Review of The Lego Batman Movie (2017) by Michael M — 26 Jun 2017

This movie works on so many levels. It works as a follow-up to The LEGO Movie, it works a standalone comedy, and it works as a satire of everything the Dark Knight stands for. It's ambitious as hell, every second is filled to the brim with material.

You basically have to pause the movie repeatedly if you want to catch all the jokes and see all the details in the scenery. If I have a problem with the movie, it's that. The movie moves so fast that it's hard to appreciate all the details.

The sets are gorgeous and amazing looking, but they move by so fast you can't always appreciate how amazing they look. Same thing with the jokes, you'll be laughing at one joke and the next joke will fly by.

Other jokes are happening in the background or in text form and they go by faster than sign jokes in The Simpsons or Bob's Burgers. Then there's the villains, holy god, the villains. Pretty much every Batman villain out there is at least seen in this movie, and probably half of them will at least get to do something.

Without getting into spoilers, there are also other villains, and while their inclusion is insane and kind of brilliant, they stuff the movie further. The movie is crammed with enough material to cover three movies, and it's pressurized into one.

Thing is, I'm not certain that's a bad thing. The movie goes so fast it's impossible to get bored, and it has such a mad creativity you never know where it's going to go. Yeah there's a ton going on, yeah it'd be nice if a few characters got more recognition, but as a celebration of everything Batman and everything LEGO, it doesn't get much better.