DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Batman - The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997
By Adnan Tezer
Nov 14, 2005, 14:03 GMT

Batman is part of the American lexicon. To coincide with the DVD release of Batman Begins, Warner Brothers has released 2 disc special editions of the previous four Batman films(Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, and yes I´m sorry to say, even Batman and Robin) and packaged them into the Batman Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997.

For more in depth look at each of the two-disc special edition titles and their extras, please refer to their individual reviews.

Is the eight-disk set worth your 50 bucks? If you’re a true Batman fan and have to own all the films then yes. Personally, I would just recommend buying the Tim Burton helmed Batmans. If you’re like some people and wouldn’t violently object to owning Batman Forever, then you might as well buy the whole set.

If you’re sick and deranged enough to buy Batman and Robin separately then you have some problems that only you and a therapist can deal with. Overall, the entire set is very impressive. There are tons of extras that can satiate even the hardest to please Batman diehards. There is more than enough content to watch and each film and its individual history, along with how it relates to the comic origins of the dark knight, are painstakingly detailed.

The only complaint I would have is lack of deleted scenes from the first two Batmans. You can have deleted scenes  from the last two but not the first two? That and the lack of the original 30 second trailer for Batman is all that is missing from this impressive set. Maybe when the next Batman box set comes out in 5 years they will be included.

Batman - The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997 is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.