THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE: How Warner Bros. Learned To Make Fun Of Batman

2014’s The Lego Movie was one of the most surprising movies of the last decade. It had no right to be nearly as good as it was; most people thought it would be either an entire movie about product placement or a two hour distraction for their kids. What audiences ended up with was a frenetically hilarious, genuinely heartfelt movie made even better by the fact that we carried basically no expectations into it.

But The Lego Batman Movie wasn’t blessed with the element of surprise, instead carrying the pressure of living up to its predecessor. While it doesn’t quite recapture the lightning in the bottle of The Lego Movie, it certainly comes close while more than delivering on the comedy front.

What did The Lego Batman Movie do right?

Lego Batman is essentially a spoof movie – a genre where a one-note, mildly amusing premise is usually worn thin over an hour and a half of mediocrity. So it’s especially impressive that Lego Batman keeps us laughing from beginning to end.

I mean “keeps us laughing” quite literally. The movie is absolutely jam-packed with jokes, references, visual gags, comedic musical numbers –  you name it, it’s there. I picked up several one-liners and references on a second viewing that I had missed during my first, and I’m certain I’d pick up even more if (when) I rewatch it again. If a joke misses its mark, it doesn’t matter, because you don’t even have time to register it before you’re laughing at the next one.

After you get over the sheer volume of the jokes, what’s most impressive is the pure relate-ability of some of the gags that the writers were able to inject into an animated superhero movie. Whether it’s awkwardly waiting for microwavable dinner-for-one or fumbling with TV inputs, these instances make Will Arnett’s Batman more human than Ben Affleck’s, Christian Bale’s, or any recent live-action incarnation of any DC superhero for that matter. Remember, we’re talking about The Lego Batman Movie legitimately doing some things better than several “real” DC movies. It’s either extremely impressive or remarkably disappointing depending on how you look at it (I’m talking to you, Zack Snyder).

A sizable portion of the countless jokes are bound to fly right over the younger audience’s heads, especially considering the speed they’re thrown at you. Instead of resorting to cheesy slapstick or slower, more obvious comedy to keep children interested, the movie does an outstanding job of layering snappy, humorous dialogue on top of visual gags while furthering the plot at the same time.

This proficiency is on display right from the very start with a masterpiece of an opening action sequence. In less than fifteen minutes, the movie has effectively set up the plot for the rest of the story, introduced countless characters, developed Batman, the Joker, and their relationship, carried out a thrilling rescue of the city AND has hit us with joke after joke after joke. It’s engaging, informational, and hilarious. They strike this near-perfect balance (to a lesser extent) throughout the entire movie, managing to consistently capture the attention of both children and adults.

Finally, one of the more under-appreciated points of the movie was the genius framing of Batman’s relationship with the Joker. Its novelty and wittiness alone was worth the price of admission. But further than that, as a driving plot point, it allows the movie to avoid darker themes and confrontations without the relationship feeling like a cop-out.

Finally, one of the more under-appreciated points of the movie was the genius framing of Batman’s relationship with the Joker. Its novelty and wittiness alone was worth the price of admission. But further than that, as a driving plot point, it allows the movie to avoid darker themes and confrontations without the relationship feeling like a cop-out.

What did The Lego Batman Movie do wrong?

From the audience’s perspective, not much. But from a certain point of view, it treads on some dangerous territory. Among other things, it lays waste to Batman’s overall broody nature, Bruce Wayne being exceptionally dapper, Commissioner Gordon, the entire plot of Suicide Squad, multiple plot points in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – and the list goes on.

Seriously, this movie was so on-the-nose that it may have ruined “real” Batman movies in the future. Personally, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to take Commissioner Gordon shining the Bat-signal seriously ever again. Whenever a villain starts to gain momentum, I’ll just think (in the voice of Captain Dale) “umm… Batman will stop you?” When Bruce Wayne shows up to some important function in a $10,000 suit, I’ll just be imagining the tuxedo dress-up party he must have had. I’m more than a little surprised that Warner Brothers was OK with all the self-deprecation, and I wish the best of luck (they’ll need it!) to the writers and directors trying to create a convincing, brooding Batman in the future.

As far as actual flaws in the movie, there aren’t very many. In fact, its greatest strength might be its biggest weakness: the jokes really never stop (apart from a few slightly more serious scenes). They come at you swiftly and relentlessly, to the point where it’s almost exhausting. By the end of the movie, your cheeks (and brain) are fatigued from the barrage of comedy that has been thrown at you from every angle.

Apart from being too funny (how dare they), another minor issue arises in the second half, where much of the comedy and plot depends on the audience being familiar with older movie villains. For people who are old enough to know these movies, the references are sufficiently comical and entertaining. But I’m guessing the majority of the younger audience has not seen Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings, or King Kong. Not knowing these villains would make a large portion of the plot (and a smaller portion of the jokes) seem like they came out of left field. But again, this sequence was one of the more enjoyable arcs of the movie for me; there’s just a chance that the Phantom Zone sequence might totally fly over the heads of elementary-schoolers (who this movie was really made for).

Lastly, it does sort of feel like the movie lags a bit somewhere between the second and third acts. It probably only seems that way because of the breakneck pace of the first half hour (which is certainly unsustainable anyway). They might have been able to fix this problem by actually utilizing a few more of their amazing voice actors (seriously, go check out the IMDb page). But any case, the pacing is certainly a little bit uneven before it builds back up to a satisfying, rewarding conclusion.

Conclusion

The Lego Batman Movie doesn’t quite live up to its predecessor, but it is legitimately the best DC superhero movie since The Dark Knight Rises (and its biting, self-deprecation might ensure that’s still the case for the next several years). Sure, that’s not an especially high bar to clear, but the fact that we’re talking about a Lego spoof movie even being in the same league as “serious” big-budget blockbusters is quite a feat. And if the upcoming Lego movies can match this level of writing and directing, we might have an entire franchise of its own on our hands.

What did you think of The Lego Batman Movie? Was it better than DC’s recent “real” superhero movies? Where was Zod (wasn’t he the whole reason the Phantom Zone came up in the first place)? Let us know in the comments below!

The Lego Batman Movie opened in the UK on February 4, 2017, and in the US on February 10, 2017. For a list of all release dates, see here.