Synopsis:
In the irreverent spirit of fun that made “The LEGO® Movie” a worldwide phenomenon, the self-described leading man of that ensemble – LEGO Batman (Will Arnett) – stars in his own big-screen adventure. But there are big changes brewing in Gotham, and if he wants to save the city from The Joker’s (Zach Galifianakis) hostile takeover, Batman may have to drop the lone vigilante thing, try to work with others and maybe, just maybe, learn to lighten up.
What We Thought:
The LEGO Batman Movie is a lot different from The LEGO Movie, but still a lot of fun. It’s definitely more a Batman movie than LEGO movie, but I’m ok with that.
There are lots of Batman references in it. Every version of Batman seems to make an appearance or get referenced, everything from Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, Michael Keaton to Adam West and the even older TV serials. There’s some great jokes in reference to West’s 1960’s Batman show. I won’t ruin it, but those might be the best jokes in the movie.
Plus lots of other DC Comics characters make appearances. There’s a great Justice League scene and by Justice League I mean the Super Friends cartoon I grew up on. All I know is, if there’s an Apache Chief LEGO minifigure coming out because of this, I need him for my collection.
All the Batman villains you know show up as well. The Joker is the main bad guy in this along with Harley Quinn, but you can see The Riddler, The Penguin, Clayface, Mr. Freeze and more. But what I liked about this is the non-DC Comics villains that show up. I won’t spoil it because there are some great ones that team up with The Joker to take down Gotham and prove to Batman that The Joker IS his biggest enemy.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still LEGO, but there’s not quite as much in reference to LEGO as the first film. There are some songs and dancing in this, but nothing like the original movie. There’s one or two references to master building, but honestly, this could have just been a kid’s Batman movie without the LEGO look and it would have worked just as good. Them being LEGO does help in the ending, but you could have worked around that.
As much as I loved The LEGO Movie and overall wanted to see this, I was a bit hesitant going into it. I’m not a big Will Arnett (the voice of Batman) fan and I have personal issues with Michael Cera (the voice of Robin). I won’t get into those personal issues here, but I will say he didn’t ruin The LEGO Batman Movie for me. You might not walk out singing Everything is Awesome like you did the first time around, but the kids will love it and I’m pretty sure you will too. Nothing else to say besides…
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Cast & Crew:
- Will Arnett
- Zach Galifianakis
- Michael Cera
- Rosario Dawson
- Ralph Fiennes
Recommended If You Like:
- The LEGO Movie
- Batman
- LEGO!
The Nerds Templar 