You really should go see The LEGO Batman Movie if you can—not just because a lot of us really need some escapism right now, but because it’s one of the best Batman movies ever made.
Seriously. This, the 1966 Adam West-fronted Batman, the 1989 Tim Burton movie, and 2005’s Batman Begins are the ones to beat…and I’d rate LEGO Batman over two of those in a heartbeat. Not only is it endlessly funny (the jokes start before the picture does), but it’s extremely clever, draws from a bottomless well of Batman lore, and is genuinely sweet.
Oh and also? Best Barbara Gordon EVER.
Mild spoilers follow.
The premise is this: Batman’s awesome. We know this because he tells us so, repeatedly. He saves Gotham, is beloved by its people, and returns home to his sweet mansion on his private island to…microwave some Lobster Thermidor and watch Jerry Maguire. Alone.
Again.
Alfred (voiced by Ralph Fiennes) knows the score, because Alfred always knows the score. His boss is terrified of being part of a family again. Batman is the World’s Greatest Commitment-phobe and he’s convinced himself he’s happy that way. He even pushes the Joker away, denying the fact that they have a relationship with the deathless line, “I am…fighting a few different people; I like to fight around.”
That moment shows up in the trailers and gets a big laugh. What follows it is actually better, as Batman, his voice simultaneously gravelly and emotionless, tells the Joker that no one means anything to him. It’s a moment of unusual dramatic weight, and is one of several hefty emotional blows the movie lands right on target. This characterization serves up a vision of Batman as Bruce Wayne’s protective armour, and while that’s not new ground for the character, it’s rarely been mined as well as it is here.
First, Bruce falls madly in love with Barbara Gordon (played by Rosario Dawson). He doesn’t actually…talk to her much, but Cutting Crew plays every time he sees her and he instantly transforms into a black-clad ball of justice with a total inability to talk to girls. So entranced is he, in fact, that he doesn’t notice that Dick Grayson (Michael Cera) has talked his way into being adopted by Bruce. Then there’s the fact that the Joker surrenders, plus the Joker’s plan to force Batman to accept just how much they’re connected, Barbara becoming police commissioner, and a very, very different relationship with the GCPD to deal with. It’s enough to make anyone’s armored face disguise spin.
The film’s entire plot is designed to break Bruce down emotionally, to the point where he’s able to admit that he needs other people. It could be hokey and, at times, it is—but it’s never less than genuine and often really sweet. There’s an especially great action sequence which nails the “Two of my friends are about to die but I can only save one of them?!!” dilemma of classic comic covers. Plus a later moment, which sees Bruce pull a little bit of a Wrath of Khan on Team Bat, is possibly the first time you’ll ever feel sorry for a colossal walking bat vehicle made out of LEGO. Poor Scuttler. Best of all, though, is the way Arnett’s Batman begins to let people in. He’s still super serious, super badass, and super super awesome, but he’s also calmed down a bit. The Batman we see at the end of the movie might even be invited to the annual JLA party. He’d still want to DJ, and cater, and do the fireworks (all in the shape of bats, naturally), but it’s a start.
There are two brilliant choices the film makes as a result of this narrative and unfortunately, I can only talk about one without spoiling things. Please trust me, though: what happens in the second half of the movie is not only one of the best rolling action sequences you’ll see this year, but also gleefully over the top and wickedly smart. There are at least four full-on gut laugh moments, and the whole thing manages to simultaneously map the exuberance of playing with amazing toys onto actual honest to God postmodernist literary theory. With punching. And Batmobiles.
The thing I CAN talk about is how the thrust of the main narrative changes the other characters and does so very much for the better. Anyone worried that Cera would be playing Scott Pilgrim here should relax. This Dick Grayson is very young, very sweet, and the closest the movie gets to a straight man for Batman’s jokes. The running gag about his costume (you’ve probably seen some of this in the trailer) is great. His constant inveigling of parental love from Bruce is even better. Also there’s a lovely moment before he finds out the truth about Batman where he thinks Batman and Bruce Wayne are “roommates” and refers to them as his two dads. The last place I expected to see a subtle, positive acknowledgement of same sex parenting was in a LEGO movie, but I’m so glad it’s there.
Alfred fares very well, too. Fiennes’ pained, precise diction is perfect for the world’s finest butler and this Alfred has a far gentler edge to him than recent versions. Where Jeremy Irons’ Mr. Pennyworth was a tetchy if charming wannabe grandfather, Fiennes plays the character with a good deal more serenity and mischief. Plus, Alfred’s role in the closing action sequences is both welcome and surprisingly large. Never, ever mess with the butler.
But it’s Barbara Gordon who’s the breakout star of Team Batman, here. A graduate of “Harvard for Police,” Dawson’s Babs takes over from her dad as commissioner and spearheads a very different version of the GCPD. She’s the movie’s moral centre and is every inch the crime-fighter Batman is, but she comes at it in an entirely different way. It would have been so easy to make her the foil for every joke or an unassailable ideal, but instead she’s presented exactly as she should be: kind, brilliant, badass, and completely down to Earth. Barbara’s the emotional anchor for Batman’s entire plot, a vital part of the action, wears the most badass costume she possibly could, and is definitively (and, as far as I know, for the first time) a person of color. She’s still the exact same character, but once again the movie makes an immensely powerful point about diversity with grace, intelligence, and humor.
There isn’t a frame of this movie that doesn’t impress. There isn’t a single element that isn’t surprising, or witty, or fun. Richard Cheese makes his LEGO debut at one point with a loungecore version of “Everything Is Awesome,” the rogues’ gallery is stacked with gloriously awful obscure Bat villains (CONDIMENT KING!), and the soundtrack by Lorne Balfe is ridiculously clever. As well as the usual array of songs, some truly great, the score is littered with tips of the cowl to previous incarnations of Batman: Hans Zimmer-esque sliding key changes, hints of Danny Elfman orchestration, and actual honest to goodness “Na na na na na na na na na” Adam West-era touches abound. (Also, pay close attention to what the choir are singing, when it comes up. Trust me.)
This would have been such an easy movie to phone in. Arnett’s Batman was a breakout star already, the character has decades of lore and nostalgia to lean on, and the whole thing could have been put together to make a quick buck. Instead, Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern, John Whittington, and director Chris McKay have assembled a movie that’s both a celebration and a roast of Gotham’s favourite son, one that still breaks new ground with the character. Supremely witty and often very, very funny, it’s a much-needed delight from the opening minutes (featuring dramatic music and a black screen) all the way through the very fun ending credits.
Alasdair Stuart is a freelancer writer, RPG writer and podcaster. He owns Escape Artists, who publish the short fiction podcasts Escape Pod, Pseudopod, Podcastle, Cast of Wonders, and the magazine Mothership Zeta. He blogs enthusiastically about pop culture, cooking and exercise at Alasdairstuart.com, and tweets @AlasdairStuart.
“This, the 1966 Adam West-fronted Batman, the 1989 Tim Burton movie, and 2005’s Batman Begins are the ones to beat…and I’d rate LEGO Batman over two of those in a heartbeat.”
Well, don’t leave us hanging… which one beats it in your book?
I may be a poor judge as I’m still a huge fan of Keaton as Batman myself.
Saw it Saturday with family and friends who have WAY more Bat-lore under their belts and I’m convinced they enjoyed it even more than me…which is really improbable on the surface.
I LOVED this movie. It had every chance of sucking – a sequel, an obvious money-grab for the breakout star, SOOO many villains, an over-trouped female lead, etc., etc., etc. It did not suck. They stuck every single joke and every emotional beat and it NEVER felt forced.
Will Arnet continues to be perfect in this role and Michael Cera nails earnest Dick Grayson. Ralph Finnes (also making a cameo as another of his famous personnas) is an absolute treat. And yes to everything about Rosario Dawson as Babs. Perfect casting.
It is for me, by far, the most enjoyable Batman film. I won’t say best because we still have Heath’s performance to thank for that, but this is one I will watch with my family over and over and over and never regret a viewing.
Go see it.
Batman out
@2/youngheart80: While another character Ralph Fiennes is known for does appear in the movie, Fiennes does not reprise his role here. Instead, Eddie Izzard plays the character in question.
My wife surprised me by suggesting we see this movie. The trailers were funny and it got 4.5 stars in the local paper. I wouldn’t give it that many stars, but it was a lot of fun. I am not a huge bat-fan, so I am sure a lot of little details went over my head. But the movie had a big heart, and a good message. I am not sure my wife will appreciate it in the long run, though, because I learned that pretty much anything you say sounds better in a growly Batman voice…
English Robots!
This review makes me wish I didn’t find Lego minifigs creepy-looking in general, and even creepier when they’re animated.
(Sometimes I think my mother must have stepped on a Lego brick while she was pregnant with me, and my aversion to Legos dates from there.)
@6/bruce-arthurs: They didn’t even introduce minifigures until I was 10 years old. These days LEGO is all mass-media tie-in lines, but when I was a kid, they were just plastic building blocks. There were red, white, and blue bricks in several shapes and sizes, and that was it. I made my own “minifigs” by putting two of the smallest bricks (the 1×2 size) on top of each other and using pencil to draw a little face on the top one. And when they first introduced minifigs, they didn’t have any tie-ins yet — the main one I played with (owned by my friend across the street, who had much cooler toys than I did) was the “Space” set, but there were also “Town” and “Castle” sets, and later a “Pirate” set, and so on.
I think LEGO has lost something by becoming so dominated by media tie-ins. It used to be purely about the child’s own imagination — here are the raw materials, now create whatever you want. The solid, 3D equivalent of a box of crayons, only with a lot fewer colors. Although I guess that’s kind of what The LEGO Movie was about — that tension between the philosophies of “build according to the instructions” and “build whatever you feel like.” It somewhat reassured me that there’s still room for the latter.
Two dads? What is Alfred? Chopped liver?
@7/ My son, who at 15 still builds magnificent LEGO creations, would always build a given set according to the instructions. If it were Star Wars, he might play with it as that for a bit but everything would end up blown up and in the buckets as parts. Parts are the most fun for him because that’s when he builds his ships, vehicles & so forth for his Intelligent Penguin Universe (the boys from Madagascar wish they had the Penguin Air Force to help them :D ).
He looks at a box, I ask him if he’s seen this other one from that line and he’s more interested in what parts are included. If he needs the parts determines what box he buys (with his money from his first job now) not which tie in it is.
I have no worries about tie ins as a result.
@6/ 
@8 — Alfred’s the grandfather, obviously–he relates to Batman as his kid, and Dick as Batman’s kid.
I liked this a lot, but I don’t think it’s possible to top the Lego Movie’s original joke here. “The girl you are crushing on has a boyfriend…and he is Batman.”
I have to ask about the visuals.
I understood the cleverness of the first Lego movie, but it took me three viewing sessions to get through it. The hyperkinetic animation style combined with the stiff, expressionless movement of the characters (yes, I know that’s the joke) was just too difficult to watch for me. At least on video I could walk away and come back to it another time; I think I would feel trapped in a theater.
Am I the only one who feels this way? Does this sequel provide any relief?
Cannot wait to see this movie. The first was, well, AWESOME!
My kids loved Legos. I still had some legos left from their childhood, the basic bricks and colors, and gave them to my daughter when my husband and I moved in 2015. The bricks are over thirty-years old but still work!