The Lego Batman Movie
Year: 2017
Director: Chris McKay
Starring: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes & Zach Galifanakis
Runtime: 104 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 07/09/22
Director: Chris McKay
Starring: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes & Zach Galifanakis
Runtime: 104 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 07/09/22
The Lego Movie was a bigger success than Warner Bros. or The Lego Group had ever hoped for, with it dominating the box office, wowing critics, and putting sales of Lego toy sets through the roof. Not wanting to have this success go to waste, Warner Bros. rapidly put into production a sequel and two spin-offs’ to be released across 2017 and 2018. First up to to face the music was a spin-off, The Lego Batman Movie. Hoping to capitalise on the release of Batman vs Superman the previous year, WB. had high hopes for the film. But could it replicate what the original Lego Movie achieved?
Within the DC dimension of the Lego multiverse explored in The Lego Movie, Batman (Will Arnett) serves as protector of Gotham City. The Joker (Zach Galifanakis) has tried and failed many times to destroy Gotham, all in the hopes of Batman seeing him as his arch nemesis. But when Batman proclaims he has no feelings towards the Joker of any kind, this triggers the Joker to resort to extreme measures in order for Batman to pay attention to him.
Meanwhile a young orphan, Dick Grayson (Michael Cera), is accidentally adopted by Batman who in turn trains him to become his faithful sidekick Robin. All whilst Alfred (Ralph Feinnes) the butler, and police commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) try to convince Batman to step down from vigilantism to become a better person.
Within the DC dimension of the Lego multiverse explored in The Lego Movie, Batman (Will Arnett) serves as protector of Gotham City. The Joker (Zach Galifanakis) has tried and failed many times to destroy Gotham, all in the hopes of Batman seeing him as his arch nemesis. But when Batman proclaims he has no feelings towards the Joker of any kind, this triggers the Joker to resort to extreme measures in order for Batman to pay attention to him.
Meanwhile a young orphan, Dick Grayson (Michael Cera), is accidentally adopted by Batman who in turn trains him to become his faithful sidekick Robin. All whilst Alfred (Ralph Feinnes) the butler, and police commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) try to convince Batman to step down from vigilantism to become a better person.
The Lego Batman Movie succeeds in a lot of the same areas as The Lego Movie, but despite this it doesn’t feel anywhere near as fresh or exciting. In fact because it feels so similar to the first film in a lot of ways, The Lego Batman Movie often feels more like an imitation of its predecessor than an evolution of it.
Batman was one of the most memorable characters from The Lego Movie, so to see him in his own film is great. Will Arnett delivers a fantastic performance as the dark knight once again, in that overly toxic and self-obsessed way that made him so popular the first time around. Being able to delve into Batman’s well documented past with this new comedic lens over it gives a now tired origin story a breath of fresh air as it’s told in an interesting and hilarious new way. However, Batman doesn’t have the charisma to carry an entire movie, there’s a reason he was a supporting character that only showed up sparingly in The Lego Movie and that’s because he’s great as comic relief, not as the main attraction.
The supporting cast also aren’t as strong as those featured in The Lego Movie. Whilst Robin and Joker are, similar to Batman, interesting to see with this childish comedic lens over them, they ultimately aren’t as funny as Batman and therefore kind of fall by the wayside. Barbara and Alfred are the voices of reason, and so they feel more akin to characters like Wyldstyle from The Lego Movie without having anywhere near as much screentime as her. But then Batman is still the comic relief, and how you can have your main charater be the comic relief I’m not sure…and clearly director Chris McKay wasn’t too sure either because it just doesn’t work all that well.
All this being said The Lego Batman Movie retains the same great animation style as The Lego Movie. The attention to detail is insane, and because everything’s been given this Hollywood superhero movie sheen there’s a lot of cool visual effects replicated in Lego that do look awesome. That being said I don’t feel like as much attention was paid to the little details. These characters don’t look like they’re toys that have been played with, they’re too pristine, unlike how they were presented in The Lego Movie where they had paint chips and fingerprint marks all over them.
On the whole, The Lego Batman Movie is a fun time, especially for kids. But it lacks the heart and soul that made The Lego Movie truly incredible. Whilst there’s definitely a lot to like in The Lego Batman Movie, almost everything was done better in The Lego Movie…or at least it feels like it was, perhaps because it was more original. Whilst Batman may like to think he’s the best at everything, he’s certainly the runner up this time around.
Batman was one of the most memorable characters from The Lego Movie, so to see him in his own film is great. Will Arnett delivers a fantastic performance as the dark knight once again, in that overly toxic and self-obsessed way that made him so popular the first time around. Being able to delve into Batman’s well documented past with this new comedic lens over it gives a now tired origin story a breath of fresh air as it’s told in an interesting and hilarious new way. However, Batman doesn’t have the charisma to carry an entire movie, there’s a reason he was a supporting character that only showed up sparingly in The Lego Movie and that’s because he’s great as comic relief, not as the main attraction.
The supporting cast also aren’t as strong as those featured in The Lego Movie. Whilst Robin and Joker are, similar to Batman, interesting to see with this childish comedic lens over them, they ultimately aren’t as funny as Batman and therefore kind of fall by the wayside. Barbara and Alfred are the voices of reason, and so they feel more akin to characters like Wyldstyle from The Lego Movie without having anywhere near as much screentime as her. But then Batman is still the comic relief, and how you can have your main charater be the comic relief I’m not sure…and clearly director Chris McKay wasn’t too sure either because it just doesn’t work all that well.
All this being said The Lego Batman Movie retains the same great animation style as The Lego Movie. The attention to detail is insane, and because everything’s been given this Hollywood superhero movie sheen there’s a lot of cool visual effects replicated in Lego that do look awesome. That being said I don’t feel like as much attention was paid to the little details. These characters don’t look like they’re toys that have been played with, they’re too pristine, unlike how they were presented in The Lego Movie where they had paint chips and fingerprint marks all over them.
On the whole, The Lego Batman Movie is a fun time, especially for kids. But it lacks the heart and soul that made The Lego Movie truly incredible. Whilst there’s definitely a lot to like in The Lego Batman Movie, almost everything was done better in The Lego Movie…or at least it feels like it was, perhaps because it was more original. Whilst Batman may like to think he’s the best at everything, he’s certainly the runner up this time around.