This Is Why We Love Twitter! Clip Goes Viral As 90s Kid Film Critic Slams 'Batman Returns.'
The Batman is topping the box office worldwide so it was almost inevitable anything Dark Knight is ripe for satire. In these times of viral videos come back to haunt us, a young film critic by the name of Danny Slaski shared his opinion on Batman Returns when he appeared on Faith Daniels' talk show, A Closer Look, back in 1992, and today the clip is making the rounds on Twitter.
In the clip, Danny, who today works as a product designer, took to the stage as a "junior film critic" for USA Today to discuss why he felt manipulated by Tim Burton's popular follow-up to Michael Keaton's Batman. Sounding rather well-read for a child his age, he called the film "a total attack on kids." His ire against the film stemmed from the graphic violence and The Penguin's plan to kidnap the firstborn children of Gotham with the use of clowns, a ducky boat, presents, and mobiles. Things Danny felt were beloved by kids, now being used against them.
"Penguin's total goal was to hurt kids."
To be fair, this is a well-thought-out critique, what with his distaste for the grotesque visage of Danny DeVito's terrifying Oswald Cobblepot, who "always had goop coming out of his mouth." Another disturbing image has Danny recalls, "Catwoman took out her claws and played tic, tack, toe on a man's face." When asked how many times he saw the film, "I saw it twice to get a real good view of it."
The reactions from peers in the audience were that of utter puzzlement.
The Batman isn’t the first movie to divide audiences. 1992’s Batman Returns was a powder keg, especially for teen critics. #thebatman pic.twitter.com/lv0o43HVId
— Found Footage Fest (@foundfootage) March 10, 2022
Not to dunk on a kid, but there is a slight flaw in Danny's rationale. What I find so amusing about this clip, he talks about how he was fine with seeing Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a film where a liquid metal killing machine from the future changes its appearance in order to trick a child into trusting it, with the goal of murdering the said child. Maybe not the best reference you could have used there, kiddo.
Listen, this is all in good. I'm honestly impressed with any child who is savvy enough to see the deeper meaning in a film and formulate a valid argument accordingly.
The Batman is in theaters now.
