Bruce Wayne: The Vengeance...The Night...The Caped Crusader...The World's Greatest Detective...The Dark Knight...The Batman. In this world of LEGO Gotham City, Batman is its masked, vigilante protector against all manner of psychos, including The Joker. When his latest plan is foiled and he is not acknowledged by Batman as his greatest nemesis, he sets into motion a diabolical scheme to destroy Gotham once and for all in order to show Batman he is not to be trifled with. Amidst all of this, Batman will learn to confront his greatest fear with the help of a family he may not want...
Before I talk about this movie, I feel the need to briefly talk about its 2014 predecessor, The LEGO Movie, which was my very first movie review when I started hitting up the blog scene on my original blog From The Couch To The Cinema:
http://couchci.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-lego-movie.html
Initially I had given that movie a score of 4/5. Since February 2014 I have watched the movie multiple times and felt that it was even better than I first thought. Three years since then and it's still one of the benchmarks for family movies that emphasizes the combination of good characters, animation, story, and a smarter, more sophisticated writing method of turning the mundane into high concepts. I feel the need to bump that movie's score up to 4.5/5 because of its relation to today's movie review and its followup: The LEGO Batman Movie.
Now I'm not going to insult you, dear readers, by explaining who Batman is, because EVERYONE knows who Batman is. He's one of the greatest superheroes of all time, DC Comics' biggest cash-cow, and has transcended pop culture to become a staple of one of our greatest fictional modern myths. In the 78 years of his fictional existence, Batman has appeared in every form of media and merchandise out there with many different interpretations of the character. Whether he is the camp crime fighter played by Adam West, the aloof but kind-hearted man played by Michael Keaton, or the tortured and morose soul played by Christian Bale, everyone has been exposed to Batman at one time or another, and is one of the first characters that comes to mind when it comes to superheroes.
Batman's appearance and portrayal in the original The LEGO Movie as a self-centered, self-aware, self-hyping gigantic manchild had gone over so well that it's not really a surprise he would get his own spinoff movie centered around his immediate family of characters. I admit I was disappointed that we weren't getting a followup to The LEGO Movie right away, but that's fine, we'll see that next year. At any rate, The LEGO Batman Movie is a quirky, fun, hilarious and visual spectacle that uses its animation and trappings as a LEGO movie to its fullest. Gag after gag hits the audience at full speed, and yet what doesn't make it just a bunch of noise is its story. It's not to the same level as The LEGO Movie, but on its own it's still effective, and at the end of the day, it serves as a celebration and tribute to why Batman is indeed one of the greatest superheroes. But I'll expound on that late. Click the video down below and let's get started! TO THE REVIEW!
Our story is pretty simplistic at its core. Batman stops Joker, Joker hatches a scheme, Joker's plan, succeeds, Joker returns, Batman and his plucky gang stops Joker, the end. To paraphrase the LEGO Dark Knight in the movie, he "learns some life lessons along the way" by learning what it means to accept others into his life, trust others, and find some happiness beyond his self-awesomeness in his mission to stop crime. Now that that in of itself isn't a bad story, and it's one of the key focal points of Batman's character. However, the slight problem here is that coming off of The LEGO Movie, it doesn't even come close to what that movie did. The story of The LEGO Movie is extremely layered and complex for a movie about toys. It goes against our preconceived expectations about stories revolving around prophecies & chosen ones, and shows us how every one of us can be creative and imaginative in our ways. It uses LEGO as, for lack of a better term, building blocks for its message.
The LEGO Batman Movie's story has some heart, but it almost seems like an afterthought. Again, it's not a bad story by any means. It's effective and has its own heartwarming moments, but at the same time it's a bit of a shame to see it stumble after their massive success with The LEGO Movie. As such, I feel the story of this movie to be its greatest weakness, and it doesn't use the iconography of LEGO or Batman too effectively. Honestly, you could remove the LEGO aspect of it and just tell the movie as a regular Batman in order to get the point across. It's a good thing then the rest of the movie has so much going for it. I don't mind the weak story too much because it almost seems like they intentionally made it that way to make way for humor and high past-paced animation. And for that, I can forgive the movie's story shortcomings for everything else.
Firstly, a look at our "hero". Batman (Will Arnett), much like in The LEGO Movie, is portrayed as a gigantic manchild that believes in his self-importance and awesomeness. He knows how skilled and rich he is, and he soaks the glory of it all in. It's practically self-parody in a way at the character's popularity with us, how such a man can train himself to go beyond human limits, learn all he can, pick up so many skills, and become a caped crusader of justice to ensure his tragedy will never happen to anyone else. Batman is an epitome and ideal to look up at what a human can do, so it's hilarious to see him in this way. And yet like any good portrayal of Batman, it delves into his human side. Batman is really a loner and afraid to let other people get into his life because of his tragic past. Multiple incarnations of the character across mediums explored this in great detail, sometimes in a triumphant fashion, other times ending in tragedy. It's part of the pillar of the character of Batman, that for all that he is and all he can do, he is still, well, a man. He may be called Batman, but he is not just a monstrous weird figure of the night with a scary image, he is a human, with all the flaws, tragedies, and insecurities that all of us can have.
Every other character is effective as a foil or support to Batman, but as expected to exaggerated levels. Robin/Dick Grayson (Michael Cera) is Batman's adopted ward, initially brought in just to be a tool of Batman, and learning to be loved. His youthfulness and energy is exaggerated to turn him into a Batman fanboy and wanting to be like him in all the wrong ways to add to Batman's character growth in the film. Batgirl/Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) is shown to be a competent person and fighter in her own right, and offers the olive branch to Batman to work together for the greater good of the city. She is exaggerated to be so good at what she does that Batman thinks she's hot. Then there's the ever-loyal Alfred (Ralph Fiennes), Batman's surrogate father who's always there to support him but not afraid to step in if things go too far. If Batman's childishness is exaggerated, then Alfred's parental figure status is likewise the same, almost to the point of being an impatient parent to a bratty child. All three supporting characters together add layers to Batman's character, and they help the Dark Knight accept others back into his life and be a new family.
Our villain is, naturally, The Joker (Zach Galifianakis). He has also been subject to numerous portrayals over the decades, whether a clownish dandy played by Cesar Romero, the psycho with a sense of a humor played by Jack Nicholson, the eternal nemesis played by Mark Hamill, or the murderous nightmarish figure played by Heath Ledger. In this kid-friendly movie, he's a little more on the clownish side for humor as it plays against the Joker's popularity as Batman's foil. Hilariously, Batman's and Joker's dynamic in this movie is played out like Joker is a scorned lover, and the entire plot is just for the Joker to make his nemesis acknowledge and say three words: I hate you. It’s simultaneously sad and hilarious because of its interpretation as a “frenemy” relationship, and a comic take on the actual Batman/Joker across mediums. The Joker is the most famous of Batman’s villains because he’s the one baddie Bats can’t take down no matter how hard he tries. Many portrayals of Batman/Joke have shown that in some weird twisted way, they need each other. They’re the Yin and Yang with both hero and villain as the positive and negative. So in that regard, the Joker is a great and effective villain here, posing enough of a threat despite us knowing that Batman will beat him anyway. It all adds to the film’s humor
And that brings us to the movie’s greatest strength: The
animation and the humor. Though it’s
shown like in the first movie, it’s implied that The LEGO Batman Movie is
played out by a child having a grand old time with his LEGO. As such, the movie
doesn’t lose its trappings as a LEGO movie. The animation shows this, with the
LEGO people moving as if they were stop-motion, from water and lava and fire
being stylistic LEGO bits, to laser bullets also being LEGO pieces. This adds
to the humor, where you have LEGO Batman taking his surroundings and building
new vehicles or the laser sound effects actually being “pew pew!” sounds called
out by the characters. It shows that it’s a movie that doesn’t need to be taken
seriously at all, and is just a fun ride from start to finish. Add some quick
and witty dialogue, references for the hardcore Bat-fans, and some surprising
characters appearances, and you’ve got the recipe for an audience to have a fun
time with.
CONCLUSION
All in all, The LEGO Batman Movie is a great, enjoyable,
thrilling romp. While the story isn’t anything too special and doesn’t even
measure up to the first LEGO Movie, it is effective both as an animated film
and a Batman film. It gives us a humorous take and semi-examination of The Dark
Knight by emphasizing the more jokey aspects of the character, while reminding
us what makes Batman truly one of the greatest superheroes of all time. The
fast-paced animation that takes advantage of its toy-based roots is a spectacle
to the eye as you’re trying to pay attention to everything happening, and yet
its slow and heartwarming moments draw you in to allow you to catch your breath
and see the story unfold. You don’t need to be a Batman fan to get all of the
humor, and there are enough jokes to satisfy kids and adults alike.
My final score for The LEGO Batman Movie is 3.5/5. It’s not
to the same level as The LEGO Movie, and I'd be more comfortable to give it a higher score if the story wasn't so sedate and not taking full advantage of its medium, but it’s still worth watching if you love
LEGO and/or Batman. And for those who are Bat-fans, think of this movie as a
celebration to what makes Batman so great and enduring after 78 years. I
eagerly await The LEGO Movie 2, can’t wait to see what other properties that’ll
be given the LEGO twist, and I salute Batman for nearly 80 years of entertainment.
