Don't fast forward this one: If a movie is going to swear, it needs to keep it real...

Mark Wahlberg as Stuart Long in the film "Father Stu."

I recently wrote a review for the biopic "Father Stu", released April 15 in time for Easter. 
While I thought the movie is one of the best religious pictures I've seen, others were less favorable because of the amount of profanity in the film. How can that be tolerated? It's a religious film!
As I noted in my article, "Father Stu" tells the story of amateur Stuart Long, who grew up with no religious background, a distant alcoholic father who became so after the death of Stuart's brother, Stephen, at age six. 
So, needless to say, there's swearing in the film because the real Stuart Long cursed and swore. He was probably a master at it. 
Like Stu in his later life, I too am a Catholic. I'm certainly not a great at being one.
Having been raised in the city of Oakland, California, swearing was all around me throughout life. I'm guilty of it myself. Old f-ing habits die hard, for f--k sake!
For me, even from a religious standpoint, swearing is spitting. It's severity, or sinfulness, depends on how it's used. An f-bomb stings when it's hurled directly at somebody as opposed to dropping one after you stub your toe, or getting a jury summons scheduled the same week as your long-awaited vacation. Even then, it's a gross habit and does nothing good for the swearer. 

Some people are bothered by our society's arsenal of dirty words, and that's completely understandable and worth respect. Others don't seem to mind. In those cases, it is what it is. Swearing has become inconsequential in today's society. People just blurt out their obscenities like its confetti. Yet, there are many pockets of places where it's still frowned upon. 

Mark Wahlberg and Jacki Weaver in "Father Stu."

So, I understand the dismay some religious groups and individuals have at watching the movie "Father Stu" about a convert to Catholicism, that's laced with profanity. 
But it needs to be in there. It's a biographical picture, and that's who Stuart Long was before he converted. 
If a movie is going to depict a real person, and that person swore a lot, then it's important for a biographical story to keep things real. The movie is trying to convey reality, and do so in a way for the audience to relate and become invested in it, even if elements are unpleasant to watch and hear. 
If a character, based on a real person, is a drug using ex-con, and an all-around mean son of a bitch, it would take me out of the story if they never used any profanity but rather spoke lines like "Gosh darn it, you big dumb, dumb head" in intense situations. 
How can the audience take the story seriously if a character, who obviously doesn't care much for what comes out of their mouth, has dialogue that doesn't fit their personality. 
Or, if they come from parts of the country such as New Jersey, like in "Jersey Boys" (2014) with young Catholic Italians swearing here and there, where language like that is commonplace, then obviously it's going to be included.
Sure, some movies might over do it. The movie "Goodfellas" (1990) comes to mind. But, then again, the characters are all pretty much Italian mafioso. So, again, it's expected. There sure is a lot of it, though, in that movie. It's not pleasant to hear. Then again, the characters are unpleasant as well.
I have to add that one of the best scenes I've seen in the movie involves profanity. 
In the 2010 biographical film, "The King's Speech" about King George VI and his speech therapist Lionel Logue, who helps him overcome his terrible stutter during his ascension to the throne in 1936, one the best scenes involves a string of "such language."

After Logue hears the king use the word "bloody," a common vulgarity in the U.K., he tells the king, "Vulger, but fluent. You don't stammer when you swear."

"Oh, bugger off!" the king replies. 

"Is that the best you can do?" 

"Well... bloody bugger to you, you beastly bastard."

"Oh, a public school prig could do better than that."

"Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!"

And the words keep coming, and coming, and coming, without a stammer. 

"Defecation flows trippingly from the tongue!" Logue later says. 

I know a lot individuals are adamantly, and admirably, opposed to swearing. And that's fine. It turns me off when I hear others use it over and over again. I'm certainly not endorsing it, nor trying to pursued people to just accept it. 

But sometimes, a movie needs colorful language for the sake of realism. What needs more consideration is whether or not a movie should be made in the first place. That's the bigger issue. In "Father Stu's" case, the answer, thankfully, is "yes," swear words and all.

Ella Cinders (1926) - Comic to Movie #15

"It's a darn shame, the way they treat you." 

Director

Alfred E. Green

Cast

Colleen Moore - Ella Cinders

Lloyd Hughes - Waite Lifter

Vera Lewis - Ma Cinders

Emily Gerdes - Prissy Pill

Doris Baker - Lotta Pill

The American syndicated comic strip "Ella Cinders," introduced June 1, 1925, is the creation of American screenwriter Bill Conselman and cartoonist Charles Plumb.

If anyone hasn't noticed, it's a play on the name "Cinderella." In this case, it's Cinderella for the early 20th Century.

In the strip, Ella Cinders is a young, attractive, and modest girl with big innocent eyes and black shoulder length hair cut in a bob. Ella doesn't initially flaunt her beauty, which progresses through the years of the comic's history. 

She lives with her step family made up of Myrtle "Ma" Cinders, and her step sisters, Prissie and Lotta Pill. 

Prissie is bitter and cold while Lotta is a rotund gal, and still just as mean. Ella is reduced to all the housework around the house at the unsympathetic demands of her step-family.

In the strip, her boyfriend, Waite Lifter, and her brother, Blackie, take her side as emotional support for the poor treatment she gets at home. 

Ella eventually wins a beauty contest, which results in a job at a movie theater. This plays as the "fairy godmother" part of the Cinderella story. It's the opportunity to leave the dire situation she's initially in. 

Ella and Blackie move to Hollywood where she works hard to make a successful life for herself. 

The comic strip ran until 1961. 

And that's the basic premise for the 1926 movie "Ella Cinders" based on the strip. 

In the film, Ella Cinders (Colleen Moore) lives with her step ma (Vera Lewis), Prissy (Emily Gerdes) and Lotta (Doris Baker) in the town of Roseville. 

Her one friend is the ice man, Waite Lifter (Lloyd Hughes) who questions how she can stand living with her horrible step family.

The Ciders hear of a contest being put on by the Gem Film Company in which a winner will receive an all-expense paid trip to Hollywood to appear in a film. 

Ma Cinders, of course, wants to enter Prissy and Lotta. Ella wants to enter the contest as well at the encouragement of Waite. 

To enter, she must send the company head shots of herself which will cost a grand total of $3 to take.

As this is 1926, and money actually had value back then. Three dollars was like...I don't know...a bajillion dollars for people in those days, or something close to that.

Anyways, she babysits the neighbors kids for three nights to raise the necessary cash.

Everything goes according to plan. When Ella goes to have her headshots taken, she's bothered by a persistent fly which causes her headshots come out cross eyed and ridiculous. 

Nevertheless, the photographer submits the pictures to the contest. 

The day of the contest judging arrives, which includes a big gala party. 

Ma and her two daughters attend, but Ella is told she can't go. 

Waite finds Ella crying on the front porch and encourages her to go to the party anyways. 

As she has nothing to wear, he tells her to grab something out of her sister's closet. 

So, she does. 

At first, everything goes well at the party, and her step family doesn't spot her. 

Colleen Moore as "Ella Cinders."

When Ella approaches the judges table, they see her and rip off some of there clothing in anger for her taking their clothes.

She's also embarrassed at the cross-eyed pictures.

Ella leaves the party in tears, not noticing one of her shoes falls off in the middle of the ordeal. 

And, wouldn't you know, Waite finds her shoe.   

Ella packs up her stuff and heads straight to the unemployment office. 

Unexpectedly, she encounters her ma there who promises to punish Ella severely.

At home, the contest judges arrive to let Ella know she won, much to her ma's chagrin.

Despite the bad headshots, the judges like her unusual pictures as they want someone who can make audiences laugh.

So, Ella heads off to Hollywood.

Almost as soon as she steps off the train in Hollywood, Ella finds out the entire contest was a fraud. 

With this major setback, Ella is faced with two options. She can either go home with her tail between her legs. Or, she can stay in Hollywood and turn this loss into a gain.

"Ella Cinders" is the first Colleen Moore film I've seen, and it made me a fan. Moore fits the role of Ella Cinders impressively well. The film makes sure to exhibit Moore's charm and talent to the fullest.

She has a lot of character behind her sincere and doleful eyes.

Moore is almost like a female Charlie Chaplin who describes his Tramp character as "childlike, bumbling but generally good-hearted...who endeavors to behave with the manners and dignity of a gentleman (or lady, in Moore's case) despite his actual social status." 

In "Ella Cinders," Moore's character, like the comic strip, is kind-hearted and undefiant despite the unjust treatment she receives on a daily basis. Yet, she doesn't reconsider leaving her cruel family when the opportunity presents itself. Ella welcomes the freedom with open arms, and doesn't let the opportunity go to waste.

But Moore can convey emotion impressively well without words - sadness, infatuation, silliness, disappointment, helplessness, determination. 

I have to add here that silent films in general impress me more than most modern films. Actors need pure talent to convey emotions to the audience without speaking. I'm convinced many silent film actors can out act a lot of todays actors any day. They still manage to inspire modern actors and filmmakers, which is certainly no surprise. 

In one scene, Cinders crams over a book on how to be a talented success in Hollywood on the night before she leaves. 

She reads over a page about how an actor should work their eyes to capture different emotions. One of the instructions says crossing one's eyes will capture attention. The shot changes to a comedic routine with Moore performing some sort of eyeball aerobics with each eye moving in a different direction. I was left dumbfounded. I couldn't tell if this is a split screen effect, or if Moore actually pulls off these eyeball maneuvers herself. Either way, it deserves to be as iconic as Chaplin's dance of the dinner rolls from "The Gold Rush." 

My favorite part of the movie takes place when Ella falls asleep on a train car she has all to herself. While she's asleep, a group of Native American Indians come aboard, dressed in their customary attire and headdresses. 

An Indian family sits with Ella and begin smoking cigars. 

As the smoke wakes her up, she's surprised to find the entire car, that was vacant moments ago, filled with Native Americans in all their regalia.

The father of the family sitting next to her gives her a glaring look, and then offers her a cigar. 

Not to be rude, she accepts and starts smoking it. It's clear cigar smoking isn't an activity she's ever indulged in. But the sick look on her face as she puffs away so as not to be rude is hilarious. Each time he looks over at her, she perks up and keeps puffing like she knows what she's doing. 

Based on what little I know about the comic strip, the movie adaption really captures the style and humor of the source. 

Some of the classic tropes in Cinderella are changed to something more fitting for the 20th Century.

When an embarrassed Ella runs out of the contest judging, she leaves her shoe behind. 

Waite finds it, and chuckles to himself as if to tell the audience, "you think you know where this is going."

Later, when she's off to Hollywood, Waite gives her a parting gift - a brand new pair of nice dress shoes.

Also, the "fairy godmother" character is replaced by the opportunity to go to Hollywood, as well as Ella own will power.

The movie's director, Alfred E. Green makes a cameo as the movie director in this movie. 

Green later went on to direct some well know movies such as "The Jackie Robinson Story" (1950) and "The Eddie Cantor Story" (1953).

The other, more notable cameo, is that of silent film star Harry Langdon. 

According to imdb.com, Moore recalled famed director Frank Capra directing her scene with Langdon. Capra sat in the directors chair for some noteworthy pictures like "It Happened One Night" (1934), "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) and "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946).  

When Ella arrives in Hollywood, the film shifts from satirical to drama, and ends up a bit underwhelming by the end. Regardless, I still found this movie adaptation of a by-gone comic strip entertaining, memorable, funny, and worthy of continual attention despite its age. It's definitely a movie I had a fun time watching.

It's a great satirical take on the rags-to-riches premise of Cinderella.

"Ella Cinders" is the earliest film I have found so far that's based on a comic. And I'm really glad I took time to watch it. I hope this movie, and Colleen Moore, continues to obtain the attention and recognition it deserves.

Batman Returns (1992) - Comic to Movie #14

"But when it comes down to it, who's holding the umbrella?"

Director 
Tim Burton

Cast
Batman/ Bruce Wayne - Michael Keaton
Catwoman/ Selina Kyle - Michelle Pfeiffer
Penguin/ Oswald Cobblepot - Danny DeVito
Max Shreck - Christopher Walken 
Michael Gough - Alfred Pennyworth
Pat Hingle - Commissioner Jim Gordon

I want to continue watching and reviewing more obscure, less talked about movies based on comic books and comic strips. This subgenre I started blogging about has been in a sort of limbo, on and off again, on my blog. And a handful of movies I've included are rather popular despite how bad they are. 
Most of the "comic-to-movie" movies I want to watch and review are simply difficult to obtain. At this point, I'm taking what I can get. But I haven't given up on finding those hard-to-come-by movies.
The 1992 Tim Burton film "Batman Returns" is a sequel to his hit 1989 movie "Batman." 
"Batman" has a special place in my movie-loving heart. I saw it with my oldest brother at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, Calif., back when it was released.
I recall the theater exploding in cheers at the scene when Batman flies his Batwing (or Batplane) through the cloud cover causing it to silhouette against the moon before flying back down to attack the Joker as he releases noxious "Smilex" gas on Gotham City.
I was seven-years old at the time. The movie turned me into a little bat fan boy. In fact, the first CD I ever purchased (probably with my mom's money, of course) was the orchestral soundtrack to "Batman." I bought it new for $12 at Wherehouse Music at the Southland Shopping Center in Alameda, Calif. I still have that CD and it still plays. 
"Batman Returns," release June 19, 1992, is also one of few movies in my lifetime, up to now, that I was fanatically eager to see. So much so, I had dreams about it before actually seeing it. 

Back then, obviously the option to log onto the internet and look for any leaked images or trailers didn't exist. You had to go to the movies and hope a trailer for a movie you wanted to see would play before the feature film. Or you had to wait for a trailer to air on television. Occasionally, some popular films would gain their own TV featurette.
I recall some morning talk show claiming they were going to show an "exclusive clip" of "Batman Returns" later in their program. I watched the entire boring talk show just to see this one clip. And that clip was the scene in the film where Batman meets Penguin for the first time. We got to see first hand the new villains Batman would square off with, in all their reimagined glory. 
Just days before the movie's release, my family and I had were on a trip in Southern California to visit friends. 
During this trip, we visited Hollywood Blvd., and walked passed Grauman's Chinese Theater.
The front of the theater was decked out in Batman imagery, with a giant poster of the movie draped above the theater entrance. Barricades surrounded the front of the theater where celebrity hand prints are. And a red carpet was rolled out. The premier of "Batman Returns" was taking place that evening. 
Michael Keaton had placed his hands in cement the day before - June 15, 1992. I took a picture of all this, including the wet cement with Keaton's prints. Sadly, I have no idea what became of those pictures. 
I don't recall the last time I watched "Batman Returns" before watching it the other day. 

After seeing the recent Batman film "The Batman" I wanted to watch this sequel again. 

The new Batman film has the caped crusader, played by Robert Pattinson, taking on the Penguin, also known as Oswald Cobblepot, played beautifully by Colin Farrell. It also stars Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/ Catwoman. Sitting there in the theater watching this happen all over again took me back to "Batman Returns." 
The film starts on a dark and very uncomfortable tone. 

Danny DeVito as Oswald Cobblepot/ The Penguin

On Christmas day inside the Cobblepot mansion, Esther Cobblepot (Diane Salinger) gives birth to a new born baby boy off-screen while her husband, Tucker Cobblepot (Paul Reubens) waits patiently, gazing out a window, watching the snow fall gently against the night sky as his wife screams from labor pains. 

As screams of the new born baby join those of Esther's, Tucker rushes into the bedroom and wails in horror. 
The scene cuts to the couple sipping martinis while starring out into the snowy, freezing cold night. 
As they turn, a black crate with a small window sits in the middle of the floor next to a gorgeous Christmas tree. The child inside shakes the crate trying to get free. 

Two small gloved hands then reach out to snatch the family cat and pull it inside. 

Cat screeches mix with the sounds of a grunting child. 

Soon, Esther and Tucker take their child for a hasty stroll. They push their child in its carriage along an icy path towards a stream. When they get to a stone bridge over that stream, they look around to make sure they're alone. The then dump the basket with their first born child over. 
They watch as the basket floats into the dark chasm of the sewers. One last childish screech is heard before the basket is gone from site. 

After a while, a family of penguins - leftovers living underneath the abandoned Gotham City Zoo - discover the basket. 
The story cuts to 33-years later. Rumors of a hideous "Penguin man" living in the sewers are circulating around Gotham City. The newspapers are running stories on people who claim to have had sightings of this alleged Penguin person. 
Meanwhile, millionaire business owner Max Shreck (Christopher Walken), has plans to build a power plant in Gotham City. He claims his power plant will be able to supply the city with more than enough electricity. His dirty little secret, however, is that his proposed power plant will suck power in, stockpile it, and allow Shreck to take control of the entire city.
Shreck meets with Gotham City's mayor, (Michael Murphy) whose generally opposed to Shreck's outward plan.
Shortly after their meeting, Schreck gives a speech outside a department store he owns. It's quickly interrupted when the infamous "Red Triangle Gang" attacks, destroying businesses and threatening the citizens of Gotham. 
In no time, Batman shows up to take on these criminals. But little does anyone know, amidst all the chaos, that Max Shreck is kidnapped and taken into the sewer.
There, he's confronted by the Penguin himself, whose real name is Oswald Cobblepot. 

His hands are deformed and look more like flippers. He takes care of the penguins living below the abandoned zoo. He keeps an arsenal of weaponized umbrellas. And he's also the leader of the Red Triangle Gang.
Cobblepot asks Shreck to help him come out from under the streets of Gotham City and reemerge with a high social standing. He blackmails Shreck with incriminating evidence previously disposed of if he doesn't assist.
"Remember Max - you flush it, I flaunt it," Cobblepot says.
Later, Shreck's secretary, Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) accidently discovers Shreck's secret files that expose what his true plans are with the power plant. 
Though she swears she'll keep them a secret, Shreck pushes her out his office window several stories above the ground. 
Moments after her body hits the pavement below, and her last breath dissipates in the winter air, a bunch of feral cats run up to her body start nibbling. This somehow brings Kyle back to life, and also gives her some kind cat fetish.
She heads back to her lonely apartment and goes crazy (literally). In her fit on feline lunacy, Kyle makes herself a cat costume, and takes her cat nonsense to the streets.

Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle/ Catwoman.

Shreck and Cobblepot come up with a plan to lift him out of the sewers and gain the trust of Gotham City.
Cobblepot saves the mayor's baby from one of the Red Triangle Gang members - an attempted kidnapping that they set up to take place during a mayoral speech.

After doing so, pretty much everyone in Gotham City is willing to welcome Cobblepot into the community.
Once this part of the plan is accomplished, Cobblepot spends hours at the Hall of Records giving the appearance that he's researching his childhood, and trying to discover who his parents are. 
Like Shreck, he also has an underlying plan - to kidnap all first born sons in Gotham City as an act of revenge for what his parents did to him.
In no time, Shreck pushes Cobblepot to run for mayor, which he easily agrees to do.

But Bruce Wayne remains skeptical of the Penguin. His first encounter with him is also his first encounter with Catwoman just as she destroys one of Shreck's department stores. 

In no time, Catwoman and Cobblepot partner together to destroy Batman in order to easily carry out both of their evil schemes. 
There's one line in the movie that still cracks me up.
As Batman is highly skeptical of Cobblepot's desires to look into his roots, Alfred asks him "Why are you now determined to prove that this Penguin is not what he seems? Must you be the only lonely man-beast in town?"
I have to mention, though it's been mentioned thousands of times before, that Cobblepot's parents have acted together before in an earlier Tim Burton movie - Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985). Paul Reubens and Diane Salinger star as Pee-Wee Herman and Simone in that film. 
I was 10-years old when I saw "Batman Returns" with the same brother that took me to see "Batman." And I recall being impressed by the movie, but not as much as I was with "Batman." 

To begin with, Gotham City doesn't have the same feel as before, and I noticed it way back then. Shots of Gotham City in the first "Batman" were filmed at an outdoors at Pinewood Studios. For "Batman Returns," the movie was shot on two huge soundstages at Universal Studios. Gotham City feels more confined and compact compared to part one. 
While the first film is known for placing a darker, grittier Batman in the public's eye, which it successfully accomplished with its well-written, captivating story, "Batman Returns" tries to keep that image going but with a lot more of Tim Burton's style and imagination.
Warner Brothers executives gave Burton more freedom to be more, well, Tim Burton in this sequel. And it shows. Unfortunately, I think he inserts itself too much which diminishes the story. In other words, we get more Burton, but with plot points that are too often weak. 
"Batman Returns" isn't necessarily a bad movie. I love seeing Batman go against two villains at once. And the premise of Oswald Cobblepot running for Mayor is derivative the 1966 Batman TV series, season seven, episode two called "Hizzonner the Penguin" and the following episode, "Dizzoner the Penguin" in which the Penguin runs for mayor of Gotham City. As a lover of the campy T.V. series, I love this part of the story. 
It was also a premise in the third season of the series "Gotham" with Robin Lord Taylor as Penguin - a series I particularly enjoyed watching.
Still, the writing seems hasty, especially when it comes to the villainous Catwoman. Her origin story in the film is simply strange and, for lack of a better word, too "Tim Burton-y." Catwoman is one character "The Batman" did right. 
In "Batman Returns," before she becomes Catwoman,  Kyle is already a woman on edge thanks to her busy work schedule, apparent loneliness, and underlying frantic nature. 

After falling to her death, to be resurrected by nibbling kitty cats, her personality splits. She goes from a frumpy, lowly secretary to a femme fatale who suddenly knows how to fight and use a whip. If she already knew how to fight, she didn't use her skill when she was grabbed by a deranged a member of the Triangle Gang, brandishing a stun gun, earlier in the movie. 
Not only is she a poorly developed character, but her motives as Catwoman are unclear.
In the comic books, Catwoman does flip from being a vigilante who helps Batman in her own way only to flip elsewhere and turn to burglary. She helps Batman in the newest film. She also helps Batman in Christopher Nolan's third Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" where she's played by Anne Hathaway.
Pfeiffer's Catwoman hints at both sides of the character, but in a convoluted way. When the audience is officially introduced to Catwoman after she takes out a would-be mugger, she pins the mugger's victim to the wall and scolds her for expecting Batman to save her. Nevermind that the poor victim never mentions Batman nor her expectations that he would come to her rescue. 

Batman (Michael Keaton) takes on the "Red Triangle Gang"
in "Batman Returns."

"I am Catwoman! Hear me roar," she says before backflipping her way off screen. 
When we see her next, she blows up one of Shreck's department stores, gets into a fight with Batman in a rooftop battle scene, and then is suddenly partnering up with Cobblepot to destroy Batman. Why? Is it because they had one fight? Or, is it because she wants to be replace the male vigilante hero in Gotham City with her female kitty self?

She tells Cobblepot, "Batman napalmed my arm, he knocked me off a building just when I was starting to feel good about myself. I wanna play an integral part in his degradation." That's the only motive she gives. This villainous side stems from little. Honestly, there's one line that really boils down Catwoman. After she goes crazy in her apartment, makes her cat suit, puts it on, and becomes the femme fatale I mentioned earlier, she says out loud to her pet cat, "I don't know about you, Miss. Kitty, but I feel so much yummier." Yet, she's not happy as the movie progresses. Catwoman is all around nonsensical and poorly developed. 

Danny DeVito as Penguin really steals the show, despite the constant nasty black crud that coats his nasty teeth and drips from his mouth. That has Tim Burton written all over it.
DeVito puts in a lot of energy and unforgettable character into the Penguin. He's perfectly cast thanks to his energetic personality. 
His Penguin character is a pitiful one. His impulsivity is driven by loneliness, anger, greed, rejection, and a desire for revenge. He's also drive by sexual frustration as he makes clear in one scene where he says, "I could really get into this mayor stuff. It's not about power, it's about reaching out to people - touching people - groping people!" He also tries to mack on Catwoman, but who wouldn't?

With all this motivating him, his anger and desire for revenge intensifies. He's never been loved, so he doesn't return what he never received. He's not crazy like the Joker was in "Batman."  
At first, after visiting the graves of his parents, the press are at the cemetery to bombard him with questions. Reporters refer to him as "Penguin." 

Cobblepot replies, "A penguin is a bird that cannot fly. I am a man. I have a name. Oswald Cobblepot."
Later in the film, after Batman shatters Cobblepot's public image, he returns back to the dank, cold sewers where he started with no way out yet again, thanks to Batman. He intends to exact his revenge on Gotham City, with more vengeance than before. 

One of his gang members calls him "Oswald." 

He shouts back, "My name is not Oswald! It's Penguin! I am not a human being. I am an animal! Cold-blooded!" 
The movie is quickly void of suspense. The moment where things start to become suspenseful and intense is when the Penguin unfolds his plans to kidnap and ultimately kill all of the first born sons in Gotham City. We then get a scene of his Red Triangle Gang taking children out of their homes and placing them into cages. That's quickly thwarted by Batman. As the Penguin sits in his sewer, waiting for the children to be brought to him, he's given a note (literally) written by Batman telling him the kids aren't coming. And, poof - the suspense is gone.

His plans change quickly to arming his pet penguins with little rockets which he sends out to the streets of Gotham to blow things up - more of what we've seen already.

We end on a fight between Batman and Penguin, with Catwoman soon joining in to really get her revenge on Shreck.

"Batman Returns" is an entertaining movie with memorable visuals, fantastic makeup, superb special effects, and some decent and memorable dialogue. 
With its story that's sacrificed in parts to make room for Burton to insert his visualizations and imaginings, it's clearly weaker than "Batman."