Batman Returns (1992) is undoubtedly one of the most bizarre movies of all time. You won't have any expectations for Tim Burton's film, but even so, this is a movie that is difficult to determine. This is a Batman movie, a comic movie, somewhere between an action movie and a sci-fi movie-that's clear. But is the superhero showdown also a Christmas movie?

Yes, it's that time of year again, and everyone from family to film connoisseurs sits down to watch their favorite holiday classics. However, this usually leads to an inevitable debate about what exactly is a Christmas movie and what is not. And, just like Death (1988) and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Batman Return often finds himself at the center of this debate.

But did the classics led by Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito and Michelle Pfeiffer earn a place on the holiday feast list?

Batman Returns is the sequel to Tim Burton's 1989 game-changing Batman. With Keaton replaying the role of the Dark Knight, it has gone through countless hours after its predecessor, when the hero finally established himself as the protector of Gotham City. However, when multiple new threats emerge, this title will be questioned.

Just as Gotham City was preparing to celebrate the festival, the Penguin appeared from the city’s sewers to retrieve what had been stolen from him decades ago. Elsewhere, another tortured soul, Selena Kyle, fell from the sky and was reborn as a deadly catwoman. She also began to make those who wronged her pay the price.

The lights are brighter than ever, and Batman must defend against these two threats to ensure that the residents of Gotham City do not experience real-life nightmares before Christmas.

There has been a lot of debate about whether Batman Returns is really a Christmas movie, or whether it is just a superhero movie with Christmas as the background. The fact is that both are accurate descriptions, but if we really study this movie in depth, we can say with certainty that it does meet the former's criteria.

This is not just a movie that happens to happen at Christmas. Festive elements play a role in the plot, such as the lighting ceremony and mistletoe ("It can be fatal if you eat it"). But even so, things are far more complicated than this, and Christmas itself is used to tell a story that completely subverts this season.

Batman Returns is not a horror movie, but it does tend to have the nightmarish side seen in other holiday movies, such as Burton's own nightmare before Christmas. Despite being shrouded in Christmas lights and celebrations, Gotham City still looks eerie and terrifying, and the film’s clever script portrays the three main characters as the opposite of Christmas.

As one Twitter user put it, these three tortured souls had no family in the era when they were built on the family itself; they were the ones forgotten by Christmas.

So no, Batman Returns is not your classic Christmas movie. If you want, it will take advantage of the beauty and Christmas spirit of this season and incorporate it into a completely opposite story, with the background celebrations forming an incredible contrast with a city that is completely unfamiliar with it. It relies on this contrast to make its story-without it, it would not be so successful. It was the ingenious subversion of the Christmas prototype that ultimately made it a great Christmas movie—perhaps the best.