Before adults complained that Batman was too childish, kids complained about Batman Returns
Video unearthed by the Found Footage Festival reveals one child’s complaints about Batman Returns

Since the backlash aimed at 1997's Batman & Robin, the live-action Batman films have taken a decidedly darker tone. The company line on this stuff, at least among fans, is the darker/grittier/broodier, the better. From Nolan to Snyder, and now Matt Reeves, the Dark Knight has embraced the shadows, breaking the legs of countless impoverished Gothamites in horrific detail.
But it wasn’t always this way. The reason Joel Schumacher’s Batman movies took a lighter tone was due to how far into the Twisted Mind of Tim Burton™ the movies went. The reaction to Batman Returns was, um, not great. Too violent, too dark, and too horny, cried parents to the movie’s corporate partners. McDonald’s, in particular, beared the brunt of the controversy because of their Batman Returns-themed Happy Meal Toys.
It wasn’t just parents complaining, though. Some kids were up in arms about the Penguin drooling black goo and Catwoman turning a man’s face into a game of tic-tac-toe. USA Today’s Summer Junior Movie Critic Danny Slaski, 10, was one of those critics in 1992, and it’s all documented in a clip of Faith Daniels’ talk show, A Closer Look.
Recently shared by the Found Footage Fest, a comedy collective known for discovering, sharing, and dunking on old VHS tapes, the clip of Slaski panning the movie is already making the rounds on Twitter because how could it not?