I agree and disagree.

I think the original 3 batman films from the 90's where brilliant and really captured the comic essence of batman, its roots as it were.

No denying that Jack was the best Joker and I thought it such a shame that the films were ruined later on when Keaton left.

I mean did anyone notice how film by film the sleek bat mobile just seemed to get more and more ridiculous? Not to mention the batman suit.

Despite that I would not slate the new films. These are set on a completely different take to the batman story, a less comical, more serious/realist approach (pretty much what they have been doing with the new bond films) so its difficult to compare the two genres and say which one is better.

Whether Heath Ledger's death attributed to the films success remains debatable, it was a good performance, there is no denying that. He plays the part of a psycho and plays it well but again you cannot compare his role to that of Jacks. Jack played a loon and played that well, plenty of maniacal laughs, crazy props (the gun, the flower) and some brilliant one liners "if you gotta go, go with a smile".

Despite being the same character they are completely different characters, portrayed and played by their respective actors in completely different lights.

I love the new films as great films and the old films (up to 3) as classics.

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LMAO! I have a place in my heart for that one too, TJ! One of those movies that's so bad it's awesome.

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Hi I am a new member , i am here to suck myself off and tell everyone about it. How lame and twisted am I?

I *told* you it was the best Batman movie ever!!!!!

Seriously, there's a nice dose of 'BOTP-izing' in that movie/series, but it's always done tongue in cheek, with a wink to the adults who know exactly what's going on.

Psssst.... also in that movie, Bruce Wayne goes on a date with Miss Kitka (Catwoman in disguise) and Bruce is drinking milk out of a brandy snifter!

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I love the Batman films and am not really very picky as to the style of Batman. I will say that I do not care for Batman when it is too dark and drained of the fun factor, which is why I don't really watch the Nolan films very much. Now, I am not dissing those films in any way, as I recognize that they are very well made, strong in characterization, and offer good drama and action. BUT, I will never be a huge fan of this obsession with realism that has infected movies today. Sometimes, I want flights of fancy. Sometimes I want to be transported to the weird non-existent world of Gotham City that is unlike anything I have ever seen. Sometimes I want a does of silliness here and there. Sometimes I want an over the top villain. For this reason, I will stand by Batman The Animated Series as the absolute best depiction of Batman on screen to date. Everything was damned near perfect with that show, and it offered a wonderful mix of dark and series AND lighter moments and a touch of silly here and there. Mark Hamill was the best Joker, and Kevin Conroy was the best Batman/Bruce Wayne.

I love the old series with Adam West. It really annoys me that some folks are so offended by it, as the show actually was reflective of the comic books of that time period. The show carries a lot of blame for causing the comic books to be silly, but anyone who looks back at that era will see that the comic books had become quite silly well before the show premiered. It was the sixties, so why not enjoy it for exactly what it is in the context of the era it was made? The first season is the best, as the camp was mixed in well with better written stories and an actual feeling of danger to the adventures. Then the movie came out and it was a hoot as well. I own the DVD! Season 2 continued to be pretty good, but season 3 was rather bad with exception to a handful of episodes. Budget slashes, the lack of cliffhangers, the fact that the style had gone from clever camp to self parody...it just isn't nearly an enjoyable.

Comic books of the old days were fun, but I think my favorite era of Batman was the bronze age, the 1970s. Dennis O'neal took Batman and restored it to a more serious mood again, while not removing the high elements of adventure and detective skills. He also injected a nice dose of the supernatural, introducing one of the all-time great villains in the form of Ra's Al Ghul. The 1980's started losing my interest, as the series was becoming too gritty and mean for my taste. By 1989, Burton came alone and offered us the first darker version of Batman that finally enabled the general populace to accept Batman as more than just the campy crusader of the 1960s. Comic book fans already knew this, but the general population seemed only to think of Adam West as Batman. While I enjoyed the film very much and do agree with the OP that Jack Nicholson was an awesome Joker, I still continued to lose interest in the comic books and they were going overboard in dark and gritty styles. Meh.

Batman Returns was not a good film for me back in the day, but I have since come to appreciate it much better these days. I still say that it succeeds better as a Tim Burton film than it does a Batman Film, if that makes any sense. I actually enjoy Batman Forever as well, though it is much lighter in tone while still managing to hold on to some dark elements. I would dearly love to see the film as originally intended before the studio required cuts. The film as we know it is missing lots of great material and it rearranged entirely. It is my dream to someday be able to see a director's cut that restores the movie to what it was intended to be. Batman & Robin I can watch for a joke or a good laugh, but it isn't a good film. It is just too stupid when all is said and done. WB thought that these elements were what viewers wanted, but they were wrong. Batman Forever offered a much better mix of style than the pure campy self parody that this fourth film was. But yet, I do own a copy!!!!!

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