Friday, February 17, 2017

The Bat is back

And he's made all of Lego [trademark]!
Following on from his immense popularity in The LEGO Movie, Batman gets his own role in The Lego Batman Movie.  And its brilliant as it is created by people who don't just love LEGO but also love Batman - the character, the tropes and the history.  People who know how to make Batman's legendary po-faced demeanour funny.
Like with LEGO with its almost infinite combinations, there must be a thousand plus mini-jokes in this film, promoting rewatching.  They also take Batman on a narrative that he's never encountered before, primarily by making his adult character have the personality of a 15-year old.
The makers also right wrongs - Billy Dee Williams comes back as Harvey Dent/Twoface after being paid off from his film contract by Joel Schumacher so Schumacher could draft in an OTT Tommy Lee Jones for Batman Forever.  Dee Williams only gets a few lines to himself as the main action is between Batman and Joker but it's a nice touch all the same.
If I have criticisms, they don't really detract from the movie that much.  The opening set piece is a little cluttered and hard to know exactly who is whacking who.  The daleks (yes, they make an appearance, alongside Ctulhu, Voldemort, Jaws, Jurassic Park dinosaurs, King Kong, Agent Smith from the Matrix) are called 'British robots' - presumably to avoid copyright but inaccurate as they are cyborgs (but Cyborg has already appeared so that might have been confusing).   They could have been called British alien thingies.  Product placement is a bit too prominent but also subverted (they whip out an iPhone, which is twice their size!).
Watching it with my young daughter at the cinema, me enjoying it on my level while she enjoyed it on hers, is something that cannot be replicated.
Overall, five out of five.

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