‘Lego Batman Movie’ Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Batman

The first spinoff movie following 2014's "The Lego Movie", "Lego Batman Movie" brings all the laughs from the first film and then some. Set in the Lego version of Gotham City, the animated feature brings a lot of satire into the world of the Dark Knight.

As Variety points out, the main target of the satire found in "Lego Batman Movie" is Batman himself. With Will Arnett providing the deep, low voice, he pokes fun on many aspects of "Lego Batman Movie" and the character itself. As popularized by "Deadpool", Batman is breaking the fourth wall right in the opening credits.

Then few minutes into the "Lego Batman Movie", Batman faces waves of villains from his rogue's gallery, even those obscure ones like Calendar Man and Condiments Man, led by a surprisingly sensitive Joker, voiced by Zack Galifianakis. Wanting to be acknowledged as Batman's greatest rival, the trickster was broken when Batman could not give him that, but is instead thrown into the Phantom Zone, where villains like Sauron, King Kong and Wicked Witch are stored.

This shows the biggest enemy for Batman in the "Lego Batman Movie": himself. Hardened by the loss of his parents at an early age, he feels that he should always be strong. Jokes keep coming in during this sequence, from a musically inclined Batman to giving a nod to previous series, even the Adam West TV series.   

The movie also brings Batman's biggest challenge: having a 'team'. Aside from his trusty butler Alfred, voiced by Ralph Fiennes, he is joined by a young Dick Greyson, brought to life by Michael Cera. The adopted Greyson brings a sense of responsibility (sort of) to the "Lego Batman Movie" hero, and eventually becomes his sidekick Robin. Fans would also discover that the 'R' on Robin's costume does not really stand for Robin, but for 'Reggae', according to "Lego Batman Movie".

Barbara Gordon also joins Batman's 'Team' as the purple-clad Batgirl. Learning to work with other people would really pose challenge to Batman in "Lego Batman Movie", but he would need it to face the all-out battle royale at the end of the film.

As with most movies, there are things that didn't work for "Lego Batman Movie". According to Vulture, while the first part of the movie is a killer, with laughs and jokes abound, the rest of the movie was not able to live up to expectations.  It even compares "Lego Batman Movie" to the menace that is "Batman and Robin" in terms of staleness after the jokes were used up.

Even with negative remarks, "Lego Batman Movie" still got a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and is getting good ticket sales for Warner Bros. Hopefully; it is a good sign of things to come for the Lego franchise.