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Posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2017 at 12:20pm

Who has the coolest gadgets? Who has the tricked out ride? Who does the sickest backflips? Batman of course! And this Batman knows it. If you only know Lego Batman from the video games and DVD releases then you should know this is a different Batman. A "jerk Batman" to quote Emmett from Lego Dimensions. He's also hilarious!

The premise of the movie revolves around Batman not wanting to acknowledge relationships - in his personal life (to the annoyance of Alfred) or with the villians he battles (to the annoyance of The Joker). Batman's world is thrown into chaos when Robin falls into his life, Commisioner Gordon retires and Barbara Gordon becomes the new Commisioner. The Joker hatches a plan to prove to Batman that he is his greatest villian (something which Batman refutes). Will Batman learn to accept family and realise that his villians define him? Well, you'll have to watch the movie...

If you haven't seen The Lego Movie then watch it before going to see The Lego Batman Movie. It will prepare you for this movie as there are a couple of references that won't make sense otherwise...this is part of the Lego Movie Universe.

The Lego Batman Movie is the most fun film I've seen in a long time. As much as it is funny and lighthearted, it also manages to put up some somber and touching moments, especially when dealing with the death of the Waynes.

Everyone in the cast is on form. New character interpretations (with the exception of Will Arnett - who is effortlessly cool as Batman) still feel familiar.

Zach Galifianakis is great as The Joker - balancing the manic parts of the character very well.

Rosario Dawson is also great as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl - with this Batgirl being different to previous incarnations and acting as a love interest, of sorts, to Batman.

Michael Cera is very enjoyable as Dick Grayson/Robin.

Ralph Fiennes however is the bedrock of the movie as Alfred. Alfred is the relief from the comedy (if that makes sense) giving an emphasis on the more touching scenes and idea of the need for family.

The animation is as you would expect and probably a little more frantic that in The Lego Movie, especially with The Batwing, Batmobile and other Bat-vehicles tearing through the action scenes. The score by Lorne Balfe is suitably Batman-esque, drawing on the previous scores for setting the tone. Intermxed with this are other songs from the 1980's from the likes of Michael Jackson and Cutting Crew!

The opening sequence of the film is pure Batman - straight into the action - that's how you start a Bat-film. With Balfe's score in the background the film manages to transend the fact that we're watching Lego move around - then we get to Batman's epic "Who's the (Bat)Man?" rock music number - which is on constant replay in our house. SO much FUN!"

There are copious amounts of references and homages to previous Batman films (some obvious, some not) - fans of Adam West and Michael Keaton will be grinning from ear to ear...I know I was. The real surprise was the addition of some other characters which I am not going to spoil - suffice to say, I loved their inclusion - as did my wife and kids.

Overall, The Lego Batman Movie is a joy to watch. I doesn't take Batman seriously at all, but at the some time manages to be a loving celebration of Batman. I watched it thinking to myself "Batman IS frekkin' cool" and I left the cinema wanting to watch it again.

Everything is STILL awesome in this spinoff of The Lego Movie.
9/10

 

"The Lego Batman Movie" hits theatres in the US and the UK on 10th February, and Australia on 30th March. #ironmansucks

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