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When I was a kid and the movie first came out, I remember being kind of ambivalent about the Penguin.  I didn't see the point behind changing him but, hey, it's a new Batman movie.  As I got older, I hated the changes.  They just pissed me off.

But a couple of years ago, I came back to BR (after a fairly heavy comics binge) and I realized there really was no way Burton could've adapted the character directly from the comics and had enough of a character to carry the threat for an entire movie.  The character he created was derived very heavily from the comics but with that extra oomph to make him a genuine threat while simultaneously making him a pitiable figure.  I mean, yeah, Cobblepot was one nasty SOB but you can't help feeling sorry for him in certain scenes.  You can also picture that whatever his problems might've been, things would've been a lot different if his parents had actually loved him.

Overall, my perception of him has changed a lot of the years.  Nowadays, he's easily one of the best parts of the whole movie for me.  I love the character and DeVito's portrayal of him.

It's good popcorn entertainment.  I really dug the whole scene with the mob leaders and the Joker in the kitchen (the vanishing pencil scene).  It's in my top five scenes from the whole movie.

I don't see any huge difference between what Freeman and Caine did in TDK vs. BB.  They were funny and entertaining in both, arguably better in TDK.   Freeman's scene with Reese where the latter tries to blackmail Bruce was also a hoot.

The fight scenes were better this time around, although I do wish Nolan would pull the camera back a little bit and get some wideshots in there so we can see just how good Batman really is.  But it's a minor quibble, I still liked it.

The "why so serious" speech with Michael Jai White.  Ledger is so good in that scene that you forget how bad White sucks, which is no small testimony to Heath's performance.  This too is in my top five.  Given how burnt out this catchphrase was before the movie even opened, that's high praise indeed.

Batman flying to Hong Kong and dragging Lau back to Gotham was awesome too.  I'm aware of the criticisms of this sequence but I don't care.  The idea of having the moxie to fly to another country and drag a foreign national back to the States is pure Batman.  Loved it.

I'm not as up on all this stuff as I probably should be but given the vintage of the Burton films, I wouldn't expect too much of an upgrade.  In fact, there's a sense in which they might look worse since HD exposes a level of clarity that would've been unheard of when Burton made those films... so matte paintings, models and other effects might come off looking a lot worse than they originally did.

^ The difference being that the Nolan criticisms are reactions to the film as well as the hype behind it while your Burton criticisms are pretty flimsy and come only as a response to people imparting criticisms about Nolan's films (not even him personally) in this pro-Burton forum.

I'm struggling to see your justification here.

I mean if this new series is supposed to be real-worldly, then why would Batman run around in a suit for over a year and not be able to move his head?

Precisely.  That's why I think of the Nolan franchise in general and TDK in particular to be "check your brain at the door" movies.

I thought Keaton was very intimidating as Batman. The only complaint was Keaton's height I suppose. Which is why they replaced him with Val Kilmer.

Keaton not wanting to associate himself with the trash that was BF might've had something to do with it too...

And me without a Blu-Ray player.  Or an HDTV.   

Burton trashing time.

Did you not see the part where I said my take on TDK wasn't an insult?  How does bashing Burton's films in any way reduce Nolan's "flaws" as a filmmaker?

I've got very few positive things to say about BB but I'll defend TDK.

The Dark Knight has more depth and themes than both Burton films put together. That is the truth, no matter how much you argue against.

Even if that's true, I don't think Nolan explores his themes to the extent that Burton does.

Burton is both uncomfortable with adult emotions and unable to focus on the overall portrait.

I would say his Batman certainly is at times.  That's certainly a take on the character that resonates with the comics (or certain comics anyway).  Those are sensibilities that Burton, as a filmmaker, clearly identifies with.  A director should find elements in the material that he relates to so I don't see how this is a criticism.

He is all about creating atmosphere. Burton has an inability to tell a coherent story. He sacrificed the narrative for the sake of the visuals. Style over substance. He focuses mainly on the villains.

There's an argument that BR has narrative issues (there's really no reference to Shreck's hypothetical power plant after his meeting with Bruce).  I can see it both ways actually.  In any case, Burton has always been a visual filmmaker.  I stumbled across an interview with Daniel Waters where he expressed awe (and no small amount of relief) that Burton was able to visually bring across all the expository stuff he cut from the script.  There were originally all these huge speeches for Batman to make, but Keaton and Burton both (wisely, in my opinion) figured Batman wouldn't say things like that and Burton could convey all those things using other methods.

Incidentally, a friend of mine overall enjoyed TDK but he maintains that his biggest criticism of Nolan's film is the absolute lack of atmosphere, particularly for Gotham City.  In that sense, I most certainly agree with him.

As for the villains hogging the scenery, in Burton's films the villains are mirror reflections of Batman.  Batman's presence is felt in every single scene even if he's not actually in it.

The scripts lacked any character development for Batman. That section is disappointingly hollow.

Again, much of Batman's growth is subtextual.

He is also a terrible action director.

I wouldn't say he's terrible but he's certainly not Michael Bay.  On the other hand, I've never watched the climax of B89 (particularly the belfry sequence) and thought to myself "y'know, Burton just can't direct action sequences".  I've always been immersed in the characters, the operatic score and the pretty otherwise pretty good action scenes we do get.

Generic score? An Elfman soundtrack would not suit Nolan's world. I liked The Dark Knight soundtrack. It works excellently when associated with the film.

I don't think anybody's asking for Elfman'ish music.  I personally, however, do not appreciate Zimmer's synthesized scores.

^ I somewhat agree, except that certain films are clearly entitled to it.  Superman Returns is a good example, I think.  I've never seen a SR bashfest I didn't want to contribute to and help perpetuate. 

http://thedarkknightsucks.com/

They have some points but, again, I think they're missing the popcorn movie angle the movie is supposed to be appreciated/criticized in.

And this was hillarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2yv8aT0UFc