The LEGO Batman Movie

What's the title?

The LEGO Batman Movie

Who directed it?

Chris McKay

When was it released?

2017

Would I recommend it?

Yes. This movie ALMOST earned an unequivocal “everybody see this movie” endorsement – but then the Joker happened and he ruined everything like he always does. Still a good movie, still a great Batman movie, just not as amazing as it would have been without the Clown King.

What's it about?(non-spoilers)

Batman fights alone. No one seems to get that. Not his butler (who is totally not a surrogate father figure), not his accidentally adopted son (who is totally not important to Batman at all), and certainly not the new police commissioner (who is totally not anything more than a potential crush). But when Batman faces his biggest challenge yet, he may have to readjust his one-man-crime-fighting-machine-policy and, even harder, examine why he had such a policy to begin with. Also, everybody is a Lego.

What did you think? (spoilers)

This is my new favorite Batman movie. And to be clear, that’s what this movie is – a bona fide Batman movie. This is about the billionaire still dealing with trauma of losing his parents, the man who is the Dark Knight and occasionally pretends to be Bruce Wayne, the impossibly brilliant and unbelievably buff detective. This is Batman. He just happens to be played by an animated Lego minifig.

This movie is hilarious. It had me laughing out loud from the opening credits through the closing credits. Since I’ve seen the film in my local discount theater (frugally-priced cinematic experience strikes again) I’ve been listening to “Who’s the (Bat)Man?” on repeat. This movie is such fun, which for a Batman film, probably hasn’t happened – well, ever. I mean, maybe the 1966 Adam West version did, but I haven’t seen that so I can’t say for certain.

Batman movies tend to take the titular character so seriously. It’s such a relief to watch a film that leans into the apparent ridiculousness of the character, while also retaining respect for him. Batman has always been somewhat of a dick. (We can argue about it later – for now just take me at my word.) He’s a self-involved ball of angst, but he’s ultimately able to learn and adapt because he does have good intentions deep, deep, DEEP down. Learning the importance of emotional vulnerability in relationships after loss and trauma is a good (though somewhat lofty) moral for a kids movie and is appropriate for Batman as a character.

Batman isn’t the only character LEGO Batman gets right. I loved Barbara Gordon. Rosario Dawson is crazy talented, able to imbue into her character such competence and compassion. I also love the decision to make Babs and former commissioner Jim latinx characters. I tend to get vomitty around any hint of romance between Batgirl and Batman, but LEGO Batman handles Batman’s crush on Barbara well. It helped that they aged up Babs to the same age as Bruce. Also, the film ends with the Babs and Bats solely as platonic buddies. Barbara manages to care for Batman and be an important part of his new Batfamily without ever being manipulated into capitulating to his romantic overtures.

I was worried about Dick Grayson. I love Grayson. He’s one of my favorite characters from DC, and he’s been so misused in the past (I’m looking at you The Dark Knight Rises). From the trailers, I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy Michael Cera’s take on the character. I was wrong to be worried; Cera was great. His Grayson isn’t completely the Grayson I know and love, but he’s pretty great, and I enjoyed every time he came on the screen.

Alfred is the best part of nearly every Batman story, and Ralph Fiennes’s version is no exception. Bane is on the screen for maybe a total of thirty seconds, but in those thirty seconds he’s able to both evoke and transcend Hardy’s Bane. (I have feelings about Hardy’s Bane, but that’s best left for another time). Jenny Slate’s Harley Quinn is my favorite Harley Quinn. This is very likely due to the complete lack of the typical toxic, codependent relationship she’s forced into whenever she and Joker share a screen.

Which brings us to the Clown King. LEGO Batman makes a concerted effort to tame any and all darkness from the story to keep the movie family friendly. They mostly succeed. (The decision to cry “non-lethal” after introducing stun guns as well as having the characters cry “pew pew” every time a firearm is shot was a brilliant way to remove all menace from the fight scenes.) Zach Galifinakis’s Joker is almost kid-appropriate – ALMOST. The problem is the Joker isn’t a character. He is anthropomorphized anarchy and chaos and cruelty. Joker isn’t a person – he’s a hurricane in a purple suit.

In LEGO Batman, his dynamic with Batman is played for laughs by having it mimic a romantic relationship, but it’s still the toxic, codependent relationship that Joker and Batman have in every incarnation of the characters. Even more insidiously is the fact that in a movie that teaches the moral of valuing vulnerability and openness in relationships, one of the relationships where this is exemplified is the objectively unhealthy relationship between Joker and Batman. Again, I recognize that this dynamic is being played for laughs. It’s still messed up.

Basically, LEGO Batman is an amazing movie, one of my favorites of 2017 so far. If it weren’t for the messed up Joker-Batman dynamic, I don’t know that I’d have one thing to say against it. Now excuse me while I go play “Who’s the (Bat)Man?” on repeat for the next week.

Images: iMDB

#movies #recommendations #readsreels