Michael Keatonas Batman / Bruce WayneThe story
About Batman Returns
In a snowbound city over the Christmas season, a man abandoned as a baby and raised underground surfaces to demand a place in polite society, backed by a ruthless industrialist with his own schemes. A downtrodden secretary, thrown from a window by her boss, comes back as a vengeful masked cat burglar. The city's caped vigilante finds himself caught between the pair as the festive celebrations turn to chaos.
The CineClaus verdict
Tim Burton made a Christmas film and hid it inside a superhero sequel.
Snow blankets the city and the season frames the whole thing, but the festive feeling arrives sideways, as a gothic fairy tale about lonely outsiders who never get a happy ending. Michelle Pfeiffer is the reason to watch, and Danny DeVito commits to something grotesque with total conviction.
It is cold and often cruel, and the hero ends up a supporting player in his own film. Programme it for teenagers who have outgrown the cosy stuff, then follow it with Edward Scissorhands.
The family desk
Can the kids watch?
Our take: not one for young children: there is a severed arm, a badly burned body, some sexual threat and a lot of menace, so we would say twelve and up at the earliest, with teenagers the better fit.
BBFC advice: Moderate violence, injury detail, sex references, threat, sexual threat.
Content advice & accessibility
- Where the advice comes from
- The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
- Our age guidance
- Editorial, separate from the official 12A certificate, and never looser than it.
