Batman Returns Soundtrack Review
MSRP* – $9.98
Published by Warner Bros. Records
Purchase From Amazon
Review by Gordon Freeman

Instrumentation: 9
Vocalization: 8
Technical / Quality: 8
Originality: 7
RePlayability: 9
Overall Score: 8.5

Introduction

I am a Danny Elfman nut. There. I said it. This is the first of hopefully many Score reviews and I wanted to get that fact out in the open as soon as possible. I love movie scores of all kinds, I listen to them repetitiously. But I always seem to come back to any score by Elfman. I was given a gift card for the Wherehouse recently and couldn’t pick anything out off of there website. There were like 5000 items and I couldn’t find anything that piqued my interest. Then I saw it. One of the few Elfman scores I had failed to purchase. Batman Returns. I liked the movie fine, actually more now than I used to (that’s another review) but I had never thought about purchasing the score. I am so glad I did. It has turned out to be one of my all time favorites.

Here Kitty Kitty…

Danny Elfman has a way of using normal instruments in extraordinary ways. The Batman Returns score shows this off amazingly. A good example of this is the recurrent theme for Selina Kyle / Catwoman. He uses the violins at such a high register it borders on shrill. He harnesses that tone and makes it in to a unique, haunting sound. All of the instrumentation is spot on in this score. Lots of percussion helps to drive the action sequences, lots of strings helps to soften the more dramatic ones. As with almost every Elfman score I can think of, he uses a choral background as an instrument in it’s own right. The vocals never have words per se, but add a haunting quality that makes it feel vague and familiar at the same time.

Have we heard this before???

As far as originality goes, have we heard this before? Kind of, but not really. The basic Batman theme is back for a few of the tracks but mostly the score is very original. Unlike his work in Spiderman 2 (Again, that’s another review…) this score takes the best elements from the first movie and adds them to a new repertoire. The result is familiarity without copying.

20 times and still counting…

I’ve listened to this score a good twenty times at least since I got it in December. None of the disc seems boring or repetitious to me. I enjoy it as much or more every time I listen to it. In fact, like movies repeat viewings can help you catch things you might have missed the first dozen times.

So are you recommending it, or not?

As you can tell I really enjoyed this score. This is a great example of the score enhancing an otherwise mediocre movie. I recently watched Batman Returns for the first time since listening to the score by itself. I must say it helped me to enjoy the movie more this time around. So, Danny, you done good. As usual.

Favorite Tracks: 1, 2, 6, 7, 18, 19, 20

* MSRP may change without notice. All views expressed in this review are that of the reviewer, not that of Twisted Frog Design©