Review - "The LEGO Batman Movie"

The LEGO Batman Movie - directed by Chris McKay

Starring: Will Arnett, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Siri, Zach Galifianakis, Jenny Slate, Conan O'Brien, Doug Benson, Jason Mantzoukas, Billy Dee Williams, Zoe Kravitz, Kate Micucci, Riki Lindhome, Eddie Izzard, Seth Green, Jemaine Clement, Ellie Kemper, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Adam Devine, Hector Elizondo

Screenplay: Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern & John Whittingham 

Music Score by: Lorne Balfe

Cinematography: N/A

Edited by: David Burrows, John Venzon & Matt Villa
Running Time: 104 minutes
Language: English
Rated: PG - Cartoon violence

It was a given that after the massive (and surprise) success of 2014's "The Lego Movie" that there would be a sequel.

It's pretty smart to give centre stage to the breakout character of that film and so the sequel is not "The Lego Movie Part 2" but "The LEGO Batman Movie".

The genius behind this idea stretches further than just plucking out the most popular part of the first film.

It also brings a massive amount of history and in-jokes to the table.

And this film takes full advantage of that.

This film functions more as a sequel to all of the previous live action Batman movies more than a

sequel to the Lego movie.

We find Batman (Arnett) doing his save Gotham thing as always but after his latest adventure we discover that he has some major personal issues.

Namely that he has never properly dealt with the tragic death of his parents years ago.

So he may be the complete, narcissistic, square-jawed loner hero but when he returns to his batcave / mansion he is painfully lonely but in complete denial about it.
A lot of the plot concerns not only Batman's unresolved issues but his relationship (or lack of) with arch nemesis The Joker (Zach Galifianakis)
Upset that Batman will not even acknowledge him as a serious opponent let alone his nemesis The Joker comes up with a scheme to gather together the worst of the worst of Gotham's villains to take control of the city and defeat Batman once and for all.

Batman the hero and Batman the lonely orphan

Of course the plot is really just a necessary evil so that there is a story to hang all of the jokes on and they come thick and fast.
Almost too fast in many cases.
There are often visual jokes going on in the action, in the background and in the dialogue all at the same time.
At one point I was so busy tittering at a movie cinema marquee listing a movie called "Two Shades of Grey" in the background that I missed the dialogue joke going on simultaneously.
It's a good problem to have when the majority of the jokes land in this is just about the case here.
An awful lot of humour is milked out of references to the live action Batman movies going back through "Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice", the Nolan Dark Knight trilogy, the four movies starring Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney and of course the Adam West 1960's show and movie.
It is with these kinds of jokes that I found "The LEGO Batman Movie" working at its best.
It also uses 'real life' on occasion.

One scene shows Batman relaxing watching "Jerry Maguire" and the famous 'you had me at hello' scene.

It is a hoot seeing a live action movie playing out in the middle of the craziness of the animated Lego movie and it will not be the last time that the device is used.

Batman is joined by Alfred, Robin and Barbara Gordon

The film doesn't fare so well at other times with there being too much of a reliance on Batman's ego to provide the jokes.

I didn't find many funny after the first few.

It felt to me like this angle was already well played out after the character's appearance in "The Lego movie"

If a lot of jokes fall flat it doesn't matter too much because this film movies at a hell of a clip.

The excellent voice cast is given plenty to do.

Obviously Will Arnett gets the bulk of the dialogue and this is totally Will Arnett's show - his voicework is extraordinary and he completely owns this character as much as say Christian Bale owned his Dark Knight character.

I particularly like the work of Michael Cera as Robin.

He introduces himself with 'My name is Richard Grayson but the kids call me Dick'.

'Yeah, kids can be cruel' Batman responds.

Ralph Feinnes as Alfred is also a highlight.

His constant attempts to make Batman form proper relationships work because an actor of the quality of Feinnes delivers them as if he is playing Shakespeare.

Given that the animated Lego characters have very limited emotional range available to them by virtue of their design pretty much everything has to come from the voice and it is a credit to the voice cast that the characters do indeed have a lot of character and when required - emotion.

The many villains include Superman, The Joker, The Riddler, Harley Quinn and Two Face

This movie doesn't require a recommendation.

You already know if you are going to see it based on your opinion of the first Lego film.

I don't think it is quite as good as its predecessor but I still had fun with it.

It's a terrific looking film in which the action, the jokes and the cameos come thick and fast making the 104 minute running time feel more like 90 minutes.

And if you are a Batman fan be it of comics, tv shows, movies, video games or all of the above there is a stack of in-jokes and characters from Bane, Killer Croc. Harley Quinn and on and on it goes.

That means that there are frequent knowing references to previous iterations of the Batman character and his opponents.

If some of these miss (or indeed any of the jokes) there will be another one along shortly that probably won't.

RATING: 75 / 100

CONCLUSION: Not as surprisingly inventive or as funny as The Lego Movie this is still a lot of fun for Batman fans and non-fans alike.  The great cast headed by the inimitable Will Arnett seem to have been having fun making it too.