REVIEW: The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

The following is a review of The LEGO Batman Movie – Directed by Chris McKay.

Everything, indeed, was awesome about Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s fantastic The LEGO Movie. It was one of the biggest surprise hits of 2014, and so, obviously, we were going to get more big LEGO films. The first of these is a spin-off of The LEGO Movie, in which Will Arnett’s take on Batman was one of the highlights.

Now, with The LEGO Batman Movie, the Warner Bros. Animation Group has made sure that someone like me will be looking forward to each and every big LEGO film, because The LEGO Batman Movie is terrific.

The LEGO Batman Movie takes place in the LEGO version of Gotham City, wherein Batman (voiced by Will Arnett) is the one and true hero. While saving the city from a group of classic Batman-villains led by the Joker (voiced by Zach Galifianakis), Batman breaks the Joker’s heart by saying that he isn’t his ‘number one villain.’

In trying to prove that he is important to Batman, the Joker comes up with a plan: he is going to rid the city of villains by forcing them all to turn themselves in to the police, so that Batman will no longer have anyone to save or stop. In a city with no villains, Batman is as lonely as he is without the mask on.

The LEGO Batman Movie is such a fun film to watch and it has so many jokes jam-packed into it that it is almost exhausting to watch, but in the best possible way. One might’ve thought that the film would go for a darker sense of humor because it is a Batman-movie, but that isn’t the case.

Chris McKay and the rest of the team behind The LEGO Batman Movie clearly have a deep understanding of what makes Batman the character that he is. While the film is true to the character, it still takes every chance it gets to poke fun at the character and his history.

I was worried about what I would think about the film’s interpretations of both the Joker and Robin, but each and every one of Batman’s relationships are dealt with in an appropriate and flat-out hilarious way. Another worry I had had was that perhaps this would just be a film for kids, but that isn’t the case either. While it’ll certainly be fun for children to watch, I think that a more mature crowd can have a lot of fun with it as well.

And while the film confidently references each and every incarnation of the Batman-character – and takes its time with seemingly almost naming every member of Batman’s large rogues gallery – the film also isn’t afraid of stepping outside of the boundaries of not just the Batman universe, but the DC Comics Universe entirely. There are a lot of really fun LEGO character cameos in here.

The LEGO Batman Movie is one of the best surprises of the year thus far. It is easily, and obviously, the funniest Batman-film that we’ve ever seen, but also the best Batman-film since Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

8 out of 10

– Jeffrey Rex