After seeing The LEGO Movie roughly four times in the theater back in 2014, you could say I was basically on-board for whatever LEGO-related project Warner Animation Group wanted to throw my way. When it was announced that Will Arnett's Batman would be getting his own spin-off film, I was sold immediately. Batman as a character has been around for 78 years; of course there's plenty there to be colorfully and hilariously deconstructed (no pun intended). I expected it to be a fun time with some fantastically imaginative animation, but what I didn't expect was for this to be the best Batman film since The Dark Knight (and if we're talking purely on how well it understands the character, then it's in the running for the best film depiction ever).
Taking place three years after the events of The LEGO Movie, Batman (Will Arnett) is back in Gotham City doing what he does best, fighting crime and foiling evil. After his plan to detonate an overly-complicated bomb under the city goes up in smoke, a jilted Joker (Zach Galifianakis) plots his ultimate revenge in an attempt to prove that he is Batman's greatest nemesis. Meanwhile, new police commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) attempts to revamp Gotham into a place that no longer needs a Batman, hoping to work side-by-side with the vigilante. This naturally doesn't jive with Batman's usual lone-wolf crime fighting style, nor does the addition of his newly adopted son, Dick Grayson (AKA Robin, voiced by Michael Cera). On top of all of this, Batman is forced to face his greatest fear; being part of a family once again.
Leave it to a movie populated entirely with plastic bricks to offer the most human portrayal of the Dark Knight in years. Despite how over-the-top the humor and heroics are in this film, there's a deceptive amount of heart present underneath it all. As absurd and blatantly comedic as Arnett's take on the character of Batman is, his faults are all very much accurate to the core of the character. He's shown to be a self-absorbed loner, one whose weakness stems from a deep-rooted fear of losing those close to him. What at first glace appears to be nothing more than a 104 minute commercial for LEGO products is really a character study of one of the most iconic superheroes of all time. That may sound a bit overly-serious, given the movie I'm talking about here, but the dramatic elements of this film really do work; this is a film that gets Batman.
As one would expect, this movie is an unapologetic love letter to all things Batman. There's nods to everything from the Tim Burton films, to the Adam West series, to the black and white serials of the 1940's. There's jokes involving everything from shark repellent to bat-nipples. We get special appearances from Batman characters such as King Tut, the Mutant Leader, and Two-Face as portrayed by LEGO Billy Dee Williams. There's plenty of surface-level jokes that anyone can enjoy, but it's clear that this is a film made by and for Batman fans, first and foremost. And that's to say nothing of the copious winks and nods made at the expense of Warner Bros less-stellar live-action efforts ("What am I going to do, get a bunch of criminals to fight criminals? That’s a stupid idea!").
For as much praise as I intend to lavish on this movie (trust me, I'm not finished), it's not without its faults. Maybe it's just the comic geek in me talking, but I found the first half (when the film is far more "Batman" than it is "LEGO") to be by-far superior to the second half. The jokes hit harder and more frequently and the film didn't slow down long enough for me to stop smiling. Once the Joker actually puts his master plan in motion and the third act begins, the pace becomes less manic and the film seems to lose a bit of its own identity. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll say this; what happens is both very fun and very imaginative, but I honestly would have had no problem whatsoever with this film just being a DC affair.
As one would expect, the voice cast here is stellar. Will Arnett's Batman carries the film, coming off as an untouchable badass while also appearing supremely vulnerable. His chemistry with Cera's Robin will be no surprise to anyone familiar with Arrested Development, but it's still worth noting how frequently hilarious/often heartwarming their superhero/sidekick relationship is. Ralph Fiennes lends his voice to Alfred Pennyworth (yet, surprisingly enough, not to ANOTHER character who appears later in the film), imbuing the Wayne family butler with the perfect amount of dry British wit. He, along with Rosario Dawson, act as excellent straight-men foils to the markedly more madcap Batman and Robin; our quartet of heroes is nothing if not well-rounded and balanced. Meanwhile, Zach Galifianakis's Joker is surprisingly compelling; he was honestly the only member of the cast I wasn't sold on from the get-go, so it's good to see that he really pulled it off (far better than Jared Leto did, that's for sure).
The relationship between Batman and the Joker is one of my favorite aspects of the entire film; not only does it toe the line on being hilariously homoerotic, but it's also dead-on accurate to their dynamic in the source material. The Joker's entire motivation boils down to getting Batman to admit that he's a greater adversary than Bane or Superman; that he's the perfect match for Gotham's caped crusader. Everything he does, every evil scheme, is explicitly for Batman's sake. He's an attention-seeker on a quest for validation from his arch-nemesis, an utterly perfect representation of who the Joker really is. He insists that their adversarial relationship is really something special, but Batman frequently denies him the closure he so desires; it's literally the same dynamic between Christian Bale and Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, just framed through the lens of a cheesy rom-com. It's such a perfect joke, mainly because it's so painfully, bitingly accurate.
What else can I say? The LEGO Batman Movie is a hilariously written, outrageously acted, gorgeously animated piece of work. It's a rare thing to see satire that so totally understands the thing that it's lampooning as well as this film does. It takes some liberties, sure (Dick Grayson hasn't been nearly this gawky since the days of Burt Ward), but you'd be hard pressed to find an adaptation that understands the spirit of its source material as well as The LEGO Batman Movie. It's a film which runs on hyperbole; everything is exaggerated, but it's also dead-on when you get right down to it. Behind all the flashy colors and beatboxing is a film that is much smarter than it appears to let on. If you're a Batman fan, this is mandatory viewing, one of the best bat-films ever made (and honestly neck-in-neck with Mask of the Phantasm for my personal favorite). Even if you couldn't care less that Batman asks his rogue's gallery if they "wanna get nuts", this is still a load of surprisingly heartwarming fun, not to be missed.
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