Is 2004's Catwoman connected to Batman or Gotham City?

No. The film strips away all traditional DC Comics lore, removing Batman, Gotham City, and Selina Kyle entirely. Halle Berry plays a brand-new character named Patience Phillips in a completely standalone story.

Why is the 2004 Catwoman movie so notoriously panned?

Critics and audiences rejected it due to erratic fast-cut editing, weak CGI, campy dialogue, and a bizarre plot involving evil face cream that hardens skin like rock.

Is Catwoman appropriate for middle schoolers?

It earns its PG-13 rating primarily through sexualized leather costumes, suggestive dancing, and stylized action violence. It is generally fit for ages 13 and up, provided they understand it's campy nonsense.

Does this film connect to any other DC superhero movies?

Not at all. It exists completely outside any shared universe and was never given a sequel or spin-off.

Catwoman – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

Catwoman

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

movie2004

18%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Halle Berry gets resurrected by a magic cat to fight an evil face cream empire in leather, yielding one of cinema's most infamous superhero disasters.

3.5/10

18%

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Catwoman

movie

PG-13, 2004

18%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Halle Berry gets resurrected by a magic cat to fight an evil face cream empire in leather, yielding one of cinema's most infamous superhero disasters.

3.5

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Screenwise Verdict

There is camp, there is bad, and then there is Catwoman. Halle Berry plays Patience Phillips, a timid graphic artist for a cosmetics empire who stumbles onto a deadly corporate secret, gets drowned in a storm drain, and receives feline superpowers from a mysterious Egyptian Mau cat. What follows is 104 minutes of dizzying camera cuts, bizarre purring, and leather-clad vigilante battles against a villain selling toxic face lotion.

Widely recognized as one of the worst superhero films ever made, time has not helped its blurry CGI or infamous playground basketball scene. Unless your teen specifically wants to riff on famous Hollywood misfires, there is virtually no reason to put this on.

Age Fit

Strictly for teens 13 and up who are watching strictly to mock a legendary box-office flop. Younger kids will find the sexualized costuming inappropriate and the plot absurd.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

Relies heavily on sexualized costumes, suggestive purring, revenge plots, and chaotic, dark urban conflicts.

Imaginative

Attempts a mythical origin story with cat powers, but executes it with laughably bad early-2000s CGI and nonsensical plotting.

Safe

Features PG-13 stylized martial arts violence, firearms, corporate murder themes, and overt sexual innuendo.

Enriching

Offers almost no developmental, educational, or emotional value beyond a cautionary lesson in bad filmmaking.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Morbid cinematic curiosity for teens who want to watch a notoriously disastrous comic book movie adaptation.
Sharon Stone's campy performance as a cosmetic executive whose face cream literally hardens skin like rock.
Halle Berry's full commitment to the physical stunts, even while trapped in a bizarrely written role.

⚠

What to Watch For

Heavy sexualization, including skintight leather outfits, suggestive nightclub dancing, and feline purring and rubbing.
Frequent action violence, involving martial arts fights, guns, and a character being shoved out a high-rise window.
Chaotic camera work and dizzying rapid-fire editing that can trigger mild motion discomfort.

Conversation Starters

"Why do you think critics and audiences panned this movie so universally when it released?"
"If you were rebooting a Catwoman story, what elements would you keep or throw out?"
"What separates an action scene that feels thrilling from one that feels confusing and messy?"

Deep Dive

A Relic of Mid-2000s Superhero Missteps

Long before comic book movies dominated multiplexes with interconnected cinematic universes, 2004's Catwoman stood as a masterclass in how to completely misunderstand a comic character. Decoupled entirely from Gotham City and Batman lore, the film tries to turn the anti-hero into a standalone feline mystic fighting a cosmetics empire led by Sharon Stone.

Technical Chaos on Display

The action sequences suffer from the worst visual editing trends of the early 2000s. Fights are chopped into split-second cuts that obscure all choreography, accompanied by weightless CGI acrobatics that looked outdated even on release day. The infamous playground basketball scene between Berry and Benjamin Bratt remains an iconic case study in unreadable staging and rapid-cut editing.

How to Frame It

If your teenager ends up watching this with friends, the best approach is to treat it as bad-movie trivia night rather than standard entertainment. Comparing it to modern action films can spark a fun conversation about film editing, visual effects evolution, and how comic book adaptations transformed over two decades.