I used to love them both, possibly preferring Returns if anything. But the last time I watched it, maybe 15 years ago, I felt it had aged very badly. My wife, who’s casual about this genre and hadn’t seen it before, reckoned it was only marginally more convincing than the Adam West movie.
Oh, it's not even remotely realistic. It's a gothic urban fairy tale. I'm not sure how it can "age badly" given that the Burton movies already have a retro feel. They're not period pieces but the costumes & architecture make it look like the 1930s never totally ended.
BTW, I love the fact that, when the Penguin visits his parents' grave, his coat accidentally jostles one of the fake tombstones; then when Burton made
Ed Wood, one of the characters in that film criticizes Ed Wood for a similar thing happening in one of his movies.
"Range" is not the same as "artistry." Burton has a style and a sensibility distinctly his own, born of a unique perspective and worldview.
And, honestly, when I watch some of Burton's newer stuff, I sometimes get the sense that he's trying to broaden his range but the studios won't let him because the traditional '80s/'90s Burton look sells too much Hot Topic merchandise. Much as I love his
Batman movies, I sometimes wonder what his career would have looked like if he didn't have such a big box office hit to so completely cement his image so early in his career.
But then, maybe his movies would still be exactly the same. When you see a picture of Tim Burton, if you didn't know who he was, you'd think, "He looks like a character in a Tim Burton movie." He makes movies where someone like himself makes sense.
Tsk. Why say it yourself when you can get Max Shreck to do it for you?
The DCEU films handled by Snyder are equally as valid as anything else, and, contrary to 'popular opinion', do actually treat their characters with respect... particularly Superman, who was the blandest of bland characters before Snyder and David S. Goyer treated him like an actual person with Man of Steel
IMO, there's nothing mutually exclusive about an optimistic treatment of Superman and developing Superman to be an emotionally dynamic character. I think that Henry Cavill's portrayal of Superman balances those 2 elements very well. The issue is more to do with how Superman is treated by the subjective narrative perspective of the filmmakers. Snyder & Goyer made a pair of films that never quite stop giving side-eye to the notion that someone as powerful as Superman could also be as altruistic as he is. And I'm not sure what's the point of making a
Superman movie if you don't believe in Superman.
They couldn't be more disparate and diametrically opposed. If anything, Hoechlin's smiling, self-effacing, relaxed and charming Supes is a conscious reaction against Cavill's morose, miserable, forever frowning and furrowed take on the character.
