It’s ironic how in this box set contains two of my favourite movies of all time, yet there are 2 others of which are my most disliked movies of the entire Batman franchise. But generally this isn’t a bad buy what so ever, apart from the Joel Schumacher movies that devolve the more superior Batman movies in the reminiscent sense.
Let me start of by saying Batman 1989 is a great blu ray! The movie is fantastic and looks really nice on screen. The acting of Michael Keaton is fantastic and stands the test of time as him being Batman generally – He is just that damn good (and preferably my favourite Batman ever) Joker is also played brilliantly by Jack Nicholson. We also get to see Jack Napier before he gets dropped into a vat of chemicals turning him into Joker – A more psychotic and crazy freak whose plan is to terrorize the streets of Gotham and fool them into trusting them. He even gets into T.V stations for crying out loud – but that’s not a bad thing in actuality it’s really awesome! He has no real motive other than anarchy to spread and he takes an interest into a girl called “Vickie Vale” a photojournalist, who becomes fascinated by a story on the BATMAN that this guy called “Knox” wrote. She also spends time with Bruce Wayne and tries to fathom who he is to that of which he keeps inside, but she is determined in her own mind to understand him – and the interactions between him and her are just basic, but from our perspective show how much enigma Bruce really has, and that is brilliant to me.

I love the cast for this especially and the Bruce Wayne and Batman of course. Tim Burton’s approach was excellent leading up to Batman Returns, which was a much more darker movie and was more Tim’s vision than anything, but I appreciate it. Danny Devito was the perfect casting of Penguin and really conveyed it’s brilliant character development. The casting was good – Christopher Walken was also brilliant as Max Shreck, but my impression really cannot be explained of why – but I suppose I can’t question why because it is Christopher Walken, who plays weird roles. And of course we got Michael Keaton as Batman once more!

And then we got Batman Forever, which kind of downplayed Batman and Bruce Wayne in many ways, but more concerning casting. I mean wow… The dis-continuity in this movie is so apparent. Harvey Dent is now Two-Face? How the hell did this happen? Wasn’t Harvey in 1989, played by Billy Dee Williams? I mean, yeah we knew it was going to happen, in terms of the Two Face transformation, but still. The Riddler is interesting, but becomes tedious after various times of seeing him. It’s just a colourful show really… Not much more to say, but worse than the movies that were made before it.
And then Batman & Robin. Let me just say, if you haven’t seen it I don’t recommend you do… unless you’re me and enjoy Arnold Schwarzenegger cracking lame puns… which also get tiring after time.

Bottom line: The Burton ones should be bought separate from the other 2 worthless movies. There are great features on them, like character profiles, commentary, stories behind Batman and other characters, Behind the scenes and many more.
If you like Batman’s movies (and also Joel Schumacher’s) I recommend you get this… but if you have different opinions on both of them buy either Tim’s or Joel’s separate.

Ok the Batman anthology Covers the 4 films released 1989-1997. I won’t claim that all 4 films are classics seems to me that the level of Tim Burton involvment over the 4 movies is uncannily mirrored in the quality of the movies.
Boxed set including the first four Batman movies.

Batman (1989) Directed by Tim Burton see the start of the 4 films and a very strong start indeed. Inspired by Frank Millars Batman: Dark Knight Returns We get a strong/Dark Batman (Michael Keaton) storyline with the Joker being the main Villan (wonderfully played by Jack Nicholson)and the Gotham has a strong Gothic/Burton feel to it. 5/5 I love this film

Batman Returns. Burton Directed this movie also. Keaton Plays Batman again this time with the Penguin(Danny Devito)Max Schreck (Christopher Walkden)and Catwoman (Michelle Pffiefer), Line up for a wickedly twisted tale set against the Dark and Gothic Burton Gotham city. 4/5 Good cast, well acted, well written. I really like this film

Batman Forver The Directors role is handed over to Joel Schumacher though Burton remains onboard to produce. This outing sees Val Kilmer take on the lead role of Batman and the arrival during the film of Chris o’donnel as Robin. The Bat has 2 villians to deal with in the shape of Harvey Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and the Riddler (Jim Carey) Both of which turn in good performances with Nicole Kidman also appearing as Psycholigist Doctor chase who is Batmans love interest in this movie. This film steps away from the dark gothic Burton Gotham in favour for a more colourful neon light approach. The story isn’t the best but the performances make for a credible enough film. Harvey two face seems a little wrong in the costume and at times feels a little more like the Joker mark II though the Careys performance as the Riddler works with his OTT sytle of acting which outside of the role and maybe the mask usually grates for me. not the best but fun to watch and not as awful as some reviewers have said 3/5

Batman and Robin. Burton has left the franchise though Joel Schumacher stays onboard to direct again. Batman changes to George Clooney, Chris O’donnel is Robin again. The 2 Villans this time are Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarznegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman). You should always worry when in the credit list at the start of a film the 1st named actor isn’t the lead! Arnie’s name is 1st up followed by Clooney and a sense that the makers want to push the names in this film to make up for its short commings. The Burtonesque Gotham along with the darkness in the Batmans character seem nothing but a distant memory in this film. The Plotline is very thin and Arnies performance as Mr Freeze is very poor. They plotline offers him up as an evil villain but wants you to like him in for the good he can do. Obviously Mr Schwarznegger had long past the “Evils” of 1st Terminator film and the film company felt they can’t make everyones favourite action movie hero ruthlessly evil. Well overall the film is watchable but you probably wont keep dipping back into it. 2/5 im not so keen but its watchable.

All 4 films have great blu-ray picture quality and great HD mutli-channel sound. Extras appear on all 4 movies and at these cheap prices a real bargain.

… but in a good way! So far, I’ve seen the first 3 of the 4 movies, and I’m impressed by both the picture and (especially and more importantly!!) the sound quality! True HD does sound rather fantastic in my home cinema (although my wife may not share my enthusiasm…). Also, there’s a lot of interesting bonus material on each of the discs. And, considering what I paid for this set (and then comparing to what I’ve had paid if I’d bought it here in Switzerland!!), this is a real must-buy for any Bat-Fan!!

You will find on all the four Blu-Rays these subtitles:
Main Movie: English, english for the hearing impaired, french, german, german for the hearing impaired, italian, italian for the hearing impaired, castilian, latin american spanish, dutch, portugues, brasilian portugues, danish,
Audio commentary subtitles: Chinese. korean

When I use Japanese blu-ray player.

Open up Japanese submit.

All 4 films were surprisingly good! particularly 1 and 3. An excellent anthology, stongly recommend buying.

The Batmania is back with “Batman – The Motion Picture Anthology” in Blu-ray! An excellent release with spectacular sound and perfect image! It’s worth to buy it! =)

Batman Audio:

Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1
Dolby Digital 5.1: English.
Dolby Digital 2.0: Castilian Spanish, French, German, Italian.
Dolby Digital 1.0: Brazilian Portuguese, Latin Spanish.

Batman Returns Audio:

Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1
Dolby Digital 5.1: English 5.1, German, Italian, French.
Dolby Digital 2.0: Latin Spanish.
Dolby Digital 1.0: Castilian Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese.

Batman Forever Audio:

Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1
Dolby Digital 5.1: English, Castilian Spanish, French, German, Italian.
Dolby Digital 2.0: Brazilian Portuguese.
Latin Spanish 2S.

Batman & Robin Audio:

Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1
Dolby Digital 5.1: English, Castilian Spanish, French, German, Italian.
Dolby Digital 2.0: Brazilian Portuguese, Latin Spanish.

As I’ve written lengthy reviews of the films themselves and their special featues for the DVD releases I shan’t retread old ground here.
Let me answer the question you’re probably asking yourself if you’re viewing this item;

“Is it worth the double dip!”

For my money, YES! Particularly if you own these films in their original pan & scan format on ‘vanilla’ discs.

Regardless of how you feel about the Burton / Schumacher Bat-films one can scarvely argue that each instalment is a visual triumph of production design and the HD transfers really make the films’ unique aesthetics come to life.

The Gotham of Batman 1989 has never looked so shadowy and intimidating! In 1080p the streets look so much more grime encrusted, bullet riddled and garbage strewn.

But of course, the visual connoisseur knows that there’s more to HD than clarity and the new transfers are alive with colour and texture too.

The wondrous dark winter wonderland of Batman Returns truly glistens in HD with the contrasts between the sharp blacks of the buildings and costumes and the white fluffy texture of the snow looking paricularly vivid.

And, while I have mixed feelings about the Scuhumacher films, the colours in Batman Forever and Batman and Robin have never looked so bold and vibrant!

All the wonderful extras from the Special Edition DVDs are thankfully present and the sound is equally rich and immersive (though I don’t have Dolby True HD Surround… yet!)

In short… If you call yourself a Batman fan then this anthology should be right next to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight on your shelf. Especially for less than a tenner per disc.

These films are great this set contains all four of the previously released Blu-ray they come with all of the features that were prevously released on the double disc Region 1 dvds.

They are encased in a foil box set that contains the Blu-ray cases unlike that of the American version which I believe comes in slime line packaging.

All of the transfers are great sound and picture quality is amazing Batman 1989 certainly has never looked or sounded as good as it does on this particular transfer well worth the buy if you haven’t brought them separately as getting the set works out cheaper that buying them individually.

My only problem is the lack of the digital transfer of Batman 1989 which got released with the anthology and the separate edition of the film in America.

But otherwise this set is really worth having for any Batman fan that doesn’t own all four films even Batman and Robin is worth a watch.

10/10