I’ve done waaaaaayy too much research into the original Batfilms.
The gist of it is that WB finally did new transfers of all four and restored the darker look to the Burton films that was never before on video. The 2005 SE DVDs and 2008ish Blu-rays were a bit closer but still not there.
I’ve unfortunately only been able to see a studio held print of Returns as an adult. So on 89 all I can do is speculate. There is a tad bit of teal creeping in on the 1080p disc of the 4k master that on the UHD disc is very very minimized. The audio remix is filth.
Returns is the disc I have major issues with. They brought in the darkness but all the cold blues have gone full teal. This was never an issue before and negates the otherwise great work done. This teal look is nowhere to be found on WB’s own 1992 studio vault Fuji release print I saw a few years ago. Unfortunately whenever I bring this up people call me crazy in spite of stating my case politely and having a recent frame of reference of a vintage print properly projected.
In the Face to Face music video you can see brief clips of telecine footage with darkness and the correct dark blues.
So 89 seems largely okay but need the theatrical audio restored. Returns needs a full color regrading plus theatrical audio.
The audio is a bit complicated. On 89 the older pre-2005 discs have a bassier and warmer mix. The LD was Dolby surround and the flipper dvd upped that same mix to 5.1 discrete.
The 2005 SE DVD had dts and Dolby 5.1 with 89 having a touch more high end clarity at the cost of all that wonderful bassy warmth. This 2005 audio was ported to Blu-ray in TrueHD.
There is also apparently a mono mix floating around on 16mm prints.
Avoid the Atmos remix at all costs which painfully destroys the sonic identity of the film.
Returns was the premiere Dolby 5.1 film but most heard it in Dolby Stereo SR and 99% of prints were SR only. The print I saw was as well. The mixes are the same but the 5.1 gives you greater discrete clarity. Yet the 2.0 SR has nice warmth and an old school 1992 flavor.
The LD if you can find an non rotted copy preserves the theatrical 2.0 SR. The 5.1 on the flipper dvd sounds relatively the same as the 2005 Dolby/DTS and Blu-ray but I haven’t done a waveform comparison.
Avoid the Atmos remix at all costs.
Don’t get me started on how Forever has a better 2.0 surround mix than 5.1 mix.