This has been a point of contention but it really shouldnt be. Danny DeVitos penguin is woeful. His performance is woeful, the dialogue is woeful (I think the word youre looking for is aaaaggghhh - shudder), the look is woeful, and the opportunity to bring one of the most iconic Batman characters of all time the screen was squandered so badly we havent seen him since. It would have been far better to have stuck to the character in the comics, clearly. But for arguments sake lets imagine Burton couldnt be swayed on this and had his heart set on this vision for the character even if he wanted to make a faithful adaptation of the source material. Okay cool it could still could have worked, and it should have been interesting to watch. After all the character is Bruce Waynes mirror in many ways (both children of wealth who have lead opposite existences but at the same time know what its like to be orphaned), and from that narrative thread alone you could pull all kinds of story-telling gems. But what do we get instead? A gross, perverted, loud-mouthed, raw fish eating (yes they actually made the character eat raw fish becausepenguins) bird man that has no real character development and simply is enemies with Batman because Batman is there. He inexplicably leads a circus gang as well (of course he does) and with that circus gang which is smaller than Danny Oceans crew, he wants to kidnap all the first born children in Gotham. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj_5qjiPFmY Because Jack Nicholson got to be completely unhinged playing an unhinged character, that became the formula for these films and Burton and DeVito figured that the same kind of hammy, grating, over the top theatrics would suit this character - even though those characteristics only really suited the Joker. The whole character is just a cynical grab for attention and cash, where rather than thinking about making an interesting story or character, everyone involved figured if you make the Penguin loud enough, people will love it. Oh and in the movie he ran for Mayor despite being just a generally vile human/bird. Actually now that we mention that
Contributor for WhatCulture across the board, and professional student.
Sports obsessed. Movie nerd. Wrestling tragic. Historical junkie.
I have only loved three things my entire life: my family, Batman, and the All Blacks.
