Book: Batman Returns by Craig Shaw Gardner
Edition: Paperback
Description:
Batman versus the criminal element. In Gotham City, evil never sleep not even for Christmas.
Today, a new danger is born—in the guise of a villainous figure with an umbrella full of savage tricks. He's the Penguin and he's out to take over the city. And he has an ally, she's sinuous and mysterious. And she's got nine ways of evading death. She's Catwoman. This time, Batman faces the showdown of his life.
Rating: 3 stars
Review:
The Batman Returns novelization was a fast-paced read which had the difficult task of making an already interesting movie better. However, this book fell short because the writing is choppy which at times ruins the pacing. While it also has a weird transition to showcase multiple points of view. Similar to the first Batman movie novelization which was also written by Craig Shaw Gardner, Batman/Bruce Wayne's point of view is not very prominent. Most of the story is told from The Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot, Selina Kyle/Catwoman and unscrupulous entrepreneur Max Shreck's points of view.
What stopped me from giving this two stars was that there are good parts of the story where the pacing is good and the story is flowing along. And you get some good and interesting insight into the characters. However, then the story's hit yet again with choppy writing that at times leaves out small details or changes what was shown in the movie. The writing for this wasn't as good as in the Batman novelization. At times it felt like this was an adaptation from an old screenplay instead of the final draft because there are quite a few changes compared to the movie.
I love the movie, it's a non-traditional Christmas movie and I'm glad I read the novelization. It's still as dark and twisted as the movie but just not as good as the movie.
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