The Lego Batman Movie

This is a real treat for the whole family, combining non-stop silliness for the younger children with plenty of wit, satire and wordplay for the adults.  If you don’t spend the entire movie with a smile on your face, you may be dead inside.

Premise:  Set in the same comic universe as The Lego Movie (2014), Batman (Will Arnett) continues his fight against his rogues gallery of villains, led by the Joker (Zach Galifianakis).  But the new police commissioner, Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson), begins to question his methods, just as the Joker sets out to prove once and for all that he is Batman’s greatest enemy – while the young orphan Dick Grayson (Michael Cera) forces Batman to face his greatest fear, being part of a family again.

Verdict:

First of all, I have to confess that I was one of the people who thought that the idea of doing a Lego movie back in 2014 was crazy – I mean how many truly awful films have been made based on something as flimsy as a toy range?  But then I saw The Lego Movie and it absolutely blew me away, because it took the premise and zigged when you expected it to zag, and added new unexpected layers to the basic concept.

The reason I mention this is because The Lego Batman Movie has, to a certain extent, pulled off the same trick.  While Batman (Will Arnett) was a great comic relief character in The Lego Movie, he didn’t get a great deal of development (given that he was only a secondary character), and as a result, I fully expected his solo movie spin-off to simply be a kid-friendly adventure where he would face off against some of his classic foes.

“…‘The Lego Batman Movie’ tackles some real issues underneath all the humour…”

Instead, The Lego Batman Movie once again goes in an unexpected direction, and is so much more than just an animated (comedic) Batman adventure.  After the opening set-piece (where Batman single-handedly takes down the combined forces of all of his rogues gallery), the real film begins with a character study of Batman as a delusional narcissist with serious commitment issues.  Now don’t get me wrong, it does this in a very funny way, but just as with The Lego Movie before it, The Lego Batman Movie tackles some real issues underneath all the humour.

Batman is portrayed as someone who desperately wants to find emotional connections (you see the way he’s obsessed with watching romance films on his own, or how he stares wistfully at his family photos), but who is afraid to do so for rather obvious reasons (family friendly film though it is, it does acknowledge the pain he went through when his parents were murdered in front of him as a child).  Ultimately, it’s not the attempts to defeat the movie’s villains that drive the film forward, it’s the emotional barriers that Batman’s put up and the way he mistreats everyone in is life as a result.

“…none of the subtext gets in the way of ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ being hilarious from beginning to end…”

For example, in one plot thread, Batman (in his guise as Bruce Wayne) “accidentally” adopts Dick Grayson (Michael Cera) without noticing.  Even after Alfred (Ralph Fiennes) forces him to take the boy under his wing, Batman still refuses to listen to Alfred’s advice, or to see the new Robin as anything other than an expendable resource.

Meanwhile, Batman’s refusal to accept that he has any sort of relationship with the Joker (Zach Galifianakis) is what sets up the Joker’s storyline, as the film portrays the Batman/Joker connection as a 78-year-long dysfunctional relationship where Batman still refuses to commit (“I am fighting a few different people. I like to fight around”).  Joker’s plan forces Batman to consider who he is when he’s not fighting crime, which is tricky for a version of Batman that actually wears his mask and a dressing gown around Wayne Manor even when he’s not being Batman.

Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson), on the other hand, fills a superficially similar role to Wyldstyle from The Lego Movie, although unlike Wyldstyle she sees right through Batman’s nonsense, much to his annoyance.  And to make matters worse for Batman, Barbara believes that the police should be doing more than simply flicking on the Bat-Signal whenever something happens…

Now don’t for a minute think that any of the above detracts from just how funny and entertaining The Lego Batman Movie is.  Just as The Lego Movie tackled emotional issues while also being side-splittingly entertaining, none of the character driven subtext here gets in the way of The Lego Batman Movie being hilarious from beginning to end.  And I do mean from the very beginning, as the film opens with Batman narrating the studio logos (and throwing shade at Superman) in the most original title sequence since last year’s Deadpool opening credits.

“…it’s not easy to please everyone, but this film comes pretty damn close...”

It’s not easy to please everyone, but this film comes pretty damn close.  I saw the film with my 3-year and my 7-year old, who both thoroughly enjoyed it, albeit on different levels.  I then enjoyed all the bits that they missed, be it the more character driven subtleties or the allusions and wordplay that went over their heads.  There is also an absolute treasure trove of sight gags and easter eggs to spot which link back to all of the previous Batman films (including the Adam West 1960s version), as well as some of the more obscure comic books (and as Joker comments in relation to some of the more ridiculous Batman villains, they’re worth a Google).

The Lego Batman Movie is a spin-off that can stand on its own two feet alongside The Lego Movie, as well as being a fantastically funny parody of superhero films in general.  And in a world where superhero films are taking themselves increasingly seriously (and I don’t intend that to sound like a criticism), it’s nice to have the opportunity to see a film laugh at its iconic character like this.  There aren’t many films that can appeal to a 3-year-old as much as a 40-year-old, but The Lego Batman Movie manages it with aplomb.