Three years ago, I was pretty blown away by the creativity, cleverness and hilarity of "The Lego Movie". Reveling in that hard-to-find sweet spot that has fun for kids and plenty of adult humor for the grown ups, the original Lego movie was a blast.
Three years later, Will Arnett returns as Lego Batman, all throwaway jokes, arrogance and loneliness.
As the film opens, Batman defeats The Joker (Zach Galifanakis) yet again, but crushes Joker when he says he really doesn't care about him, or for that matter, anyone in his life.
It's a smart observation that plays both for laughs and as a story thread that sees Batman engage with nearly every DC character you can think of off-hand.
Harley Quinn (Jenny Slate), The Riddler (Conan O'Brien), Bane (Doug Benson), Two-Face (Billy Dee Williams), Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz) are all perfectly voiced by the huge cast and get great support on the good guy side by Michael Cera as Robin, Rosario Dawson as Batgirl and the hilarious Ralph Fiennes as the ever loyal but slightly impatient with Batman's shtick, Alfred.
By the time Batman is trying to banish The Joker to the Phantom Zone like Superman (Channing Tatum) did his arch enemy, the laughs are at full tilt.
Soon bad guys from other films invade the screen, including Eddie Izzard as Voldemort, Seth Green as King Kong and a certain giant EYE for Lord of the Rings fans.
Seeing it with my three year old grandson (whose already gone to see it again with his Dad!) he was enamored with all the on-screen action and explosions. There's no blood (everything's made of Legos after all) and there are even some dinosaurs and penguins thrown in for the youngsters, which is mostly what I heard about. When I asked Jonah what part he lined best, he said "when some of the bad guys helped Batman and were his friends".
There is a nice message about the importance of friendship and teamwork along with the amazing visuals from the special effects team ($80 million worth!) and a screenplay that pays homage to the DC characters while giving them a new, more humor infused life within the alternate Lego world.
When Batman shows up at the Fortress of Solitude and finds the entire Justice League having a huge party without him, I'm betting that laugh filled scene will be more fun than the entire actual "Justice League" movie coming this November. The DC live action flicks could learn a thing or two from their block counterparts.
THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE snaps together perfectly for a fun-filled B. (I'm betting Jonah would give it an A).
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