The Lego Batman Movie (Chris McKay)

[Henry Gale]

IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4116284/) / Wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lego_Batman_Movie)

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/scottmendelson/files/2017/02/31365964945_ebaf5b9b17_b.jpg

[Henry Gale]

It might feel kinda pointless to discuss whether or not this is one of the best Batman films ever made as its a toy-licensed spinoff movie, and yet, it absolutely feels like the ultimate Batman movie, and in many ways the purest distillation of the character's cultural canon into a single film that still manages weight and sincerity. A celebration and evolution of the character and its universe that's just an incredibly joyful and hysterical treat of boundless imagination and irreverence.

After Dawn of Justice, it's nice to remember what there is to love about Batman. Even when it's with such a goofy, somewhat parodic version of the character and his backstory, there's more respect and intelligence with him than anything in Snyder has done with him.

***½ / 8.6

[TGM]

This would make for an incredicle double feature with Holy Musical B@man! ;)

[Mal]

Fabulous, funny and frenetic at times. I can't imagine anyone not liking this.

[megladon8]

Haven't seen the film but I'm impressed by the character designs and how they managed to pay homage to and incorporate elements from different interpretations. Most obvious one is Bane, who is the giant, venom-infused, mask wearing hulk from the comics, while also wearing the coat from Nolan's film.

[TGM]

Billy Dee Williams as Two Face is my favorite such design. Sadly, they do very little with the classic Batman villains. Would've loved to have seen more from them.

[Milky Joe]

This was great fun, even if it felt a little like pop culture just cannibalizing itself. These guys get it.

[Peng]

In lieu of the framing meta-narrative of The Lego Movie, this has the long history of Batman and his DC universe to play around and be its second layer instead, so it lacks both the unexpectedly profound emotions and tighter storytelling of that one. Luckily, it is still so jam-packed with the same creativity, fun, and fondness of characters that are a complete pleasure. Also, this visually improves on The Lego Movie, which can be an eyesore sometimes in fast-action scenes. Really gorgeous, with deeper, more popping colors and smoother action. 7.5/10

[Spinal]

This was plenty funny, but the self-serious Batman gag does wear a little thin by the end. Also, it would be nice if they found a way to unveil the various characters without just throwing them all at us at once. It's not quite the revelation that the first film was, but I do hope to see more of these. The trailer for Ninjago cracked me up.

[number8]

This was very obviously written by pretty hardcore Batman fans. It's not just the abundance of crazy obscure references and details (the fact that it cribs Joker's lair from Killing Joke and the climax from Cataclysm made my jaw drop), but it's also a superb distillation of every big Batman storyline's main theme, which is that he's a walking contradiction as a self-styled loner constantly in search of a family (one of the tedious things about Batman comics in the 90s was that he kept re-learning this lesson every couple of years because writers always wanted to push his badass loner-ness to a breaking point). It's what made the characterization in The Lego Movie so funny as a parody, but here they're kinda forced to take that aspect more seriously. It makes him feel closer to the "real" Batman and less of a piss-take, which I think makes him more palatable to follow for 2 hours, though unfortunately does make him less constantly hilarious.

[Grouchy]

This was fun but I think the praise from raving comic fans killed it in a way for me. I appreciated all the obscure references to the history of Batman but I was prepared for them and, beyond that, I found the movie kinda long.

I also chuckled a lot at the cribbing of villains from different franchises but let's be honest, that was a bad idea to take all the way through. It totally wastes the potential of Batman villains.

[number8]

I also chuckled a lot at the cribbing of villains from different franchises but let's be honest, that was a bad idea to take all the way through. It totally wastes the potential of Batman villains.

Yeah, actually, I agree with this. All of them would've worked better in the main Lego movie. It's very fun but seems to be included just to say that Batman can beat any bad guy. ANY BAD GUY.

[Dead & Messed Up]

This was fun enough. Fair job of building a functional story around Batman, even if it's labored by the end. There's none of the fourth-wall-shattering genius that made the first Lego film so surprisingly emotional. The deep level of referentiality is supposed to compensate for that, although it's funny how quick the film is to point up the '60s film as weird, when it's really no more baroque than this film or BvS in how far it pushes its own sensibilities. Also, here's another Lego movie, like the first, that has one female role and jams all possible female roles into that one - compatriot, voice of reason, romantic interest, action gurl. The "boys club" mentality of these films gets a bit much at times.

Agreed that there was little need to bring in all the public domain and WB-licensed villains into the end, when they had such a rock-solid stable of baddies waiting in the wings. It's shocking how little we get of Jenny Slate's Harley and Billy Dee's Two-Face.

But yeah, there's still much to appreciate, especially on a visual level. Even more than the first Lego flick, I love the look and vibe of the animation, and how sometimes the Legos have little chips and dirt crusted at the edges.

MVP is Michael Cera.

[Philip J. Fry]

I kinda ship this Joker and Batman. Overall, very funny movie and it had it's heart on the right place.