The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

IMDB Rating 7.8/10

Bruce Wayne must not only deal with the criminals of Gotham City, but also the responsibility of raising a boy he adopted.

Director: Chris McKay

Writers: Seth Grahame-Smith (screenplay), Chris McKenna (screenplay)

Stars: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson

PG | 1h 44min | Animation, Action, Adventure

IMDB link Here

Superb Superhero Hilarity  

The success of The LEGO Movie and the overall popularity of LEGO's brand, plus the success of the LEGO home entertainment superhero films, suggests a strong performance is in store for The LEGO Batman Movie. The film's marketing campaign and outreach has been fantastic, and the reviews are adding up to nearly universal acclaim -- it currently sits at 98% at Rotten Tomatoes. When audiences spread the word that it lives up to the hype (which it does, but more on that in a minute), the combined effect of all of this should be an opening domestic weekend of $65+ million.

I actually wonder if it'll exceed those expectations and finish somewhere north of $70 million, due to a whole lot of people being overwhelmed by the negativity and stress of political news the past several weeks, causing them to flee to the multiplex with their families for some much-needed laughs and escapism. A final haul in the $450+ million range looks likely, with $500 million possible if it can exceed expectations a bit.

Warner smartly kept The LEGO Batman Movie's budget at a reasonable $80 million, an uptick over The LEGO Movie's $60 million price-tag but still a very reasonable sum. It means a $450+ million cume will net the studio a hefty profit, and then the home release revenue plus other merchandising tie-ins will further sweeten the pot.

What's amazing is how well The LEGO Batman Movie portrays these complicated personality traits and behaviors, these conflicts and contrasts and parallels, so easily and through experiencing them within the story. It's terrific characterization and demonstrates as thorough a grasp of Batman's psychology as any film or comic to date.

This is a smart script, with a few particularly instances of exceptional impact from a single line or two. There's a moment when Batman's argument with Alfred leads Batman to make a shockingly oblivious remark that speaks volumes about their relationship, followed by a wonderful reaction from Alfred that is all expression and yet conveys the severity of his emotional pain and his disappointment with Batman's lack of empathy. But it's also funny.

Director Chris McKay does a fabulous job with both the action and the characterizations. While it's easy to get caught up in the thrill of the action beats and the non-stop barrage of jokes, he keeps the characters -- and most importantly, the relationships -- front and center, so even the big action set pieces wind up driven by the ways Batman relates (or fails to relate) to his friends and enemies. You really have to "get" Batman and appreciate his history to attempt to encompass it as fully and respectfully as McKay does here, and to do it with such a sense of loving humor that finds the absurdity and comedy in it yet never mocks or demeans it. It's a balancing act that serves as commentary on bat-mania and Batman's place in our pop culture, as well as a more specific and nuanced examination of Batman's role within the DCU in print and live-action, and only someone who loves the character and understands him could've accomplished it with such success.

Visually, The LEGO Batman Movie is every bit as dynamic as The LEGO Movie, except the cast of characters are -- if you can imagine -- even more colorful and outrageous, as is the world in which they operate. Every frame is full of eye-candy and sight gags, and when the seemingly endless parade of villains make their way onto the screen, lifelong fans will recognize a plethora of oft-forgotten rogues while new fans will cackle with delight at some of the more dubiously dangerous ne'er-do-wells.

Will Arnett's Batman voice will fast become a fan and mainstream favorite, and he is just one of the many stars of note here who deliver rousing performances. Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Zoë Kravitz, Conan O'Brien, Dilly Dee Williams, and Jenny Slate are among the large cast that includes lots of cameos by other notable actors and actresses as well. But it's definitely the superfecta of Arnett-Fiennes-Dawson-Cera-Galifianakis that drives the show and provides the deeper resonance to make it all worth while.

A visual treat that's terrific fun for the whole family, The LEGO Batman Movie is gloriously silly and wildly hysterical, but also unexpectedly faithful and remarkably emotionally perceptive.

Read full review at The Forbes

Movie Rating ★★★★☆  

Relentlessly funny superhero parody  

It was already brave of the custodians of the Batman franchise to let The Lego Movie mock their prize asset so mercilessly in 2014. The fact that they’ve doubled down with this feature-length parody suggests they figure either Batman can take it, or that he’s reached that point in the superhero cycle where it’s no longer possible to take him seriously. Either way, this gag-packed, knockabout action-adventure has a lot of fun with the character, while also broaching his pathologies in a way the “serious movies” rarely do. It doesn’t have the heart, the depth or the novelty of the first Lego movie, but it is relentlessly, consistently funny – which excuses everything.

Voiced with Christian Bale-like gruffness by Will Arnett, this is the macho, humourless, self-regarding Dark Knight we get here, who imagines he’s brilliant at everything and prefers to work alone. “Batman doesn’t do ’ships,” (as in “relationships”) he tells a crestfallen Joker, denying there’s anything special between them during a spectacular opening fight (as with its predecessor, this movie’s Lego-bricked animation is surprisingly expressive and cinematic). Afterwards, our hero goes home to an empty Batcave for some microwaved lobster, a little solo heavy-metal guitar, and a night alone in his home cinema with Jerry Maguire. He’s a bit of a loser, in other words.

That is some achievement when you think about everything this movie has to do. Let’s not forget this is, at heart, a not-so-subliminal promo for two enormous commercial concerns: Batman and Lego. The merchandising is physically built in: many a young viewer will covet Batman’s new Scuttler ship (yours for £84.99). Really, they should be paying us to go and see it. The fact that the movie can satisfy its commercial imperatives, smuggle in some satirical jabs, and wrap it all up in an apparently irreverent, self-satirising comedy for all ages could be viewed as admirable or sinister, but this is, undeniably, a sophisticated product.

Read full review at The Guardian