The Lego Batman Movie Review

 PG: Rude Humor and Some Action 

Warner Bros. Pictures., Warner Animation Group, DC Entertainment, RatPac Entertainment, LEGO System A/S, Vertigo Entertainment, Animal Logic, Lord Miller Productions

1 Hr and 44 Minutes

Voice Cast: Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Jenny Slate, Mariah Carey, Billy Dee Williams, Zoë Kravitz, Riki Lindhome, Kate Micucci, Eddie Izzard, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Ellie Kemper, Jemaine Clement, Seth Green, Adam DeVine, Conan O’Brien, Jason Mantzoukas, and Siri

REVIEW: In February 2014, Warner Bros. Pictures surprised everyone with The Lego Movie. It was a fast paced colorful comedy film that unexpectedly was emotional at times. It was a gold mine that landed in. After the success of that film critically and financially they, of course, they were going to milk that cow with numerous theatrical Lego films with the first one being a Lego Batman film and a Lego Ninjago film in September. Just by knowing the existence of 4 upcoming Lego films automatically made me groan. But honestly, the first film hits so close to home to me that I can’t be biased against them. Back on the old site, I rated it a 6/5 due to exceeding all expectations. This was really the first movie I was hyped up to see. Not John Wick 2, or Logan, but The Lego Batman Movie. Now walking out of this, I am now 100% welcome to any Lego movie Warner Bros. want to throw at me. 

There are big changes brewing in Gotham, but if Batman (Will Arnett) wants to save the city from the Joker's hostile takeover, he may have to drop the lone vigilante thing, try to work with others and maybe, just maybe, learn to lighten up.

THE GOOD: One of the funniest things about the first Lego Movie was the character of Batman who was portrayed as a self-absorbed figure with a huge ego. It’s similar to the many characters Arnett voiced in his career most notably BoJack Horseman. Though it takes time to like Bojack due to his unlikable stubbornness, you start to feel for him and want to see him progress as a character. That case also goes with Arnett’s Batman who is given the Jason Segal/Will Ferrell Man-Child treatment. Though it’s hard to get used to his personality (because he says so many cruel things to people), you feel for his character.  He’s not only dark and brooding but he’s dark, brooding, and a total dick. The film perfectly displays the venerability of Wayne that so many directors who had their own carnation of the character [with the exception of Nolan] in the past fail to capture and apply it to a rather emotional narrative. The film has several plots with the main one taking after the 2002 Weitz brothers film, About a Boy where Batman is Hugh Grant and Robin is Nicholas Hoult. 

If you are a parent whose child wants to watch Deadpool, but you won’t let them due to its adultcontent or if you’re like me and tired of watching Deadpool (which strangely came out 2 days after exactly a year ago) and need a diversion before it’s sequel, The Lego Batman Movie is the best bet to turn to. This movie might as well be DC’s Deadpool for kids because it’s self-deprecating as hell. Think of it as a less obnoxious Teen Titans Go. Opposed to Deadpool taking its first jab from its very first frame, The Lego Batman Movie takes it’s jab from its very first second of its 104-minute running time. Right when the studio logos begin, you hear Wayne’s voice making fun of the distributors that released him. From there, the film starts to take relentless jabs at the past portrayals of the beloved character, the tropes of the superhero genre, and the structure of films in general. Like The Lego Movie, this constantly throwing you joke after joke like....

And boy does they hit. Not only it hits well, it hits hard. The movie even takes a hilarious jab at Marvel that you’re not only shocked at hearing, but shocked how earned it gets to say opposed to…

Remember in The Lego Movie where a lot of Warner Bros. properties had several cameos in the movie? For this movie, a studio exec sat in a story development meeting and asked,

“okay, which one of our properties didn’t we use in the first film that we can use here?” 

And a guy responded, “Ummm Matrix, King Kong, Wizard of Oz”

“yes, yes, YES! Can we put some of those characters in the movie? WE HAVE TO PUT THESE CHARACTERS IN THIS MOVIE!” 

I believe this went down because every other Warner Bros. property that wasn’t showcased in the first film gets time to shine in this including those properties I’ve listed. The film becomes an action-packed crossover film that though you didn’t ask for it, it’s so awesome to see. It’s like watching a How It Should Have Ended video specifically their recent Villains Pub: The Boss Battle. If the guys at How it Should Have Ended had the opportunity to write a full Batman movie but in the form of Legos, it would be this but alas none of those guys had any involvement in this for it was written by five screenwriters who you could tell probably used those videos as inspiration. It's hard to live up to the writing of Phil Lord and Chris Miller, but these five guys do a damn great trying to achieve the greatness of two.

The voice cast in this is amazing. Will Arnett’s voice carries this entire movie, but he doesn’t do it alone. Ralph Fiennes does a great job as Alfred who is portrayed more of the father figure opposed to only being the butler. Rosario Dawson kicks so much butt as Barbara Gordon which is by far the best depiction of her I’ve ever seen in film (suck it Killing Joke). But the one that truly surprised me was Zach Galifianakis as The Joker. No, he’s not doing a Joker voice or trying to impersonate any incarnation of The Joker like Jared Leto did. It’s actually Galifianakis doing his regular voice as he attempts to give Joker character other than give him a distinct voice. The best thing about this film is the relationship between Joker and Batman which plays like both an episode of Jerry Springer and a romantic comedy. It sounds ridiculous in the description but it plays so emotionally solid that it’s arguably more effective than the Killing Joke story arc. All the man wants is respect and appreciation as his evil plan revolves around just that. You sometimes root for Joker because it’s sad. His subplot is pretty much about a side chick who wants to be the main hoe. There are so many voice cameos that are conceptually cool to have in a live action Batman film such as Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman or Conan O’Brien as Riddler. It has voices that you won’t recognize until you’re watching the credits going, “WHOA THAT WAS HIM?!” Though they don’t have many lines, it’s nice to see who voices who. Plus the film finally gave Billy Dee Williams to live his dream of becoming Two-Face by portraying the voice for him.

Like the first Warner Animation Group film, this features beautiful animation that is equally impressive as The Lego Movie. Where the first film played with world expansion, this plays with scale size which is astounding and leads to fun action sequences. It incorporates the master building sequences from the original which is always fun to see It plays with so many small little details such as sound and visual gags that it instantly triggers your inner nostalgia. The film plays TAS theme, the Adam West 1966 Batman music including the Batmobile theme, incorporate a Lego version of the pop out comic book onomatopoeia taken from the 1966 Batman, and much more. In a scene at a Justice League party, you see Superman doing the Soulja Boy in the background which is visually hysterical to see. The film even plays with your nostalgia that you wouldn’t think would ever appear again. When Batman is in his house and scrolls through the source menu of his TV each input noise makes a sound that is recognizable that when he presses enter it’ll make a sound that you say “WAIT, I KNOW THAT SOUND! THAT'S THE PS2 SOUND EFFECTS! HOW DID THEY INCOORPORATE THAT?! ”

THE BAD: The movie is consistently funny, but it lacks the entire charm the first Lego movie has. It does have charm and a lot of heart, but it doesn’t live up to its original film. It’s like how Puss in Boots (which also starred Galifianakis) didn’t live up to the heights of the first two Shrek films but was still able to hold it’s own.

There is an issue with the voice work at times. The film has several instances where the characters are moving so fast, their voices don’t match with the words that are coming out of their mouths. You see a shot end with a character showing their teeth and they’re saying five words at once and it’s jarring at times. 

THE RENDY: Remember last year when Jimmy Kimmel did that Batman V. Superman skit for his show and Will Arnett showed up and this happened?

Well isn’t this ironic how this ended up to be. This is undoubtedly not only the best depiction of Batman movie since Christopher Nolan, but the best Batman film of the past near decade since 2008’s The Dark Knight. After watching Suicide Squad I lost all excitement for every upcoming DCEU film including the Justice League. This film bears the DC logo, but we know this is good and goddamn well this is far from a DC movie. After watching this my thoughts on DC didn’t budge as I accepted that I don’t personally need a Justice League movie. I have this. Why watch Wonder Woman and Justice League when I have The Lego Batman Movie to fill my joy. I’m content with just this. This is a film that is incredibly funny and emotionally resonant where you’ll battle yourself from holding back tears in certain scenes. I cried in the first Lego Movie and was two steps away from crying in this. Since the Academy didn’t nominate the original film an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, THIS MOVIE BETTER GET THAT NOMINATION NEXT YEAR, because, from the upcoming lineup of animated features on our way, this is the first and best animated feature film 2017 has to offer so far.

LAST STATEMENT: Though it expectedly doesn’t live up to its original film that it spun from, The Lego Batman Movie is a relentlessly funny, gorgeously animated, and charmingly heartwarming superhero satire that self-deprecates one of the most popular comic book characters of all time. It isn’t the DC film people needed, but the DC film people deserve (you know after releasing trash since 2013)

Rating: 4.5/5 | 91%

Super Scene: Who’s the Bat(Man) - written and sung by Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump

Pros	Cons
Beautiful Animation	Voice Synchronization
Self Deprication	Unable to Capture the Charm of First Lego Movie
Never Ending Hysterical Jokes	Bruce Wayne's Stubborness
Stellar Voice Cast
Romantic Comedy Between Joker an Batman
Emotional FEELS Between Batman and Robin/Batman and Alfred
Barbara Gordan