Directed by: Chris McKay
Written by: Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern, John Whittington
Starring: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson
The LEGO Movie was shockingly great, better than I think anyone expected it to be, and robbed of a Best Animated Feature Oscar in its year. One of the absolute highlights of that film was LEGO Batman, who when voiced by Will Arnett made for a hilarious child's/teenager's interpretation of what 'dark' and 'edgy' mean. Giving that character a film to himself after the success of The LEGO Movie seems like an obvious slam dunk, and it is.. almost.
*Warning: Spoilers Ahead*
This is an already established Batman, living in a world that acknowledges the existence of while ignoring the inconsistencies between literally every other Batman movie. Everything about Batman is dialed up to eleven and the film is completely self-aware about it, even if Batman necessarily isn't; He opens the film with his own narration over a black screen, talking about how all great films start with a black screen and how great he is. It's all in your face from the very start and manages to lampoon just about every blockbuster trope, from the opening black screen to the opening narration to the opening text-on-screen (I'm fairly certain that the writers/director may be a fan of Cinemasins because they even comment on the text-on-screen as 'reading'). From there we're given at film that flies at you like a bolt from the blue (or black, I suppose); it's basically all happening all the time, serving up interchangeable amounts of jokes and action with almost no respite, save for one slow and silent scene that emphasises and pokes fun at Batman's forced loneliness, as well as a couple of heartfelt moments. Everything is all flash and quick wit jokes about the selfishness of Batman's character and bad puns (Count Dracula literally drops the line "You can count on me") and cute mock references (Killer Croc does exactly the same amount in this movie that he did in Suicide Squad, and when he activates the bomb he loudly exclaims "I did something!") and LEGO brick explosions and music that heavy on the guitar solos and it's delivered to you in a way that makes you feel like you're six years old and sitting through a sugar rush. Put simply, the film has a lot of energy.
I absolutely loved the lampooning of everything "Batman". There's light jabs at the comic-book villains (Joker lists a whole bunch of one-time Batman villains and makes you realise just how stupid some of them are), and constant pecking at Batman's character and what he does. The film takes the time to consider that Batman is constantly closing himself from everybody, and this particular case hides it by completely overcompensating with his machismo ("I have a nine-pack"). By showing everything about Batman in an amplified state, the film has the opportunity to consider the weaknesses of who Batman is and provide and opportunity for him to grow and change and a meaningful and family-friendly way while still cracking jokes five times a minute and finding a reference to cram in to every available space.
The high energy of the film is reflected in the animation. Everything is moving (everything is awesome), and the filmmakers clearly tried to include every possible spin and kick in to every fight scene while still throwing in a physical joke or reference or a follow-up pun every few seconds; one fight even includes the old "THWAP!" and "BAM!" clouds in to the mix. Like its predecessor, what makes the film impressive here is the effort that went in to making the animation look and feel like actual moving LEGO bricks and figures. The twitchy movements and "brickening" of every object in the universe works almost as well as it did before... emphasis here on 'almost', because of one slight issue that I had with the animation. Something that I appreciated so much about the first LEGO Movie was that absolutely everything within the LEGO world was made of LEGO, right down to the water. The water was, in LEGO Batman, just water. That's not a huge issue, but it's something that I so appreciated about the first film that I found it impossible not to notice with this one.
While we're on issues with the film in comparison to the first LEGO Movie, that's basically all that noticeably average about this movie. It's all good, in reductive terms, but it's also not as good as what has come before, going ever more over the top with everything than what already has, taking things one step further in the animation, the jokes, etc., to the point that it's almost an overload. Also, while the film does offer a well-written arc for Batman and some nice family moments, there's nothing that hits quite so hard or at home as the tear-jerking moments of The LEGO Movie. That said, there's still a lot of value to be had from this film, particularly its meta moments regarding Batman, superhero movies and blockbusters in general.
The Verdict: The LEGO Batman Movie is in-your-face, over-the-top, and often laugh-out-loud funny or hold-your-head-in-your-hands awkwardly funny. This hyperactive and playfully mocking take on Batman isn't as good as it's previous LEGO counterpart, and it's so visually intense that I can see it leaving some with a headache, but the film offers something for the whole family while also surprising us with a more thorough deconstruction of Batman's character than we saw in Batman vs. Superman. I think everyone can enjoy this film; even if it isn't the best thing you've ever seen, I can still almost guarantee some laughs and some heartfelt moments.
Rating: 7.5/10
Published March 30th, 2017
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