In pouring through loads of old “Siskel & Ebert” review clips for this morning’s “At the Movies” post, I came across this dispute over Tim Burton’s “Batman,” and I just had to post it here. Obviously it goes hand in hand with the Bat hype of the last five days, but it also provides a quintessential example of how these two worked off of one another.

As one my expect, Siskel is the one who liked the film. He was always more likely to find room for praise when it came to the blockbuster efforts, in fact, but he was no pushover. He offers sound reasoning for why he was so caught up in the world Burton and company created.

Ebert, meanwhile, found a lot of the film to be hackneyed and disputable, and being the over-powering personality, his negative feelings on a film could always seem to outweigh the positive sentiments of another. But he offered some balance, indicated with accessible clarity his appreciation for the film’s design elements, and Siskel held his own.

Just a classic example of what you haven’t seen on this show for years, and what you will likely never see again.

Have a look:

httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=XZzfc_xAJEY

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