History YMMV / BatmanReturns

* HeReallyCanAct: Creator/DannyDevito is best known for his more comedic roles, and while he has played villains before, they're usually not very threatening and have some comedic qualities, but here in Batman Returns, his role as Penguin proves that he can play a villain that is both intimidating and utterly disturbing, and is widely considered by both Batman fans and Devito fans to be one of his finest roles for that very reason.

* CreepyAwesome: Penguin, full stop. He's a disturbing, hideous, and deranged maniac, but that's why we love him.

** Batman himself [[spoiler:for unmasking in front of Shreck. True he was trying to get through to Selina in the hope of making her snap out of her Catwoman persona, and his own emotions may have been rattled by her plight, but it was still a dumb thing to do in front of the villain. However, he was killed by Catwoman soon after.]]

* EndingFatigue: [[spoiler:Batman takes out Penguin's gang and saves the day. Then he has to confront Shreck and Catwoman. Then we see Penguin die from the earlier attack. Then we see Bruce take in Selina's cat and the camera pans in to see Catwoman who is NotQuiteDead. Then it ends.]]

** Does Batman himself have any kind of actual character arc in the film that could then reasonably be reflected in ''Film/BatmanForever''? He goes about his work in much the same way as the previous film, with the death of at least one mook on his hands, yet in ''Forever'' he seemed to regret doing things like this. Could it be that he saw what the cycle of revenge and violence was doing to Catwoman and it gave him a wake up call, forcing him to rethink his own life?

** One of the headlines of the newspapers is "'''MEE-OUCH!'''", which was the New York Post's review of ''Film/{{Catwoman}}''.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: It's one of the strangest and most depressing Batman films. While this is a big part of the appeal to some fans, for others it makes it difficult to enjoy. There's also the fact that for all its bleakness it is also rather campy in some aspects (especially the more fantastical elements related to Penguin's plan), which some argue leads to the film's tone feeling muddled.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: Easily the darkest ''Batman'' film for many years, bordering on nihilistic, from the grotesque villains to the DownerEnding. It was also the darkest Creator/TimBurton movie at the time, and the backlash pushed him back to his comedic roots with ''Film/EdWood''.

** While the penguins themselves are an example of SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome, they're clearly not touching [[spoiler:the Penguin's body as they cast him off during his funeral]].

** There is an infamous moment in ''Film/BatmanForever''. When Bruce and Dick agree to become partners and shak

** Or possibly Harsher in Hindsight, or just plain irony ... In 1992, Max Shreck could very well have seemed like a shout-out to Donald Trump, being a charismatic but shady business magnate with a flamboyant public persona, but inwardly ruthless, and with penchants for nepotism and dwelling in a big tower with his surname emblazoned on it. These days (2019, as of writing), after Trump's personal move into front-line politics and certain revelations about his sexual ethics (especially a certain infamous "grab them by the ..." soundbite), modern viewers are likely to think the Penguin a more striking resemblance.

** The Les Yay is much more apparent between Catwoman and the Ice Princess. It's not enough to tie the girl to a chair; Selina has to physically humiliate her further by tightening her whip around the Princess's throat so that she almost chokes and then literally dragging her up to the roof.
--->'''Catwoman:''' Gotta go...[[UnusualEuphemism girl talk]].
*** It must also be mentioned that, in the novel, the Penguin reflects on how sorry he is that he had to kill them both, since he had really wanted to arrange a ''menage a trois''.

** Right before [[spoiler:Bruce tears his mask off to reveal his identity to Selina]], the dark eyeshadow around his eyes is entirely omitted in the shot.

** Batman himself [[spoiler:for unmasking in front of Shreck. True he was trying to get through to Selina in the hope of making her snap out of her Catwoman persona, and his own emotions may have been rattled by her plight, but it was still a dumb thing to do in front of the villain.]]

*** On a fourth hand, they did have baby Oswald in a CAGE. Was he really a monster or could they not see past his deformities, hence providing the mental aspect that did make him a monster?
** Shreck's love for his son. The movie leaves just enough ambiguity for us to question whether or not it's genuine. The novelization, however, states a few times that Max realises his son Chip is the only thing he's ever really cared about, even more than money, and is fully willing to seriously risk his life by taking his place.

** The plot with Penguin running for Mayor of Gotham is actually a direct lift from the 60's [[Series/{{Batman}} Batman TV show]] ("Hizzoner The Penguin"/"Dizzoner The Penguin"), adapted of course. [[spoiler: Although in both scenarios he loses.]]

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/DannyDevito, who is more well-known known for being type-cast as comedic characters in comedy movies, as the deranged and psychotic Penguin.
** SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: And on top of that, he portrays the character extremely well.