Yeah, the 1989 Batman was good. Batman Returns was kinda OK. Batman Forever sucked donkey dick, and watching Batman & Robin was like being sodomized with a stick.
Batman Begins was a good movie, but held onto just a little bit of the comic book Gotham. Thankfully, it completely broke away from the previous Batman movies and started over. The Scarecrow was a good place to start, as it gives a back-story for every villain that comes after.
Dark Knight, though, finally did away with comic-book Gotham altogether. No weird architecture, no freaky fifty-story statues on the sides of buildings, just a normal New York style city. That left room for them to concentrate completely on the story. And Holy Shit, did they get it right!