What The Reviews Have To Say About 'The Lego Batman Movie'
It's rare for big-budget animated movies to rise above the level of "amusing once" — 2014's The Lego Movie soared with a combination of solid visual humor, consistently great jokes, and a heavy dose of Will Arnett's bumbling Batman.
Now the middle Bluth brother is back under the cowl in The Lego Batman Movie, in theaters on Friday. It's a spin-off that needs to match or exceed the first film's goofiness. To that end, director Chris McKay assembled a supercast like no other: our do-gooders are Robin (Michael Cera), Alfred Pennyworth (Ralph Fiennes), and Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) while Gotham's scum include The Joker (Zach Galifinakis), Harley Quinn (Jenny Slate), and The Riddler (Conan O'Brien). Have they built up expectations too high for another construction toy movie, or is everything awesome? Here's what reviews say:
An Antidote To The Brooding Of 'Batman V Superman'
The best thing about The LEGO Batman Movie is here are all the characters from the DC Cinematic Universe actually having fun. Okay, yes, Batman and Superman still don't like each other, but it's played through passive-aggressive laughs instead of an actual fight.
[UPROXX]
Movie superhero fans tend to be divided into camps, with Marvel people complaining about the dank glumness of the DC films, and DC partisans decrying the jokiness of Marvel movies. Committed to lunacy while paying homage to the varied legacy of Batman over the decades, "The Lego Batman Movie" might be the common ground that satisfies both camps.
[The Wrap]
Once Again, The Animators Went To Great Lengths To Make CG Look Like Stop-Motion
The movie uses digital animation to create the illusion that it's set in a herky-jerky universe of plastic Lego bricks — but it has such a kaleidoscopic, anything-goes flow that it trumps the imagination of just about any animated feature you could name. The characters are Lego minifigures with pegs for heads and crudely etched faces that barely move, yet they have more personality than the majority of human actors.
[Variety]
The Quick References And Cameos Are Welcome, Not Overwhelming
Like a particle accelerator that generates visual gags at a faster and faster rate until they achieve light speed and reveal the film's sub-atomic sentiment, McKay's gorgeously animated film blends decades of comic book mythos into a heartfelt (if inoffensively hackneyed) story about the power of family.
You can also thank shows like Robot Chicken and even (no, I can barely believe I'm saying it either) Family Guy for making self-referential spoofs not only commonplace but even a thing to be desired. The generic parody movie may be dead in live-action, but the in-universe, studio-approved comedic take is one that still has room to play.
[Nerdist]
If You Care About Batman's History, It'll Be Right Up Your Alley
[Where] Deadpool was a piss-take on the template of origin stories, LEGO Batman manages something a little more unexpected: a thoughtful riff on the tropes of Batman as he's always existed on the page or screen. In the film's precious version of Gotham, Bruce Wayne is struggling to find his purpose. He's lonely, but knows that opening yourself up to people results only in heartbreak.
Like 'The Lego Movie' You're In For Some Crossover Shenanigans
If the giddy display of corporate masturbation never becomes insufferable, that's probably because McKay (and his five credited writers) never miss an opportunity to mock the franchises they're permitted to play with.
Instead, there's an overriding, more-the-merrier philosophy that restlessly ventures beyond the DC universe, resulting in a frenetic pile-on that includes representatives from such Warner Bros. entities as The Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter and The Matrix.
TL;DR
Your average Pixar comedy thumbs its nose at a great many things, but "The Lego Batman Movie" is a helter-skelter lampoon in the daftly exhilarating spirit of Mad magazine and the "Naked Gun" films. It's that quick and cutthroat clever and self-knowing. There's every chance it will soar at the box office, and make no mistake: It deserves to.
[Variety]
Watch The Trailer
Looking to do a double feature? Check out our review roundup for gun-fu flick John Wick: Chapter 2 — or if you're looking for something a little more menacing, read up on M. Night Shyamalan's Split.
