881 - The Lego Spinoff Movie

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As I said in the Injustice 2 Review, I don't dislike Batman. He's a very popular character and I've enjoyed his many contributions to comics, gaming, movies and animation over the years. Yet I feel my disdain comes from the fact he's placed alongside the likes of Son Goku, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tracer, Cloud Strife and MANY other characters that people need to calm the fuck down about. It's like those Chuck Norris jokes, they stop being funny the more they're repeated and the "Because I'm Batman!" joke is really starting to get on my Bat-Nipples!

But what makes Lego Batman so endearing is that it's continuing a trend that began with 2015's Ant-Man and 2016's Deadpool. Super Hero movies lately have really become bombastic, bloated, pretentious and as we academics say "up their own arse!" So while Dawn of Justice saw grown men in tights crying in the rain and Civil War saw people in silly costumes getting political, films like Deadpool and Ant-Man were making fart jokes and offending soccer mums. Lego Batman saw those films and said "You know what these films are missing? Far too many jokes that you'd know what to do with!" and it then proceeds to fire a billion of them at you a lightning speed, like a rhino that's after downing 30 Red Bulls and is going nuts in the fireworks factory.

Yes it's highly funny and I laughed many times, but it kept firing joke after joke at me that I was glad they had any quiet moments at all to let me catch my breath. I'm not going to tell you any of the jokes in the film for I feel it's best that you see the film for yourself. Because I had that "small knives" gag from Amazing Spider-Man ruined for me and I didn't laugh when I saw the film back in 2012.

I sadly couldn't see this movie when it was in cinemas (thank you very much surgeries!) but I made sure to avoid all the trailers, not talk to anyone about it and see this film completely blind, and I was better for it as it felt more refreshing to view a movie like this with no prior knowledge. I will say this at least: There was one paticular joke aimed squarely at Marvel Comics that I'm actually surprised DC would make, yet I still applauded it regardless. If Marvel can make clumsy potshots at DC in their films, then DC is welcome to do the same!

Where I feel Lego Batman differs from say Deadpool is the willingness to point at its super serious counterpart and make silly faces in mockery. The movie is one giant roast of the Batman franchise from it's debut to current year. With references to the movies, the animated series, the old 1940's pulps and some nods to the 60's show which really come off as awkward due to the passing of Adam West. I saw this film a week or so after he died so you could say a chill filled the room when they made a clumsy gag about the Bat Shark Repellant.

What truly amused me is the fact they've taken Batman, a serious brooding misery guts, and turned him into an attention seeking spoiled brat who refuses to let anyone into his life and wants all the glory for himself. In short, a perfect and rather honest parody of everything the character represents. Even going so far to cockblock Joker in an obvious gay metaphor that stopped being funny the more they dragged it out. I'm amazed that DC would even showcase their second biggest cashcow in such a negative way. It's a Batman movie where he's played by Dom Fury.

My other critic is with the story, which can be summed up like this.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B4udC…


If the movies opening was the whole film, then it would be flawless.... Yet it keeps going. By that I mean it goes into a plot we've seen a thousand times and it will not surprise you in any shape or form. For a movie going out of its way to parody, mock and lambast Batman I was hoping it went the extra mile and kept him as a self-catering asshole from start to finish. I mean just for a change, it'd be nice to see a hero reject the cliche ending and remain the questionable outsider as they began the story. I mean I am writing a story that will cover that.....

Yet they go for the "power of love and friendship" trope done in Cars and that's where it dropped the ball for me. I still love the film but I was hoping it wouldn't be so predictable.

.....But maybe that's the point?

Maybe that's a part of the parody, in that its taking the super serious plot and parodying it further. If that was the intent then bravo, Lego Batman, I guess. This is a short review for there really isn't much to say about it. The animation is on point as always and the bright colours really paint Gotham City in a unique way, as opposed to the dreary gothic tones we're used to. I do feel it's not as good as The Lego Movie, for that had several characters to bounce around and get some geniune humour out of it. Whereas this just has Batman and a goofy version of Robin as the main heroes. It's good, but this spinoff isn't as strong as it's more successful big brother.

Give it a watch if you find the time.