LogFAQs > #980310663

Lots of stupid comments there, especially his attacking the superb soundtrack. And if he thinks it was pretending not to be campy, he doesn't understand Tim Burton, especially during that time... the campiness was intentional. It was there in Peewee, in Beetlejuice, in Edward Scissorhands, and in the sequel to this film, where there's an army of missile launching penguins marching through Gotham.

Bubbagump posted...

I think you have to put the film in its proper context. In 1989, when most people thought of Batman, they thought of the 1960s campy Adam West version. This Batman was the first one to bring a darker (comparatively) tone to the series and did it quite successfully. It was also one of the first big summer blockbusters that had huge merchandise tie-ins (games, books, toys, etc), and made a big splash within the culture. Everyone was wearing batman shirts, consuming batman media, the stuff was everywhere! There had never been anything like it except for maybe Star Wars.

Also this... even with the campiness, it was a very dark movie for the time, especially for a comic book. It was the 1980's and entertainment and pop culture were very different from what we know now. Cesar Romero was the only Joker anyone even knew before this and a Joker who killed was not known to the general public... only comic book fans even knew of the darker Joker.