Batman Forever
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: June 16, 1995 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
11
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Dallas ObserverMatt Zoller Seitz
Unlike Burton, Schumacher doesn't let his stylistic and thematic fascinations run away with him; he keeps one hand on the wheel at all times. The result isn't as emotionally daring and visually outrageous as Burton at his best, but it's better paced and more consistently entertaining from one sequence to the next. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
It's lighter, brighter, funnier, faster-paced, and a whole lot more colorful than before. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Schumacher's method is to use a lighter touch, to stay closer to the cartoon that Bob Kane created for DC Comics in 1939 and to temper Burton's nightmare world with an accessible, brightly colored TV palette. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
It's an art-direction, Dolby-sound, special-effects extravaganza, a grand-scale effort that's more awe-inspiring than completely successful as entertainment. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Although the film's frenetic rhythm is reminiscent of an "Indiana Jones" picture, visually Schumacher directs it like a musical, turning each image into eye candy, weaving one lush set piece into the next, as if he were the Vincente Minnelli of blockbusters. Read full review
70
Film ThreatClint Morris
If the first two "Batman" movies (1989/1992) were the storm, then Batman Forever (1995) is the rainbow at the end of it. After seeing so much dark and doom, it’s also refreshing to see some beaming color. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Working as much like a circus ringmaster as a director, Joel Schumacher has brought several critical qualities to the mix, starting with much more of a pop culture sensibility and a sense of fun than Tim Burton, who directed the first two pictures, and he has a stylish visual sensibility as well. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
There is no rhythm to the movie, no ebb and flow; it's all flat-out spectacle. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineStaff(not credited)
At best, Batman Forever is mildly diverting, brainless fun that feels like a long trailer for a better film. Read full review
63
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
With an ace pop mechanic like Joel Schumacher now in charge of our hero's bruised psyche, the patient not only survives but thrives in the garishly garnished but never groaningly gruesome Batman Forever. [16 Jun 1995, Pg.01.D]
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
As for the actual movie, it's the empty-calorie equivalent of a Happy Meal (another Batman tie-in), so clearly a product that the question of its cinematic merit is strictly an afterthought. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Carrey lights up an otherwise over-scripted, over-frenetic potboiler. Read full review
60
Washington PostHal Hinson
Sometimes thrilling, but rarely inspired, it is thoroughly-almost perfectly-adequate. Read full review
60
VarietyBrian Lowry
Yet while Schumacher has largely accomplished the goal of delivering a cinematic comic book, he's also left the movie hollow at its core -- a distinction that may not trouble Saturday-night audiences but that nonetheless dulls the film's impact beyond its sheer and unrelenting visual grandeur. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
Except for the casting, it would be difficult to find any substantial difference between this movie and the previous ones, or this movie and any number of high-tech adventure movies of the last decade. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Directed by Joel Schumacher with occasional gestures toward social commentary, and enough spectacle to mask the movie's deep down emptiness. Read full review
50
NewsweekJack Kroll
The movie does have somewhat more lilt and levity, much of it due to Jim Carrey as the Riddler. But there's still plenty of murk, physical and metaphysical, and more psychobabble about Bruce Wayne's obsessions and repressions. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Alas, Schumacher doesn't ride on the momentum; worse, he's not an action director, and the film grinds to a dead stop every time it tries to speed up. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
There's so much and so little going on here simultaneously that you're not sure whether to squirm or doze. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Director Joel Schumacher submits to the Wagnerian bombast with an overly busy surface, and the script by Lee and Janet Scott Batchler and Akiva Goldsman basically runs through the formula as if it's a checklist. Read full review
40
EmpireAdam Smith
If you can see beyond the eye-scorching neon and don't mind the desecration of a superhero icon, there's a few crumbs of enjoyment to be had. Read full review
20
The New YorkerTerrence Rafferty
Schumacher's direction is coarse and slovenly: the picture has the self-conscious jokiness of the "Batman" TV series and the smudged, runny imagery of a cheaply printed comic book. Read full review
20
TimeRichard Corliss
The only thing Schumacher and his scrupulous craftsfolk forgot to give the movie was life -- the energizing spirit of wit and passion that makes scenes work and characters breathe. Read full review
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