The 1966 one. I've not yet seen all of Mask of the Phantasm. Of the serious live-action films, only the first Burton one comes close enough -- in my personal opinion -- to be good. But it's flawed as hell.
The 1966 film is fun. I also like the serials from the '40s. They're both nutty and ridiculous, but I like them anyway.
With all due respect to THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, which I was lucky enough to novelize, the 1989 movie is still my favorite.
BATMAN RETURNS The operatic, imaginative, highly artistic interpretation of The Batman & his word make it the only Batman movie I really care about ... His knight-like armour is kind of cool and novel. The catwoman outfit is unsurpassed in coolness. It's got it all ... highly attractive, fetishistic, it's humourous (with the little, strategically-placed tears & obvious stitches <along with the little cat ears>). And contrasting her with the sexually desperate & "ghastly grotesque" Penguin was brilliant. Max Shrek was alright, too. The batmobile is supremely cool ... very masculine and powerful ... the perfect wheels for its intended driver. The city itself is really cool looking ... very dark and menacing ... and unreal, in the sense that it's obviously not real. It's a set of some kind, it's on a lot somewhere, it's not on location, as it were ... and I love that. Otherwise, the only real gripe I have about it is the time-wasting plan The Penguin has of killing Gotham's firstborn. This isn't the kind of franchise, or movie, that's going to have us see kids getting slaughtered, so it's not even satisfying when The Bat appears as a shadow and puts the kibosh to it. Unlike, say, a nuclear weapon. We know that Gotham's not getting nuked out of existence, but if a baddy threatened to use one, the thing could still go off and blow up other areas, or whatever else that allows the thing to remain as an interesting threat, until the end. But otherwise, catwoman's random dropping off the radar for a while, until the movie's climax was kind of awkward, too. Despite these shortcomings, the Artistry of Batman Returns, the gorgeous cinematography and the classiness of the whole production is just so sweet. I don't really care for Tim Burton's 1989 Batman or the other movies out there. I'm not really into comicbook characters, to begin with ...
Yeah, Batman '89. It has my favorite Batman, my favorite Bruce Wayne, and my second favorite Bat-villain.
As much as I enjoy The Dark Knight, I just really enjoy seeing Bruce become Batman in Batman Begins. Also, I enjoy Liam Neeson as Ra's Al Ghul and Cillian Murphy as The Scarecrow. Here's my rankings for the rest: 1. Batman Begins 2. The Dark Knight 3. Batman 4. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice 5. The Dark Knight Rises 6. Batman Returns 7. Batman Forever 8. Batman & Robin
I like the Dark Knight the best. Batman Returns was pretty good too. I liked the Penguin played by Danny Devito.
The Dark Knight Rises (although Batman Forever is a close second). I love TDKR; as good as both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are, I honestly feel like TDKR takes most of the things that were great about those films and just ups the game with Bane, Selina, and Talia and bringing the League of Shadows.
My top three... (Not in any order) Batman Returns The Dark Knight 60s Loved the 60s one as a kid, and Batman Returns, which is so not a movie made for a 7 year old.
I have to go with Batman (1989). As for animated, I would have to go with Batman Beyond Return Of The Joker. Of course the 1966 movie and 1940's theatrical serials are also interesting. The one Batman movie that I really don't like is Superman vs. Batman. That was a pathetic and boring movie.
The Dark Knight. It's my favorite Batman movie without a doubt, but It's not really one of my favorite films of all time like it is some people's.
Batman 89 all the way, probably followed by Begins. I like each of the animated films too, but each has its own set of problems. And I find The Dark Knight to be a long-winded, self-indulgent didactic shit show held together by one of the best performances of the last 20 years. Really, remove Ledger and it's easily Nolan's worst film. Easily.