I think the movie is O.K. Beatty's performance as Tracy was pretty good, and the Kid (Junior) wasn't nearly as annoying as most typical "little kids who saves the day" are in movies like this. The production design, the costumes, especially the makeup, everything visually in this movie works. Granted, there are things that could have been handled better than they were - as mentioned, the killing off of the entire Rogues Gallery, Madonna's "acting", the multiple story arcs that have to be followed in order for the film to make any sense - but for what it is, it's still pretty watchable.
What I LIKED about this movie:
* Beatty as Tracy. He holds the whole damn thing together.
* Dick Van Dyke as a corrupt politico - who saw that coming?
* James Caan's "exit" as Spud Spaldoni...gee, where have we seen this before?
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* The whole Tracy/Kid relationship. This could have been sappy and dreadful in so many ways it's not funny, but somehow it works.
* The massive cast of character actors. They don't get the due on screen that they should, but when they do show up, they leave an impression.
* Stephen Sondheim's songs. "Sooner Or Later" remains my favorite in the whole film.
* William Forsythe and Ed O'Ross. The only two villains in the whole movie who come off as truly menacing.
What I DIDN'T like:
* Mandy Patinkin trying to play a cronie (88 Keys) who manages to frame Tracy for murder. Never mind the fact that when he's impersonating Fletcher his voice sounds NOTHING LIKE Van Dyke's - he just doesn't come off as believable when he's not at the piano.
* For that matter, any moment involving Madonna where she's NOT singing.
* Big Boy Caprice. The character is an idiot; he only succeeds in doing anything because of his lackeys. The only things that makes Pacino's performance redeemable are: 1) Pacino, and 2) the fact that his chief contemporary, De Niro, fared even worse as a 'cartoonish' villain in "The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle".
* The lack of emphasis on actual detective work throughout the film. We only get an inkling of it in the early portion when Tracy's trying to pin the walnut shells to Big Boy. "Batman Begins" fared better at this element of its main character, although by a small margin.
Still, the movie IMO has more going for it than against it. It'd been great if Beatty had chosen to do something a bit more "noirish" with the Tracy property - the various visual elements might have created enough impact to have made for an early "Sin City".
