THE BATMAN LEGO MOVIE REVIEW

Bruce Wayne must not only deal with the criminals of Gotham City, but also the responsibility of raising a boy he adopted.

Starring: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, and Rosario Dawson

Directed by: Chris McKay

Written by: Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern, & John Whittington

  Not expecting much, “The LEGO Movie” quickly turned into one of my favorite animated movies. They created a lot of great characters, and while Batman (Will Arnett) wasn’t an original character, they certainly added a lot of originality to this version of Batman. With that, it wasn’t totally surprising to see why they decided to make “The LEGO Batman Movie.” However, could it be better than “The LEGO Movie?” 

  This movie wastes no time getting into the silliness with Batman commenting on the opening credits. After the credits pass, the audience sees the Joker (Zach Galifianakis) in the middle of his latest evil plan. Of course Batman eventually steps in to foil it. To celebrate, Batman gets some quality alone time. Yes, one theme in this movie is how he struggles with wanting to do everything by himself.

  Too bad he gets plenty of help whether he likes it or not. Without realizing it, he ends up adopting Robin (Michael Cera), a very curious young boy. While Robin just wants to be his son, he starts off almost being his trained pet, as he does everything Batman tells him to. However, he doesn’t get help from the Justice League. He isn’t even invited to their anniversary party. It’s pretty funny how they play off the whole Batman vs Superman thing.

  The Joker also gets some help in his ultimate sinister plan, as he brings all of the evil creatures and bad guys stuck in the Phantom Zone to Gotham City. This creates a huge LEGO style battle with the odds against Batman, Robin, Alfred (Ralph Fiennes), and Barbra (Rosario Dawson). The battle has plenty of action and funny moments, but also too many stops in the action to focus on Batman’s issue. It’s an important storyline, but just gets a little old in the middle of the action.

  So did “The Batman LEGO Movie” top “The LEGO Movie”… not really. However it has a lot of similarities that make it an enjoyable movie. It has a lot of the same Batman humor they started in the previous movie. There’s some LEGO building, but it isn’t the focus. Even though it’s a major theme, Batman’s struggle to let others help him becomes a little tiresome. Still it’s definitely a unique Batman movie worthy of 3.5 stars!

  HorrO