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Well I saw it Thursday(would've been Wednesday, but dad wore me out the day before and saw it with out me). I'm happy to say that the Shumacher films pretty much no longer exist to me now. It made up for Batman and Robin.
I had a few complaints, mostly being Bale's Batman voice. It sounded like he had a cold, and one scene where he's questioning someone had my sister laughing. We take serious films seriously, if it made her laugh unintentionally, it's pretty bad.
Still, with only about two problems in a 140 minute film, that's excellent. That's beyond excellent.
Did it make me forget the Burton films, like Jim hoped? Sorry man, no it didn't. It's just the way I am. I'm not a big comic fan. I never knew what to buy, so I never bothered. So the film/TV versions ARE Batman to me. The 89 Batman is pretty much how I see it. That hasn't changed. Still, I loved this film as it was closer in tone to that film than the last two. Begins not surpassing it is not a failure on it's part, since that's asking it to surpass a six year old's first look at his eventual favorite super hero. It's just not possible.
I think this film is better than Episode III. I enjoyed them about the same, but in makeup, this is the better film. Plot, story, character, etc. Even the effects served the film better and not vice-versa.
Hell, Fantastic 4 sucks in comparison, and it's not even out yet.
Now, to get Andrew Koenig for the sequel. ^_^
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My top 3 (though never definitive)
Batman
Batman Mask of the Phantasm
Batman Begins
THough I am partial to Batman the Movie, I just can't compare the West Batman to the others. It's not a fair comparison. I also haven't seen Returns for some time.