Spoiler-Free Movie Review: The Lego Batman Movie
In 2014, The Lego Movie was released to acclaim from fans and critics (except some who thought it taught kids to be communists…go figure) and as with any successful original film these days’ multiple sequels and spin-offs were quickly announced. The first of those spin-offs is The Lego Batman Movie followed by The Lego Ninjago Movie later this year and the untitled sequel to be released sometime in 2019. So the question is, does The Lego Batman Movie live up to the success of The Lego Movie, successfully spin-off one of its best characters (Batman played by Will Arnett), all while being a solid Batman movie?
While I did really enjoy this movie, I wouldn’t say it succeeds in those regards. If you’re looking for a fun superhero movie that has a good lesson and is packed to the brim with Easter eggs and great jokes, then this is the perfect movie for you! However, if you’re looking for a follow-up to The Lego Movie, then you should wait for the actual sequel. Besides a couple small things this movie doesn’t really do much to show that it is a follow-up and does not do as much as The Lego Movie to justify it being animated entirely with Lego. It would not have changed much if it was changed to regular animation with no Lego involved. As for it being a great Batman movie? There is clearly respect for the lore of the DC universe and Warner Bros. themselves, which is very evident when watching, but every character is basically a caricature of themselves and I can’t imagine the comic book versions of these characters acting the ways that they do in this movie.
It may seem like I’m being hard on this movie but I actually enjoyed it a lot. If you can get past how the characters are all caricatures of themselves, then it is easy to enjoy this interpretation. Even if you can’t get past that, the it is still very enjoyable due to the excellent writing of every joke said in the movie, the expert pacing, and all the in-jokes and references. This movie is perfect for just about everyone and is great to see more than once.
Final Score: 8/10
