At the time, it wasn't officially called BATMAN RETURNS but BATMAN II and it was presumably a more direct sequel to the 1989 movie. But Tim Burton didn't like Hamm's draft so he brought in Daniel Waters (and later Wesley Strick for rewrites) to handle the screenplay: http://www.batman-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=2205.msg33685#msg33685
http://www.batman-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=2205.msg33689#msg33689
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Reply by Mrs.peacock
on November 27, 2018 at 1:11 AM
Having read all three screenplays my personal feeling is that it's almost a shame that Burton didn't direct Sam Hamm's script, which is more of a straight sequel to the original film and features a more coherent, albeit arguably more cartoonish (i.e. buried treasure), plot. Despite the campiness of the buried treasure plotline and this version of the Penguin with his bird-motif related crimes (despite being a released convict Mr Bodiface is a distinguished ornithologist who trains birds to attack his enemies in occasionally unpleasant ways) there is some intelligent and dark commentary going on, particularly in relation to Bruce's wealthy blue-blooded peers and their rapacious form of capitalism, and although not quite as realistic as Nolan's movies, the script is less of an absurd (and I don't necessarily use that word in a pejorative sense) fantasy/fairytale but a rather more credible thriller/film-noir. Moreover, Catwoman and the Penguin are much closer to their comic-book counterparts (in the sense that Catwoman is a thief) except in the respect that this Catwoman is an entirely unsympathetic villain as opposed to the anti-heroine of the comic-books and the Burton and Nolan movies.