I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much at a bunch of bricks as I did when I saw The LEGO Batman Movie. It’s so full of jokes that it’s worth a second watch to catch all the ones you missed the first time around. Although, it’s technically a kid’s movie, it’s a lot of fun for adults too, and the characterisation of Batman as an ageing emo in a suit is inspired – and inspires some of the Prime Video movie’s best gags.
Why The LEGO Batman Movie has its bat cake and eats it too
What I love most about this movie – and I love all kinds of things about it – is that it absolutely has its bat cake and eats it too: in much the same way that Airplane! took a serious movie and copied it while absolutely packing it with gags, The LEGO Batman Movie does much the same here. It’s a classic Gotham-in-peril story with some really exciting action scenes, absolutely gorgeous visuals and characters you care about. And it’s also a total gag-fest that often reduced me to giggling, wheezing tears.
The key to its success, I think, is that the filmmakers have a real love of Batman – to the point where Screen Junkies suggests that “The LEGO Batman Movie has the best examination… of Batman’s own psyche than any of the other Batman movies”. But that doesn’t stop them from having fun with it, as CNET says: “The LEGO Batman Movie doesn’t worry about canon, continuity, logic. The only thing that matters is fun.”
I’m with Jennifer Heaton of Alternative Lens and Robert Kojder of Flickering Myth. Heaton says that “The LEGO Batman Movie is a hilarious and fun film on its own terms, providing a much-needed satire of the hero after years of taking itself so seriously”, while Kojder says that “The LEGO Batman Movie may not be perfect or the unexpected heartstring pulling emotional masterpiece that the first film revealed itself to be, but it is a genuine love letter to all things Batman.”
