Batman Returns opened bigger than Batman the Movie--in fact, it opened bigger than any previous film ever made-but in the long run it wasn't as successful financially. This time, the Caped Crusader (Michael Keaton) is up against the Penguin (Danny DeVito), the hideously deformed scion of a wealthy Gotham City family. The Penguin plots with evil businessman Max Schreck ($Christopher Walken) to become mayor and then turn Gotham into a cathedral of crime. Upon overhearing these plans, Schreck's mousy secretary Selena Kyle ($Michelle Pfeiffer) is tossed from a high-rise window by her boss. Rescued by a covey of kittens, Selena transforms into the leather-clad Catwoman (the scene in which she drinks an entire carton of milk is worth the admission price in itself). In this guise, she teams with the Penguin and Schreck to divvy up their ill-gotten gains and help discredit Batman-but she also has her own scores to settle. Decked out with eye-popping visual effects (love those penguin pallbearers!), impressive production design, clever props, and first-rate stuntwork, Batman Returns is unfortunately often laid load by the unnecessary mean streak in Daniel Waters' screenplay (the mid-film murder of "The Ice Princess" is particularly pointless). But that's not what's really bothering us: Why was Michelle Pfeiffer, who essays three distinct characterizations in Batman Returns (Selena "before", Selena "after" and Catwoman), utterly ignored by the Academy? It's easy to see why Michael Keaton dropped out of the Batman role after this one-with three villains at large, he's barely in the film. Paul "Pee-Wee Herman" Reubens, Vincent Schiavelli and Jan Hooks play significant bits, while Pat Hingle and Michael Gough make welcome returns as, respectively, Commissioner Gordon and Alfred the Butler. Its shortcomings aside, Batman Returns is pretty good-though, at 126 minutes, sometimes too much of a good thing.