My Review of "The Lego Batman Movie"

The Lego Batman Movie came out in 2017. It was at the time when the Lego movie franchises were really strong. This movie skips to the same beat as those other movies but this one is based on the Batman character from The Lego Movie. I watched this back when it first came to theatres and I was kind of unsure what I thought of it when I first saw it. Watching it again I can see more of the appeal of this movie.

It all starts out with Batman of course. He's an ass kicking badass that is pretty much the epitome of what people consider toxic masculinity. I guess this wasn't as big of a term back in 2017 but now we have a name for it. This is probably kind of one of the reasons I was turned off from this movie in the beginning. Batman isn't quite a likeable character. He's narcissistic, sociopathic and incredibly delusional.

As the audience we are expected to feel bad for him since he lives alone. He's isolated out of choice and as a result of his actions. No one wants to be around him. His butler, Alfred, brings this up and Batman dismisses this as a problem.

To catalyze the situation, Batman's archnemesis, Joker, wants Batman to admit that he is his greatest enemy. These two have a pretty fun relationship that blurs the line of love and hate. Batman of course will never admit to the fact that he needs the Joker so Joker sets off to destroy Gotham with the universe's greatest villains.

It's up to Batman to recognize that he needs help sometimes in order to defeat these villains and save Gotham. While Batman makes these discoveries he is met with a newfound son, Robin, and a new commissioner, Barbara.

All of the Lego antics are there. It is a very self aware movie that makes fun of everything Batman. If you're a fan of the franchise for a while they will make mention of something you remember. They go far back into the Batman franchise history and make incredible homages that you would never expect them to make. All of these homages somehow feel like they fit as well because of the zaniness of the Lego movie franchise.

Being a Lego movie franchise they also have the Warner Brother catalogue of franchises to join in on the fun. You'll see Lord of the Rings, Dr. Who, Jurassic Park, the DC universe and even Harry Potter villains joining in with Joker to cause chaos in Gotham City. It's pretty fun and they have a lot of fun with these cameos.

I was surprised that they'd make so much fun of the DC universe and even play it up to fit some of the plot situations that happen in the movie. No one is safe in this movie. I mean Batman's password is Ironman sucks. If that's not a nod to the Marvel franchise I don't know what is.

You have to be up on your pop culture in order to enjoy this movie. Otherwise you will be lost as some of the jokes go a mile a minute. It's geared towards kids so these pop cultural references are pretty much for the adults. Being a Lego movie for kids means there will be some nonsensical things that happen in this movie and they play them off pretty well in this movie. They kind of make the nonsense make sense and you just go with it. Again it's not for everyone. You have to be in a certain mood to just get it.

Overall, I was in that weird mood where it just clicked. I understood what they were getting at with this movie. It turned out rather fun to watch as a result. Yes Batman is not a likeable character but that's part of the joke. The whole movie is a joke with tons of laughs, bright colors and even more fun. I have to give this movie a 7.5 out of 10. I think the whole family can have a good time watching this one.