Reviews at the time called it too dark, putting off mommies wanting to take their kids! Thanks to them we got two kiddie fest movies aimed at selling toys.

Most people here wouldnt be old enough to even remember the reasons. Im one of those people lol. If i were to just go by watching the film and knowing the history. The movie was kinda long & boring and its a sequel. Most people got their fix of seeing the first live action Batman movie a few years prior. The event was over.

I too saw it when it released (or was it on video shortly after?) and I'd definitely argue that it was less compelling than the original. The villains were almost depressing--all but Max Shreck were tragic misfits--and the film very much felt like it existed entirely on a set. (Which it did.) Even the Penguin's death felt weirdly tragic and anti-climactic, as Burton spent most of the film making him out to be a victim of uncaring parents who was simply trying to repay an unfeeling world, and its rich gentry, for what was done to him. Not exactly a film you want to rush back into the theater and watch a second time. In fact, I can't say I've actually completed it more than twice.

It's not a very enjoyable film. And the tragic nature didn't make you punch the air and say "good job Batman, you got them!".

Maybe that's what was missing, a sense of triumph.

@NotoriousRio said:

Reviews at the time called it too dark, putting off mommies wanting to take their kids! Thanks to them we got two kiddie fest movies aimed at selling toys.

I remember really wanting to like the new 'Batman Forever', but Tommy Lee Jones was missed the mark on Two Face. I felt like he was competing with Jack Nicholson. Nicole Kidman seemed to overplay her part too. Ultimately, that's the fault of the director, who didn't have a vision for the characters.

I think after Batman Returns, a lighter mood was needed and the reboot could have worked, it just didn't get the balance right.

@intothenightalone said:

I remember really wanting to like the new 'Batman Forever', but Tommy Lee Jones was missed the mark on Two Face. I felt like he was competing with Jack Nicholson.

I actually felt he was trying to out-do Jim Carrey. Carrey was so OTT in every role during that period, almost as though he'd mainlined lithium, that he could overwhelm every other actor. In a funny coincidence, I read just a day or so ago that Tommy Lee HATED Jim Carrey and wanted nothing to do with him. When Carrey met Jones at a restaurant Jones made it clear that he thought Carrey's behavior was ridiculous and off-putting. But I have a feeling that Schumaker preferred the cartoonish nature of Carrey's performance and pushed Jones to try to be more animated as well. Just speculation on my part, but I found it interesting that you brought this up so soon after I'd read that article.

I'd just learned that as well. I watched some youtube videos on the Batman movies and things you didn't know. I know Jim Carey isn't that liked by people who work with him but behaving like that in a restaurant is ridiculous. And the way Jim described it, it seemed to come as such a shock.

It was less successful for very simple and obvious reasons:

• It lacked the novelty of the first; "Batmania" was impossible to recapture.

• Hyped up "parents backlash" and lukewarm critical reception.

• Batman is pretty much a supporting character to the villains and doesn't do much of anything; when he is doing something, he is typically beaten.

• It's too different in tone and style from '89 and is simply not as good or as satisfying a movie as the first; it's far more a Tim Burton movie than a Batman movie.

@AlienFanatic said:

I read just a day or so ago that Tommy Lee HATED Jim Carrey and wanted nothing to do with him. When Carrey met Jones at a restaurant Jones made it clear that he thought Carrey's behavior was ridiculous and off-putting.

Good old Tommy - I bet he had a lot of time for Robin Williams as well...