The Lego Batman Movie

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batcaveIt’s hard to believe it was about three years ago that The Lego Movie amazed me with its ability to entertain adults and children alike with the same silly jokes.   Time goes by so quickly!  The Lego Batman Movie is The Lego Movie’s sequel in spirit but is not tied to the first in any way, except that both feature Will Arnett’s Lego Batman, the ridiculous beat-boxing self-absorbed antihero who always succeeds on the “first try”.  Only this time, Batman has to take Michael Cera’s earnest, optimistic Robin along with him on his adventures.robin

The Lego Batman Movie is every bit as good as the Lego Movie, and that’s high praise.  Surprisingly, it is also a remarkably faithful  continuation of, and homage to, the whole Batman cinematic universe, including the silly 1966 Batman Movie starring Adam West.  If you are a Batman fan you need to see this film.  One of my favourite elements was the inclusion of so many forgotten members of Batman’s rogues gallery.  This movie has so many ridiculous villains that you will think many must have been made up, but as far as I can tell, every single silly one has been Batman’s enemy over the last 80 years, and I googled as many as I coulbatman-villainsd remember just as Zach Galifianakis’ Joker suggested.

In addition to the inclusion of so many laughable villains, there are so many other references and in-jokes that it is impossible to catch them all on a single viewing.   One that stood out for me was the inclusion of the Wonder Twins, if only because they are my most hated “superheroes” of all time, and yet I still thought it was awesome they were given a little place in this movie. I can only guess what I missed, though, and want to watch this one again sometime soon (if I can ever find the time!).

The Lego Batman Movie is another sparkling example of a movie that everyone can enjoy, and another that organically incorporates a positive message within its zaniness.   We are in the midst of a golden age for animated films and the Lego Batman Movie is a classic that I will be watching with my nieces and nephews for years to come.  It gets a score of nine cans of Shark-Repellent Bat-spray out of ten.

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35 thoughts on “The Lego Batman Movie”

  2. Sarah Ferguson and Choppy

    I cannot tell you how excited I am to see this movie – I saw the Lego Movie for the first time over the holidays, and it was awesome. I am so glad to hear that everything is awesome about Batman (which is, apparently, my exception to my general avoidance of superhero movies these days).

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    1. Sean Post author

      I was really looking forward to this one as well and enjoyed it as much as I hoped. It is definitely a superhero movie (one of the things I liked was how many references there were) but a welcome departure from the live action glut.

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    1. Sean Post author

      I didn’t know all of these villains myself. You will think they made a lot of them up – the fact they are all pre-existing characters makes it even more amusing!

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    1. Sean Post author

      I was thinking as I wrote my review that Chris H. is going to be relieved there is so much action in the first five minutes of Lego Batman since he seems to constantly be rewatching the start of the same five movies his sons like, because they can’t sit still any longer than that!

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  7. Jay

    I think the only real connection to the Lego movie was they did call upon the master builder ability quite a bit. No mention of his former flame, Wild Style, though.

    I thought it was interesting how the non-Batman villains were often taken from the Lego Dimensions – the wicked witch from Wizard of Oz, and I think the “British robots” (?), and the gremlins I suppose.

    I feel like there were as many Batman in-jokes to this as there were Lego in-jokes in the first movie, so they stayed consistent with that, which is how they reach out to an older audience, the nostalgia factor with some pretty pointed humour.

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    1. Sean Post author

      There is a huge Lego Dimensions tie as you mentioned, over and above Lego Batman being a $50 add-on for the game plus an extra $15 if you actually want Lego Batman (the first $50 gets you Robin and Batgirl but not Lego Batman, and DC Batman is the Batman that comes with the original set with Lego Batman being a different character in the game that was not playable until now)! I can hardly keep it straight.

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  9. Christopher

    When I was a tween I went through a phase of thinking the ‘60’s Batman was idiotic. I didn’t get that it was intentionally campy and tongue-in-cheek.
    I also thought The Wonder Twins were awesome. Can’t explain it but I’m not gonna lie.
    And then I caught on. I got the joke. And I realized The Wonder Twins were idiotic and not even unintentionally campy.
    I had a flashback to that because I’ve been looking at The Lego Batman Movie as a pathetic attempt to build a cheap franchise just to rake in money. Not that there’s anything wrong with movies being profitable.
    Just reading this review I felt like a kid again but this time a kid who gets the joke, and I feel guilty for my cynical knee-jerk knocking of a movie I haven’t even seen.

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    1. Sean Post author

      This movie made me feel like a kid playing Lego but there’s a HUGE commercial aspect to it. We have purchased three playsets from the movie as gifts already. They are, of course, identical to the in-movie vehicles because it’s Lego doing Lego, which is great, but the number of vehicles in the movie (there seem to be hundreds) have a commercial function as well as an entertainment function, and dollar wise the movie is small potatoes. So some degree of cynicism is warranted.

      Fortunately, this movie is good enough on its own merits that I was able to put the other stuff aside and just enjoy the ride. Plus, it is not only entertaining, it feels like the people that made this movie took pride in it, due to the amount of awesome extras/jokes/references they threw in.

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  10. Liz A.

    I considered The Lego Movie unwatchable. I tried. I couldn’t last more than 10 minutes before I had to turn it off. I still don’t get how everyone loved that thing.

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    1. Sean Post author

      Then you are going to want to skip this one. The two movies felt very similar so I don’t think you could like one and not the other (or vice versa).

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  11. J.

    I still haven’t seen The Lego Movie, but a friend assured me that I’d like it. This looks pretty good, too… so I reckon I might like the whole Lego shenanigans.

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  15. Often Off Topic

    Yes! I feel the same way as you. There were so many references and inside jokes that it demands a rewatch. I chuckled to myself when I noticed a theater in the movie was playing ‘Two Shades of Grey’, and then the more I thought about it, the funnier it was. I might be wrong, but I think there are only 2 shades of grey Lego bricks!

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