The Lego Batman Movie

Lego Batman shouldn’t even be a thing; it’s a movie based on a movie that’s based on a toy, but here it is, and it’s everything you didn’t expect it to be.

A spinoff of the original Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie follows our caped crusader (Will Arnett) as he does all things Batman. From fighting crime down every street and every nook and cranny of Gotham, to traipsing around the city in any number of his Lego-fied vehicles, to simply just being the badass that he is, Batman has it all…except what matters most: a real family to call his own. You see, Batman kind of does his own thing; he’s somewhat of a celebrity and swears up and down that he does his best work alone, but therein lies the problem: at the end of the night, Batman really doesn’t have anyone (save for his under-appreciated butler, Alfred, voiced by Ralph Fiennes) to call his friend, and in his mind, no one to call his family, and much to Batman’s chagrin, it slowly becomes obvious that he might not be his best self without these types of people around him. With The Joker (Zach Galifianakis) hatching yet another scheme to bring Batman and Gotham City to their knees, it’s up to an orphan named Dick Grayson (Michael Cera), and the new police commissioner, Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson), to not only help Batman foil Joker’s plans, but to show him that having someone to watch your back inside and out of the suit is something worth fighting for.

For all intents and purposes, this film is a love letter to everything Batman. From the funny quips and spot-on one-liners, to the Easter eggs strewn throughout every frame and set piece, everything happening in this film owes itself to what came before and what will most certainly come after. Not one piece of Batman’s Hollywood origins is left unturned, not one obscure Bat-suit or Bat-villian or Bat-gadget is left unmentioned, and for most, these little additions might not mean much, but for a Bat-nerd like myself and my buddy (who saw it with me), we literally couldn’t get enough. It’s satisfying to see that the filmmakers really delved into Batman’s history to come up with some of this stuff — another sign that the filmmakers knew what they were doing — and then proceeded to implement it all with the love and care that any Bat-fan would take with the property. It’s a nice feeling to see the character handled so differently yet so well, a feat not many can accomplish even within the same studio (looking at you DCEU), but I digress.

Voice acting-wise, this film hits it out of the park. Will Arnett is perfect as Batman, expertly taking what makes the character so great at times along with what makes him so over-the-top at times, and melding it into something that’s fun to watch while still allowing Batman to be Batman in any given situation. For example, there’s an early part of the film where Batman is giving Alfred some teenage angst type of attitude, only for him to resort to a perfectly executed temper tantrum that on the surface is good for a big laugh, but when looked at in a deeper sort of way, expertly manages to say a lot about who Batman as a person. No, Batman would never throw a hissy fit in the middle of Wayne Manor because Alfred told him to do something he doesn’t want to do, but technically Batman’s a spoiled rich kid who never had his parents growing up, so the way the scene is handled is perfect in so many odd ways that it got me thinking that if Batman really did do such a silly thing, he would be doing it in this exact way. Up there with Arnett are a handful of other winning casting choices, namely Michael Cera’s wildly different take on Robin. It’s an inspired selection that might not mesh well with the Dick Grayson we know and love in the comics, but plays nicely with what Robin means to Batman in the grand scheme of things, just plotted out in an unique and different new way.

While these characters are great fun to watch and listen to, everything here leads to the heart of the film in one way or another, and that heart comes down to one simple word: family. As the story moved forward, I was pleasantly surprise with how much heart and emotion went into the proceedings, as well as how much contemplation went into who and what Batman is and what he means to the people that surround him. Yeah, Batman might be a bit of a dick and Arnett’s shtick runs a bit thin by the time everything is said and done, but it’s the clear character arc that Batman travels along that really ties everything together in a nice, “learn a lesson” type of way. If you’re going to tell a personal story about Batman, this is the way to do it, something almost every silver-screen incarnation of Batman has failed to do, and with the added levity of the comedy driving much of the story, you need to look no further for a great family film that just happens to star the Batman himself.

Lastly, I want to draw attention to how great this film looks. The odd jerky, stop-motion-esque animation works wonders in setting the look of this film apart from anything else in theaters right now, and when coupled with all of the visual gags and Lego-fied backgrounds and set pieces, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better looking film out there, Pixar films included.

Much like the original, The Lego Batman Movie is way more successful than anyone could have hoped for due to the mixture of the best qualities from its predecessor and a healthy dose of Batman flavored shenanigans. Fast, funny and entertaining throughout, The Lego Batman Movie really only stumbles when Batman’s shtick gets a little grating towards the final act and when the plot drags in certain spots, but otherwise, this comedic take on the Dark Knight is one of the best to grace the silver screen in the entire history of the character. To paraphrase the comments my buddy’s little daughter uttered upon leaving the theater “that was fantastic”.