Review of The Lego Batman Movie (2017) by Nick C — 19 Jun 2017

The problems with The LEGO Batman Movie unfortunately cannot be overlooked enough to garner a positive review. Surely, critics will call be overly cynical. Maybe I am. But even for a kid's movie, this isn't very good. Certain parts are, of course. The opening, for example, is spectacular. A plane flying over Gotham City is carrying loads of bombs, dynamite, and C4. What else? And, of course, it is taken over by the Joker (Zach Galifianakis), who hatches an unnecessarily complex plot to destroy Gotham. There are a lot of in-jokes for those of us who have seen all the Batman movies, and the entire scene serves as both a parody of and homage to Batman. There are more of these sprinkled throughout the entire film of course, as well as plenty of funny non-Batman related jokes.

But the movie definitely dips in quality after the first sequence, both in terms of comedy and plot. The Caped Crusader himself, voiced by Will Arnett, deals with an issue deeper than anything most Batmans have ever had to deal with: loneliness. This is handled when he accidentally adopts a young orphan, who later becomes Robin (Michael Cera).

The setup is good enough; in fact, it's quite good for a kid's movie, but the execution is worse than usual. Most of this is due to character development. If you think it's unfair to criticize a kid's movie on the basis of characters, just look at Pixar movies. They understand characters and character development. This movie is weak in both aspects. Batman, who begins the film as a narcissistic, uncaring recluse, almost immediately become a loving, father-like guardian within minutes of teaming up with his "son," Robin, and then seemingly switches between both personalities throughout the rest of the film without apparent cause.

A good chunk of the movie also deals with the new mayor, Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson), who seeks to team up with Batman. Their relationship isn't handled well either, for the same reason: the filmmakers can't figure out who they want Batman to be.

Another major issue that I personally had with the movie was the ending, which devolves into nothing more than an extended battle sequences. Nothing new is added into the mix, nothing that would entertain anyone over the age of about eight, and it had me sighing in boredom, counting down the minutes until the film finally ended. And at only 104 minutes, no audience member should be that jumpy and wanting to leave.

I understand the main point of this film is simply to be funny. That is part of the reason I didn't like the huge ending battle sequence; nothing funny is happening, and there is certainly no plot. The "reward" at the end, where we finally get to see Batman become the "good guy" and love his new family, is a trope we've seen in every movie from How the Grinch Stole Christmas to Despicable Me to Up. And if we're talking about the original 1966 Grinch cartoon, all of these films are better, and the sweet ending where the "bad guy" comes around, though a cliché, is at least heartwarming. I didn't even get that in this movie, probably because, as I said before, Batman's personality and character are all over the map throughout the film's entirety, to the point of being laughable.

I obviously didn't hate this film, as I gave it two and a half stars. Nothing really happens, the characters are handled poorly, and the ending dissolves into nothingness, but I will say that I laughed quite a few times. It's a pretty funny film, and reasonably fun. Unfortunately, the picture's glaring flaws cannot be overlooked, at least for me. I know, as anybody who saw The LEGO Movie knows, that these filmmakers can do much better.

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Rating: 2.5/4.