Featurette Gallery: "Beyond Batman " (SD, 42 minutes) - The next batch includes another breakdown of the production, art and costume design. Most fun is Catwoman, whose outfit was so damn tight they had to sew Michelle Pfeiffer into it. Still, pretty darn hot. Still, while there's an undeniable qualitative drop-off in terms of the actual narrative product as this series progresses, Warner Bros.' admirable double-disc releases of each film sent them off into the digital world on more or less equal footing, which is a great thing. The first DVD incarnations of Burton's films didn't even feature the theatrical trailers, so it's nice to see these titles -- and indeed, the entire franchise -- get such an exhaustively detailed effort, with supplemental material that contextually frames each release and also openly lays forth the varying and developing motivations behind its artistic choices. A rebooted "DCU" Batman will star in an upcoming film titled The Brave and The Bold. The film will feature a new incarnation of Batman and feature Damian Wayne. In 'Batman Forever' (1995), former District Attorney Harvey Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) is terrorising Gotham City, when a new villain appears on the scene - the Riddler (Jim Carrey). Together they plot to discover Batman's (Val Kilmer) identity, using a device which can probe the human mind. Meanwhile, the caped crusader has been joined by Robin (Chris O'Donnell), whose trapeze-artist family have recently been slain by Two-Face.

O'Donnell's Robin brings up an issue strongly associated with the Schumacher Batmans, and that's their purported homoerotic subtext. Subtext probably isn't the right word, what with the constant fetishistic visuals of rubber suits (with nipples, no less), car-commercial cutaways to details of vehicles as well as costumes, and a general design philosophy that isolates these musclebound heroes in hazy dark spaces cut up with laser lighting suitable for a '70s discotheque. When street thugs are needed, Batman Forever paints them in day-glo colors like extras from a KISS music video. Critics have been going after the supposed aberrant sexuality in costumed superheroes ever since Superman comics arrived, and there's no avoiding the usual blather about men choosing to live together to fight crime and secretly preferring each other's company. Batman Forever's focus on motorcycles does sometimes remind us of Kenneth Anger, so there's something to this; but the fact is that it's just cultural baggage associated with the Schumacher films' visual style. Featurette: "Legends of the Dark Knight: The History of Batman" (SD, 18 minutes) - Perhaps my favorite featurette here, this is a very informative retrospective on seven decades of Batman. Second only to Superman in terms of sheer history and comic incarnations, I found "Legends" fascinating, if only because I knew so little about the character beyond the movies. A must-watch, I'd say. Out Of The Shadows: The Production Design Of Batman Forever • The Many Faces of Gotham City • Knight Moves: The Stunts of Batman Forever • Imaging Forever: The Visual Effects of Batman Forever • Scoring Forever: The Music of Batman ForeverShould you want to delve further into the Batman movies, then you might like to read my post ‘ Who wrote the music for Batman?‘. The post offers a detailed look at the music for the Batman Anthology. Definitely, a top-heavy film after the departure of Keaton so I can understand being under lots of pressure to make this as consistent as possible from the previous two films. I still got sour of the fact that Batman smiled after his little nightstand with Ms. Meridian. That wasn't good.

Let's start by saying this: personally, I have only seen the first Batman film with Michael Keaton previously and have not watched the other three, until now. BIG. BOLD. LAVISH. OUTSTANDING VISUAL MISCHIEF." — Janet Maslin, THE NEW YORK TIMES (Batman & Robin) DC Films Multiverse Team-Ups and Crossover Event Films Snyder Era Batman v Superman: Dawn of JusticeFeaturette: "The Bat, the Cat and the Penguin" (SD, 22 minutes) - This is a fairly fluffy promotional featurette made at the time of the film's production. It's where the interviews with Keaton and Pfeiffer came from, though it has some decent behind-the-scenes clips. Otherwise, it's pretty surface, and largely skippable. LEGENDS OF THE DARK NIGHT: THE HISTORY OF BATMAN, ON THE SET WITH BOB KANE, SHADOWS OF THE BAT: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight, BATMAN: The Heroes, BATMAN: The Villains. [MORE]: BEYOND BATMAN, BATMAN: The Complete ROBIN Storyboard Sequence, MUSIC VIDEOS. SPECIAL FEATURES]: SHADOWS OF THE BAT: The Cinematic Saga of the DARK KNIGHT Pt.6 Batman Unbound, BATMAN: The Heroes, BATMAN: The Villains, BEYOND BATMAN, DELETED SCENE: Alfred's Lost Love, Music Videos. The Dark Knight" changed all that with a decree that comic heroes need to be dark and brooding, a cross between film noir and Edgar Allan Poe. A flair for amusing morbidity must have been what led Warners to the doorstep of the wunderkind Tim Burton, an art school overachiever who turned unlikely ideas like Pee Wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice into hipper than hip hit movies. Burton brought high style and killer design skills to the 1989 Batman, a very nervous production with a confident director at the helm. Fans were concerned when Burton nominated his Beetlejuice colleague Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne, closet crimefighter, and wondered if their sacred DC comic book franchise would come down with an acute case of the cutes, Tim Burton- style. Featurette Gallery: "Beyond Batman" (SD, 44 minutes) - Here's another round of smaller featurettes, all concentrating on the production aspects. Again, this is drier stuff, and though it probably has the best of the behind-the-scenes footage on any of the four discs.

Audio Commentary - Strangely, this is the commentary I was most looking forward to, as I really wanted to hear Schumacher's take on this much-maligned third sequel. Turns out he nearly won me over -- he is well aware of the distaste for his film, but passionate and funny about the choices he made. I give him props for admitting the weaknesses, including too many characters and too much of a concession to his garish, toy-line sensibilities. He also calls the Alfred subplot what he's "most proud of" in the film. This may be the best commentary I've ever heard for a film this bad.

"Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997"

I do hope this review has been helpful to you. If you’re a fan of the Batman Anthology or you own this boxset, let me know your thoughts below. Batman Forever and Batman & Robin offer up the complimentary production doc galleries, and the fifth and sixth parts of "Shadows of the Bat," each running around 30 minutes. O'Donnell hosts a piece of promo fluff ("Riddle Me This: Why is Batman Forever?") on the third film, which also features seven deleted scenes that collectively lend some credence to the theory of a movie workshopped to death and dictated much more by studio notes and marketing directives than any sort of... oh, I don't know... script. Three music videos from Prince -- whose music appears in the film and even bled over into a companion album from Warner Bros. -- along with a storyboard sequence and profile galleries on the film's heroes and villains round things out. Anti-piracy warning - 00:12, Warner Bros Home Video clip - 00:12, Main Menu - 00:39, Feature film - 2:06:11, [SPECIAL FEATURES]: Theatrical trailer - 01:47

Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight, which includes parts 1-3: "The Road to Gotham City,""The Gathering Storm," and "The Legend Reborn"Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. Featurette Gallery: "Beyond Batman" (SD) - Five segments are included, all with titles that are self-explanatory: "Bigger, Bolder, Brighter: The Production Design of Batman & Robin" (10 minutes), "Maximum Overdrive: The Vehicles of Batman & Robin" (10 minutes), "Dressed to Thrill: The Costumes of Batman & Robin" (12 minutes), "Frozen Freaks and Femme Fatales: The Makeup of Batman & Robin" (9 minutes), and "Freeze Frame: The Visual Effects of Batman & Robin" (9 minutes). Unlike the main doc, spread across all four discs, these are more upbeat about the respective accomplishments of the film. I do have to side with Schumacher here, and say that aside from the silver nipples, there is some impressive set design and make-up effects (I hated Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze, but his make-up isn't bad). Bigger, Bolder, Brighter: The Production Design of Batman & Robin • Maximum Overdrive: The Vehicles of Batman & Robin • Dressed To Thrill: The Costumes of Batman & Robin • Frozen Freaks and Femmes Fatales: The Makeup of Batman & Robin • Freeze Frame: The Visual Effects of Batman & Robin Anti-piracy warning - 00:11, Warner Bros Home Video clip - 00:11, Main Menu - 01:23, Feature film - 2:04:40, [SPECIAL FEATURES]: Theatrical trailer - 02:27