‘Black. All important movies start with a black screen…’
I was going to use the watching of this film for the first time as a springboard for a RANKED article about the Batman movies. Then I realised that aside from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, I don’t really like any of the rest of them because fuck Tim Burton and his zany, Blue Banana bullshit. Had I have wrote that article however, The Lego Batman Movie would have come screaming in on that list at number three…
When the Joker (Zach Galifianakis) is rocked by the revelation that Batman (Will Arnett) doesn’t care about him, he enlists the help of a some classic movie villains to help him destroy Gotham.
Because this is a movie made out of talking bits of plastic, director Chris McKay can play fast and loose with the characters. That means that aside from Batman stalwarts like Superman, Robin and Harley Quinn, we are also treated to Voldemort, Sauron and King Kong in a movie that acts as a love letter, not just to Batman, but to villainy throughout the ages.
There was a time when the spoof movie was all the rage with Austin Powers, Scary Movie and Tropic Thunder dominating the box office. For better or worse, that time has come and gone, The Lego Batman Movie harks back to something even more brilliant, being, as it is, the natural successor to classics like Blazing Saddles and Naked Gun. The key here is that everyone involved clearly loves the Batman movies and that is reflected in a series of gags that reference every iteration of Batman through the ages. Perhaps most importantly, The Lego Batman Movie is genuinely, laugh-out-loud hilarious.
If you are unfamiliar with the Lego movie franchise, it is easy to be dismissive but their Star Wars stuff is also brilliant and The Lego Movie is a joyous, bucket of fun. The fact is, these movies are the only thing in the world of animation that is even close to matching what Pixar are doing. There can be no higher praise…