"The LEGO Batman Movie"

By Matt Duncan
Coastal View News

“Everything is awesome … Everything is cool when you’re part of a team.” To be sure, everything is awesome, and cool, when you’re part of the LEGO-movie-watchers team. “The LEGO Batman Movie” may not compete with this past weekend’s Oscar picks, but it’s plenty awesome, and, as all the nerds will agree, it’s way cool.

Every moment of the movie is a shotgun blast of fast-paced action, dialogue, plot, and character development. It’s like a normal Batman movie put on fast-forward.

It starts with the Joker (Zack Galifianakis) once again threatening Gotham City. Oh, and he’s joined by Bane, Two Face, the Riddler, Cat Woman, the Penguin, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and a bunch of other guys I’d never ever heard of before but that I’ve come to learn really have been Batman villains at some point (Condiment King? Seriously?). It is intense.

But just as quickly as these baddies come on the scene, Batman (Will Arnett) wipes them out. A few kicks here, a couple punches there … a dazzling array of explosions, jumps, flips, crashes, falls, etc., and it’s done. Batman is the hero once again. Everyone adores him.

But then just as quickly as the celebration erupts—which, really, is just an extension of the over-the-top action sequence—everything stops. Batman goes home, alone. He quietly changes his clothes, moseys on up to the kitchen, microwaves a plate of lobster thermidor that Alfred (Ralph Fiennes) left him in the fridge, and eats his dinner … alone, in silence.

Batman repeatedly insists that his greatest fear is snake clowns. But that’s just a cover. His greatest fear is new relationships—it is opening himself up to new bonds of affection, and thereby risking further loss and pain (remember, his parents died). Even the Joker is miffed at how Batman doesn’t consider their adversarial relationship special.

So when orphan Dick Grayson (Michael Cera)—who becomes Robin—gets a very distracted Batman to agree to adopt him, Batman’s frail psychological constitution—a constitution that is masked by his gruff exterior, nine-pack abs, raspy voice, and, yes, a literal mask—is put at risk.

But, hey, Robin turns out to be all right. He does everything Batman tells him to do, and ends up being pretty good at the whole crime-fighting thing. The only question is whether Batman—who cannot hide his approval of Robin’s performance—can let Robin in, so to speak.

Indeed, that’s the big question. Batman is a solitary warrior. It’s in his DNA. But complete solitude isn’t good for anyone, even Batman … especially when you are trying to fight roughly 10,000 baddies at once. So Batman can go it alone, as he always has, and risk the complete destruction of Gotham (which, of course, is built on a couple of those flimsy LEGO panels, and so is primed to snap apart). Or Batman can work with his friends and newfound family, and risk losing them.

OK, there’s not a ton to “The LEGO Batman Movie”. What do you expect? But there is still plenty to love. It is quick, witty, and super funny. You know when you read that Will Arnett is the voice of Batman and Michael Cera is the voice of Robin, you were already cracking up. They are perfect.

And I say there’s not a ton to the movie, but that’s not quite right. Its relentless sendups of the Batman franchise—and superhero movies in general—are pretty sophisticated. Even the insanely fast pace of the movie scratches the action movie itch while also cleverly making you aware that it is, perhaps to an embarrassing extent, scratching that itch.

And, as I’ve said, the dialogue and jokes (some of which are quite subtle) come at you with such blistering speed, that a lot of this movie is more for adults. It’s hard to imagine kids getting it all. They will still enjoy it, of course—there is enough stimulation to guarantee that. It’s like a fine chocolate truffle. Kids won’t appreciate the complex flavors cascading over their undiscriminating palates, but, no worries, they’ll still scarf it down.

There is also a nice little moral that is accessible to kids. What ends up being really noble about Batman (I won’t really ruin anything here, I promise), is not that he beats everyone up, or that he learns to let others into his life; it is rather that Batman recognized one of his flaws, and made a change. That’s a rather simple message, but a good one.

Anyway, go see the movie. It’s great.