I truly feel sorry for anyone under the age of 25, because the earliest forms of Batman they have seen on film have been played by either Val Kilmer or George Clooney. But a few years prior to Schumacher’s bastardization of the franchise, Tim Burton gave us a couple of movies called Batman and Batman Returns. Michael Keaton played Batman in both of them, and I think he was great. He really cared about the character. I remember once seeing a behind-the-scenes special of Michael Keaton as Batman from the second film. He is sitting down and talking on the phone in his batsuit. He stops for a second, looks behind the camera at Tim Burton, and asks: “How would Batman sit when he is on the phone?” Little things like that really make me appreciate the effort he put into it. And I do still highly enjoy those two movies, even though Christopher Nolan has since come along as reinvented the whole Batman universe. If you are under the age of 25, please go check out the Tim Burton movies. They’re a lot of fun!
P.S. I do know that Michael Keaton was in a bunch of other movies, but seriously, he was Batman, for crying out loud!