Film: The Lego Batman Movie

GENRE: Animation, Action

RATING: PG for some rude humour
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 44 minutes

STARRING: Will Arnett (Arrested Development, BoJack Horseman)

Michael Cera (Juno, Superbad), Rosario Dawson (Luke Cage, Sin City)

DIRECTOR: Chris McKay (Robot Chicken)

WRITERS: Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter),

Jared Stern (The Watch, Dr. Ken), John Whittington (newcomer),

Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers (American Dad)

PLOT: Batman realizes he can no longer be a loner when he adopts Dick Grayson and has to deal with Joker’s newest plan.  

FULL DISCLOSURE: Really enjoyed The Lego Movie.

STORY STUFF: Despite its Rotten Tomato score, this one is not nearly as good as the original Lego Movie. While there are definitely plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, the story is clunky. It goes too strong on the ‘family is friends’ theme and relationships get all muddled. I guess that tends to happen when five people are writing the script. I did enjoy the numerous references to all the previous Batman films. After the opening scene, I wanted to spend more time with the Batman villains than Batman and the ultra-annoying Robin. Don’t get me wrong though, this was still a fun movie to watch.

ACTING STUFF: Arnett does good work as Batman with his low voice but Michael Cera is insufferable as Dick Grayson. Joker is voiced by Zach Galifianakis (Hangover) but you can’t really tell which is a shame.

ARTISTIC STUFF: This film uses the same style and Red Bull energy as The Lego Movie, which keeps it nicely consistent. I don’t know why they kept Batman’s eyes glowing when it only happens for a couple scenes in Batman vs Superman. Luckily, I was able to watch this without 3-D, so I was less annoyed, overall.

VERDICT: Three stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You’ve watched all the Batman movies and like Lego.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Oscar Predictions