First one essential thing: this film is not really a sequel to any franchise. Actually, the only thing that links it to the Tim Burton works are the basic characters (like Batman, Alfred, Gordon and Gotham) and the fact that this is a Batman movie. But one thing should be once more told: one shall not start comparing. Because this is going to influence everything that ensues our analysis. People say that this movie is bad because Batman is a dark and Gothic character. But doesn't anyone remember the comic book which inspired the COLORFUL and HUMORISTIC series? That's right, this movie is actually an incredible powerhouse remake of the camp 50's series: Robin's circus clothes, the Riddler's green, etc. And the movie is a reformulation, a new deal, which faces the whole Batman concept in a whole new way. What has been done here was experimenting. A "what if" situation. "What if Batman lived in a colorful neon-filled city, with giant statues and colorful thugs in the alleys? What if his car and his boat and his plane were slicker, faster and more beautifully designed? What if Batman was younger, stronger and sexier? And what if the movie had humor?" One has to face the truth: there is nothing in the Batman series like its gift to inspire our awe. The film starts in a way that never stops. And I never saw villains like the ones depicted here. First and really important: they make a great chemistry, an essential fact which didn't work between Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. Second, they are GREAT actors. Third, they create characters with charisma which make us decide between loving them or hating them. All the set design ideas are 100% effective, 100% inspiring and 100% passionating. My favorite is the scene where Riddler's sign uses the Batsign as part of the question mark. This Gotham is a city where we actually wanna live in. There are enormous statues, car overpasses, artistic graffitis and neon lights. And this is the most spectacular thing in Batman Forever: its atmosphere. This could be a movie where the characters ignored their surroundings, but here helicopters fly through eye-wash signs, and the Batmobile climbs up a wall (what a spectacular shot). This is the shake the Batman movies always wanted to have. And this one rendered the action of the first two positively arthritic. We had two movies centered around a Gothic city, with dark settings all Tim Burton's own. This movie said "now let's try something completely different". And the fact that it is the highest grossing movie of 1995 isn't casual. It has a reason. Its novelty was the reason. Unfortunately, this would be also the last time Batman would reach such novelty. Batman & Robin proved the volatility of the concept.... or maybe the director... or maybe even the characters... fact is that Batman Forever is a very special movie. It combines amazing action sequences with dream-like surroundings (just check out that circus) and charismatic leads. It is without a doubt the best movie by Joel Schumacher and it is without a doubt one of the best movies of the Batman series.