While Returns didn't have the sheer dark majesty of the first soundtrack, it, like the film itself, had its own kind of brilliance to it. Returns remains my favorite film of the franchise. Burton got it; he did the characters so completely right that I walked out of that theater instantly enamored with the film. He caught the spirit of Bob Kane's creations exactly as they should be, and he did an even better job than the first time. Souxsie and the Banshees single was far better than anything Prince contributed in the first film. The opening sequence was a dark and majestic update to the original theme, and the Banshees music playing when Bruce sees Selina at the party (and then goes dancing) was pure magic.

Quite right!
And we have to keep in mind that "Returns" is a Tim Burton film first and a Batman film second, and the score reflects this nicely. Think of the dark, tortured tragedy of "Edward Scissorhands" combined with the propulsive energy of "Batman," and you get the "Returns" score. And by the way, Mr. Clemmenson, Elfman had "cartoony themes" because the characters were, well, kinda cartoony. Is this not a comic book movie we're talking about, and a Burton film to boot? Of course the score will be corny, it's supposed to be! Both the film and score were very different from the first movie, simply because the studio gave Burton complete control over his sequel. He wasn't ALLOWED to make it like this in 1989.

> While Returns didn't have the sheer dark majesty of the first soundtrack,
> it, like the film itself, had its own kind of brilliance to it. Returns
> remains my favorite film of the franchise. Burton got it; he did the
> characters so completely right that I walked out of that theater instantly
> enamored with the film. He caught the spirit of Bob Kane's creations
> exactly as they should be, and he did an even better job than the first
> time. Souxsie and the Banshees single was far better than anything Prince
> contributed in the first film. The opening sequence was a dark and
> majestic update to the original theme, and the Banshees music playing when
> Bruce sees Selina at the party (and then goes dancing) was pure magic.

I agree. I think this is one of the best sequel scores ever composed, as well as one Elfman's best. I'm actually listening to it now (the expanded version from La-La Land Records), and have loved it since I got the first album back in 1992. I agree with Christian about the sound quality, but the expanded has fixed that with better mixing. Two stars is way too harsh; that's what he should have given the themeless "Hellboy 2."