The Lego Batman Movie (2017)

“The Lego Batman Movie” stars Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Zach Galifianakis, Rosario Dawson, and Ralph Fiennes.  Released on February 10, 2017, the film has Batman trying to save Gotham City from the Joker while also learning about the importance of teamwork.

The film features the directorial debut of Chris McKay, who is known for directing and editing Robot Chicken for three seasons.  It is a spin-off of the 2014 animated comedy, The Lego Movie.  I had been looking forward to this film for quite some time for a couple of reasons.  The first reason is that I enjoyed the heck out of The Lego Movie, and the second reason is that the marketing is so darn hilarious.  This film will mark as a test to see if audiences are ready to experience a cinematic universe based on the LEGO toys because hey, we could not get enough of those, am I right?  Going into this film, I was expecting it to have the same qualities that made The Lego Movie a success three years ago, and guess what?  I was not disappointed.

The film’s story focuses on Batman (Arnett), who was first introduced as a supporting character in The Lego Movie.  He still has that stubborn personality as usual, but it doesn’t get to the point where he becomes unlikable (Thank goodness).  Arnett once again delivered some of the best voice work in his career thanks to his humor.  Cera was also great as Robin, an orphan who becomes Batman’s adopted son, and Galifianakis made a stunning comeback as the villainous Joker after starring in some box office bombs last year.  Even though he doesn’t match Heath Ledger’s portrayal as the Joker in The Dark Knight, I thought he did a nice job at capturing the craziness of the character.  The story basically has the same qualities as any other superhero movie, but it offers more than that.  It’s mostly about Batman trying to get over his personal fear of starting a family again while also learning how to work with others when a situation gets too big for one person to handle.  The way they executed this storyline, in my opinion, was pure genius.  Kids are definitely going to relate to the themes shown in the film and the writing is clever enough to get the adults to join in on the fun.  The film’s pacing was a bit rushed at certain points, but it’s enough to entertain the little ones.  Like The Lego Movie, the animation in The Lego Batman Movie was simply outstanding from start to finish.  From the film’s colorful settings to the stylized, kid-friendly action sequences, the animators once again created the exact same experience as playing with actual LEGOs at home.  But why stop there?  What really made this film fun for me was the humor.  Not only does the film pay tribute to the entire Batman history, but it also pokes fun of it in the process without overdoing it.  There are several jokes in there that longtime fans will love, and some jokes that will tickle the non-fans’ funny bones, too.

Overall, “The Lego Batman Movie” successfully delivers the same amount of fun and imagination that The Lego Movie offered back in 2014.  Not only that, but it also marks as a superb love letter to Batman fans young and old thanks to its clever storytelling, good characters, marvelous animation, and its excellent use of humor.  It’s pretty early to call this the best animated film of 2017 because we got several more to go through before all is said and done.  I would highly recommend it to every Batman fan in the world and to families who want a more funnier side of the Caped Crusader.

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