Everything was awesome back when The Lego Movie hit theaters in 2014. When the announcement was first made that a movie was being made based on the Lego Brand, most were pretty skeptical. It wasn’t until the first reviews started coming out that people began to by in. Almost immediately it became a hit. It is a film that I truly believe was snubbed by the Academy Awards, not getting a nomination. Not only did The Lego Movie deserve a nomination, I contend that it deserved to win.
Off all the greatness that was The Lego Movie, one of the breakout characters was definitely Will Arnett’s Batman. He was incredible! Arguably one of the best on screen Batmen we have ever gotten! From Will Arnett’s voice work, down to the characters persona, he was a great. It didn’t take long for WB to announce The Lego Batman spinoff. This worried me. Was this character the way they wrote it able to carry his own film? Aside from the recent Nolan Films, and the original 1989 take on Batman, WB has had a bit of trouble getting The Batman to work. Well, The Lego Batman works. Works so well that it might be one of the best Batman films we have ever gotten.
The Lego Batman Movie is directed by Chris McKay, and written by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. It stars Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Zach Galifianakis, Rosario Dawson, and Ralph Fiennes. With Mariah Carey, Jenny Slate, Billy Dee Williams, Hector Elizondo, Conan O’Brian, Jason Mantzoukas, Doug Benson, Zoe Kravitz, Kate Micucci, Riki Lindhome, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Adam DeVine, Eddie Izzard, Seth Green, Jemaine Clement, Ellie Kemper, and Chris Hardwick. Seriously, that is the cast list. Most of them have small one liners or so, but still one hell of a cast.
The film follows Arnett’s Batman as he is the loner hero in Gotham city. After he takes down and saves Gotham for the millionth time The Joker (Zalifianakis) realizes that Batman doesn’t appreciate their rivalry and decided he has to show Batman that he needs him. Thus sending Batman on a journey to come to peace with the fact that he is lonely, and he needs people in his life, and that he can’t do everything alone.
First off, the film does what The Lego Movie did so well by mixing a tremendous amount of heart with a fun ride. They are almost on Pixar level with their emotions, not to the point that The Lego Movies are going to make you cry, but they definitely hit you with the feels. You can relate to the characters despite the outlandish and over the top attitudes and characterizations. The Story itself is a basic story, but they play it out so well that feels special and different.
On top of all the feels and emotions, this film is funny. I literally walked out, and my face was hurting from laughing and smiling so much. There are not a lot of downtimes in the film. They pretty much hit you hard with the jokes as the film begins, even before the studio logo’s even hit. Then they don’t really slow down. There may be a small stretch in the middle where the film kind of loses its footing drags for a moment, but it quickly catches itself back up and keeps hitting. It never ceases to be funny.
The animation is once again beautiful. I love this near stop motion look that Lego films are giving us. They use a lot of dark colors, seeing as Batman only deals in black and sometimes very very very dark grey. So with the colors they use for Batman, the Bat Cave, and Gotham city, they mix perfectly with the few bright colors that really pop as well. This animation is absolutely incredible!
Like I said this cast is absolutely incredible. Even as a few are just cameos and maybe one liners or so. But everyone fits their voice perfectly, and does a great job to bring these characters to life. Will Arnett has a great grasp on this characters voice. I hesitate to call him one of the best Batmen of time, but he does rival some of the greats. Galifianakis’ Joker is a very good Joker. Not up to the level of Mark Hamill, but still a good rendition of the clown prince of crime. Hearing Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill return for minor cameos as Superman and Green Lantern had me rolling, just having those two voice these guys is great.
As for negatives, like I said the film does have a little bit of a down time in the second act, it wasn’t too slow to really take you out, and they continued to hit you with jokes so it still flowed. While we are on the concept of the jokes, they are all hilarious, and for the most part completely hit. The Problem with the jokes are that they come so quick, so fast, that you are still laughing at 2 jokes before trying to catch up with the one you are on.
All in all The Lego Batman Movie is great! From the cast to the animation everything in this film is on point. They do a great job at poking fun of the history and lore of Batman. From BvS, to the Nolan Verse, to Schumacher and Adam West. There is even a brief joke about the 1940s Black and White serial. They even hit on the suicide squad and Marvel! The music is once again fun and catchy, not as catchy as Everything Is Awesome, but still great!
It’s a film that can hit all ages! Kids and adults alike. I gave it a score of 3.7, definitely one you are going to want to go out and see as soon as you can. I’d also give it a .5 bonus if I could for the jokes on the nostalgia as well as the awesome cameos! Great cast, great animation, all an all-around heartfelt joy to watch, that you’ll want to see over and over again, even if just to catch the jokes you missed! Are you excited for The Lego Batman Movie? Who is your favorite Batman? Sound off in the comments below! And remember, It Is What It Is!
The Jeebus Score explained
The Jeebus score is out of a possible 5 points with a .5 bonus. Films are giving a max of 1 point each for Entertainment Value, Story/Writing, Performance, Direction, and Production. There is also a possible bonus up to .5. Any film between 2.5 and 4 is considered a good film. 4-5 is a great film. Anything over 5 is an incredibly amazing film. To get a perfect score of 5.5 a film will pretty much have to be The Empire Strikes Back or The Godfather.
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