The LEGO Batman Movie (Chris McKay, 2017)
I didn't care for the original
LEGO movie, but I've always questioned my reaction to it. The positive reviews I heard from others afterwards were all pretty convincing, and the movie certainly had some very good aspects. I wondered whether I just saw it on the wrong day. But this new
LEGO movie, despite the different creative talent involved, has put to rest my doubts. This style just isn't for me. (Apologies in advance to
The Lego Ninjago Movie, as seen in the trailers of the Batman one.)
Hats off to LEGO, though. Their success with these tie-in video games and movies is just mind-boggling. Like, there's really no reason for this film to have involved LEGO at all. It could just have easily been just a silly, self-referential take on
Batman, with very little lost. Some decent jokes come from the LEGO-brick basis of the world, and occasionally it informs the animation in a cool way — but for the most part I'm just like, why? I just don't get it, but I respect it.
As in the first film, there's definitely some good stuff scattered throughout the running time: the Batman-Joker relationship is a highlight, with their early "breakup" probably being the film's best moment, along with the scene pictured in the screenshot above. These quieter moments stand out because so much of the film is so loud, visually. To wit, it's one of the most annoyingly edited animated films I've ever seen. Like most of the film's style, it's better suited for a tv show where episodes are just twelve minutes in length. At 104 minutes, it's just exhausting.
If you imagine that Will Arnett's Batman is an inadvertent Donald Trump impression, things become considerably more entertaining.
Grade: C-
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