was too weird — they wanted to go with something more child- or family- friendly. In other words, they didn’t want me to do another one.”
There was also an article published in The New York Times in 1992, titled "Batman allegory disturbing," where then Columbia College seniors Rebecca Roiphe and Daniel Cooper criticized Burton's use of "imagery and cultural stereotypes that are rooted in Judeo-Christian culture."
"No, DeVito's not Jewish, but that's just it: Man in penguin costume, Christian in Jew Face," the article reads.
"He depicts the Penguin as one of the oldest cliches: the Jew who is bitter, bent over and out for revenge, the Jew who is unathletic and seemingly unthreatening but who, in fact, wants to murder every firstborn child of the gentile community."
Scenes like oozing blood as Penguin bites someone’s nose, newborn Oswald Cobblepot being locked in a box and attacking the family cat (resulting in his parents dropping him in the river), Pfeiffer putting a live bird in her mouth, real-life penguins in the movie and the heavily hated choice that Batman actually kills in Batman Returns, all have a solidified place in the cultural history of the franchise, with cult classic status.
Despite the controversy, the more absurdist story with a darker sense of humour in Burton’s movie, paired with sometimes over-the-top performances by iconic actors, is very much in-line with Burton’s work.
While the new Batman is very different from Batman Returns, scenes like Selena transforming into Catwoman and DeVito’s commitment to the often gruesome Penguin will be etched in our brains, with Keaton, still to this day, labeled one of the best, if not the best, Bruce Wayne to date.
