The Lego Batman Movie
/
Robin: Wait, does Batman live in Bruce Wayne's basement?
Batman: No, Bruce Wayne lives in Batman's attic.
quick fox: A- | Gold
winding dragon
The Lion King is a brilliant example of a film that nails the first few seconds—the sun peeking over the horizon while the epic opening line of Circle of Life echoes across the Pride Lands instantly grabs the audience.
Well, if you think that’s good, then wait until you’ve seen The Lego Batman Movie (2017).
Now, I don’t want to spoil the surprise for anybody who hasn’t seen it yet, but I’ll just say that if there were any doubts that Lego Batman could repeat the success of The Lego Movie (2014), those fears are erased within the opening. From the first sound of Batman’s deep, gravely voice, I knew that it would be impossible for me not to love every second.
Set after the events of his adventure with Emmet and Wyldstyle, Batman/Bruce Wayne (Will Arnett) lives a life of crime-fighting and luxury. When he’s not (as the song “Who’s the Batman?” claims) doing sick backflips or being the manliest man, Batman spends his days watching romantic comedies (alone), eating lobster (alone), and staring at portraits of his parents (when he thinks Alfred isn’t around). As is easily apparent, the only thing bigger for Batman than his childish behavior and ego is his soul-crushing loneliness. But all of that will change when Batman accidentally adopts optimistic and wide-eyed Dick Grayson/Robin (Michael Cera), and the overachieving new chief-of-police Barbara Gordon/Batgirl (Rosario Dawson) calls for the end of Batman’s vigilante lifestyle. He is forced to alter his lone-wolf (or should I say, lone-bat) mantra, and work as a team to defeat his not-archenemy the Joker (Zach Galifianakis) who has concocted a foolproof scheme to take over Gotham City.
If there was any criticism I could make about Lego Batman is that it isn’t as plot dependent as its predecessor. That in itself is not bad—since Lego Batman is one giant spoof on every Batman variation before it anyway—but it did mean most of the conflict is forced. The reliance on Hollywood tropes as comedy fuel also meant that there wasn’t anything unexpected in the film, and didn’t lend itself to the same kind of twist that shocked everybody with The Lego Movie.
That being said, I don’t think I can overemphasize enough what a visual delight and comedic goldmine Lego Batman is. Sitting in the movie theatre, I lost count of how many times I had to muffle my mouth with my sleeve to stifle my laughter and force myself to calm down enough just so I could hear the next line. Batman’s relentless sarcasm and self-indulgent pride mixed with Robin’s abundant eagerness and will to please form a delightful balance. The animation of the eyes—especially Joker’s and Robin’s—are hilarious because they express so many different emotions with simple circles and slight eyebrow movements.
The best thing about Lego Batman is that it is endlessly watchable. It’s like a giant, moving “I Spy” with all the different character references, background animation, and Lego blocks flying everywhere. Even a simple, still moment such as Batman staring at his microwave contains a ton of details to look for in the background, and it made me wish I had hours to just pause every single frame (okay, maybe that’s a tad much) to catch everything.