It’s certainly set during the period, but does Batman Returns work as a true Christmas movie? The original Batman from 1989 is still a genre landmark that also proved comic book movies could become blockbuster hits. Director Tim Burton had a stressful time making the project, however, and despite its success was reluctant to come back for a sequel. It was only when Warner Bros promised more creative control that he set about crafting arguably one of the strangest major releases ever produced.

Batman Returns is set during Christmas in Gotham, with Bruce Wayne/Batman having to deal with the rise of mysterious new villains The Penguin (Danny DeVito) and Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer). While the film was still a success, it grossed less than the original and proved controversial with parents for its darkness and sexuality. This backlash eventually led to Warner Bros’ talking Tim Burton out of returning for a third movie, with Joel Schumacher taking over for Batman Forever.

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Batman Returns is still one of the most idiosyncratic studio movies of all time, and simply couldn’t have been made by anybody but Tim Burton. That’s one reason why it’s aged so well, and that hasn’t been a comic book movie like it before or since. While every year kicks off the tedious “Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?” debate, the Batman Returns Christmas film argument is less intense, but it certainly merits discussion.

Not only is Batman Returns set during Christmas, but the holiday also plays into the story in a major way. Gotham’s public Christmas tree is a recurring element during the sequel and snow, Christmas decorations and yuletide song are all over the movie. The story twists also classic Christmas tales, with Christopher Walken’s evil businessman Max Shreck standing in as The Grinch/Scrooge character. While he at least grows enough of a heart to save his son from The Penguin, the movie doesn’t redeem him either.

Likewise, Penguin was thrown into the sewers by his parents on Christmas, and is the evil Jesus Christ figure of the story. He even emerges from Gotham’s sewers 33 years after he was abandoned while Catwoman is also the subject of several divine resurrections. While most Christmas stories are about family, Batman Returns focuses on three characters who are alone; Bruce and Penguin are orphans, while Selena – outside of a mother she never sees – only has her cats. While Bruce and Selina could have had a chance together, her desire to kill Shreck overwhelms her. Batman and Catwoman also share some romantic tension while standing under mistletoe in two key scenes.

The setting and themes of Christmas are woven throughout Batman Returns, with even the villains’ henchmen being introduced shooting out of a giant present. While the sequel isn’t feel-good family Christmas fare like Home Alone or It’s A Wonderful Life, Batman Returns totally counts as a Christmas movie. Like Burton’s Edward Scissorhands, it’s more of a melancholy fairytale. The story still ends with Bruce alone, but he does receive a present in the form of a stray cat, and he closes the film bidding Alfred “Merry Christmas.”

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Padraig Cotter
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It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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