No, he just magically stumbles upon the criminal organization that just happens to be his main adversary throughout the movie
The League of Shadows, like any organization, can only succeed if it keeps tabs on areas involved with it's business, criminality, and operating out of the region it is, would only make sense for it to be aware of the prisons around it and crimes committed, and certainly a caucasion Amerian would stand out in that prison as he did. The League of Shadows viewed Gotham as a plagued part of the world that needed to fall and tried once, failed due to the Wayne family stepping in, it's very plausible they'd follow Bruce's story and coming accross him in jail wherever he was, they'd see fit to try and win him over as it would only help their efforts in Gotham for round 2.
and he just magically happens to inherit a corporation that just happens to make all of the gadgets he uses
His family developed a corporation that's a think tank for developing goods the world needs from domestic to military applications.
I wouldn't say it's magical that things he needs happens to be there, merely convenient, but he outsourced the pieces of his mask which shows he's only going through WE because he owns it all and it's easier to acquire under the radar. Certainly, it's less magical than Burton's Batman who designs a suit from the ground up specifically to be Batman where Nolan's kit bashes pieces he finds around WE into a suit. I find it more realistic to create something from existing pieces that may happen to be overly conveniently available than to be skilled enough to create them all on your own from scratch and still have the elements be conveniently available.
and those gadgets just happen to be unknown to everyone but someone he can magically trust for no reason whatsoever, instead of the undeniably more-realistic version where there's a whole staff of people who would see the Tumbler on TV and say "hey, I worked on that at Wayne Enterprises for 5 years with a whole staff of engineers!"
Fox was fired just for asking questions about a WE project, clearly they take great pride in making certain projects be very hush hush. I find it very plausible that anyone recognizing the tumbler on TV would be unlikely to have an opportunity to speak up, particularly when there was opposition to Batman, last thing people of WE before Bruce took over would let happen is WE be tied to Batman, and especially with Bruce in charge, it'll get covered up.
"Batman Begins" doesn't make any of that stuff more plausible than the Burton films does by showing it. The difference is with the Burton films you might ask yourself "where does he get all this stuff?" whereas with the Nolan films you say "oh, so he just has them".
For me, Burton and Shumacher's films make you look at Batman himself and wonder "how does he pull this off?", Nolan's film didn't leave me wondering anything like that, I finished Batman Begins with a sense of, if someone is going to be Batman, this is about the only way you could go about it because 1 man can't do everything from making cars to bullet proof suits.
Nolan's take is arguably as ridiculous as something like the Schumacher films. Batman simply isn't a serious or realistic character.
Nolan's take is somewhat rediculous, but as you point out, the concept is inherently rediculous to a point, all comic book stories are. There is a way you can present the material, however, that can get you to think this could really be. Nolan's Batman does that, Singer's X-Men did that.
It's not to say the Burton films are without value, they have it, I just think their qualities appeal more to children and inner children, where movies like Begins can appeal to more adult viewers. I know people in their mid 20s to late 30s that would probably laugh at being asked to go watch Burton's Batmans today, but they are engaged by Nolan's and are eager to see the follow up with TDK.
What's his story arc? He falls into a hole, gets scared by bats, his parents are killed, he undergoes kung-fu training and he dresses like a Bat. It ain't exactly Shakespeare.
No, it's not Shakespeare. The story arc is a man loses his parents as a child to criminals, buries a strong sense of guilt along with anger at the man who took their lives, develops a drive to rid the world of that which took away what was most precious to him and taps into all of his resources to make it happen. From that, I think Begins better portrays and makes you feel that is what's going on with Bruce Wayne, you get a sense of why he is Batman and what he's really about. Burton's Batman doesn't convey that so much, it's in the story but the way it's handled just isn't as compelling, you don't feel for what's going on in him you just get a vague sense that it's there, but you feel like Nolan's Batman is tragic.
I vehemently disagree. The lack of style in Nolan's films will cause them to age horribly. Burton's Gotham is unlike anything that exists in reality so it remains timeless whereas Nolan's Gotham will always seem like Chicago in 2005.
Undeniably, Burton created a very stylistic world where Nolan bastardized the real world, but that's hardly enough to carry a film. I seriously doubt the endurance of Batman 1989 comes from the style, but rather the entire story and the style is only a part of it. Batman is a powerful hero because he doesn't have superpowers, he's just a guy and people can relate to being just a guy. Tell an entertaining story around that basic principle and you'll have an enduring film and to that end, I think Nolan's will be just as enduring because it's a nicely told story.
Furthermore, Nolan's take on the character has simply failed to connect with audiences in the way Burton and even Schumacher did, and that's from the very beginning.
I see nothing all that connectable in the characters of Burton's films and especially not Shumacher's. Keaton plays a great Bruce Wayne and Batman, but doesn't do anything that make me feel like "ya I've been there", but Bale's performance and emotion touched me, there were times where I though "i've felt like this" and I get pulled into the Begins story because things happen I wish I could do myself.