The Lego Batman Movie

Voices of: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Susan Bennett, Zach Galifianakis, Jenny Slate, Jason Mantzoukas, Conan O'Brien, Doug Benson, 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, Mariah Carey, Chris Hardwick
Directed by: Chris McKay
Rating: PG
Genre: Action, Adventure
2017

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Batman (Will Arnett) faces a crisis when the Joker (Zach Galifianakis) refuses to fight him anymore.

Review:

Tim: So after The Lego Movie did so well financially, you knew this was going to be the next major kid's franchise. The first sequel is really a spinoff movie. It took one really funny aspect of the original movie and spun off into a feature length film on its own. As you might expect, while Lego Batman was hilarious in small doses, it doesn't quite hold up on its own. Make no mistake, this is still a decent movie, but it felt too one-note for me. It was too narrow and was missing the lighthearted joy that was present in the first movie. Still, this movie is designed for kids and they'll obviously eat this up.

It's interesting to watch this movie because there's so many elements at play here. On the one hand, this movie is designed to sell a ton of Batman Lego toys. However, it's a great opportunity for DC to plant the seed that Batman is cool into a whole generation of younger children. Get to them young and hopefully they'll be fans for life. However, the movie also makes fun of Batman and the myriad characters in his universe. It's good-natured fun, but the Batman in this movie is pretty clueless and totally lacking self-awareness. That was a bit of a brave decision, to take the most iconic superhero DC has (he's obviously bigger than Superman right now) and poke fun at who he is. I probably appreciated the willingness to do that more than anything else in this film.

The movie itself is decent, but it did feel far too simple at its very heart. This is really a movie about the joke that Batman is clueless and doesn't quite get it. Yes, there's some really worthwhile story aspects about family, about letting people into your life. About trusting others and about family. Those are all great aspects of the film and certainly teach valuable lessons while entertaining. But really, that feels secondary to the "Batman is silly" joke that we repeatedly get. The film goes to great lengths to surround this simple premise with so much- there's so many characters, so much happening at any given point. It honestly felt overwhelming. It wasn't that the movie throws anything too complex at us- it just presents its story in a way that children play- there's very little rules, there's very little focus. Throw everything into the mix and you have this crazy, overpowering quality. There's a ton of Batman characters in this movie (really, way too many) but then we also have Voldemort from Harry Potter. We have Sauron from The Lord of the Rings. Why? I honestly don't get it. Batman has a huge enough catalogue of characters, there was no need to pull additional characters from other stories. Corporate synergy might be great and all, but it all added up to overkill. This movie needed fewer characters, not more of them. Sure, maybe this was an intentional decision to reflect how kids play- not bound by any of the rules that adults pick up over time. If so, great. But that doesn't translate into the most enjoyable story. At many points, it felt like I was watching kids playing with Legos for two hours (which isn't very fun, trust me). This movie would have benefited from a more focused story. There were a bunch of writers involved in this movie, so maybe that contributed to it. The film needed a more clear vision.

The animation was decent, but I never paused and thought that the movie was ever beautiful. It didn't feel as clearly depicted as some of the best animated films. There's so much going on in every scene, it often felt like sensory overload. The animation is obviously top notch, but it never really came across as something visually appealing.

The voice cast is good, but there's just so many different characters. I think Will Arnett is fine as Batman. I have no issues with him. The same can be said for Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Zach Galiafianakis and the rest of the immense cast. It's fun hearing so many familiar voices, although most of the characters appeared too infrequently to really make much of an impact.

I know a lot of people loved The Lego Movie. I liked it, but not much more than that. This first sequel certainly feels like a less effective effort, albeit slightly. I wouldn't quite consider this a good movie, but I can see how The Lego Batman Movie would be entertaining for kids. There's enough here for adults, especially Batman fans, to keep older audiences engaged as well (if you can suffer through the overload). It'll be interesting to see where this franchise goes, but this second film is definitely a small step in the wrong direction.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Lego Movie