The Funniest Batman Since Adam West
Building on the tremendous creative and financial success of The LEGO Movie, the people at the Warner Animation Group wisely chose to give Will Arnett's scene-stealing take on the caped crusader his own spin-off, resulting in the best Batman film since the end of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. The Lego Batman Movie is also the funniest Batman film since the big screen adaptation of the campy 1960s TV series, demonstrating that the creative team behind this Lego-verse knows that the best thing about The LEGO Movie was its script, as director Chris McKay and his team of writers imbue their Batflick with nearly as much humor and heart as its predecessor.
The Batman of the Lego world is childish and narcissistic, and the story finds him on a journey of re-discovering his emotional availability after the murder of his parents when he was a child. Vying for recognition in Batman's life are the Joker (Zach Galifianakis) and Robin (Michael Cera), while Alfred the butler (Ralph Fiennes) and Police Commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) each try to get Batman to open up and cooperate in new ways. By placing even his archenemy in a kind of relationship with Batman, the filmmakers carve out new cinematic ground for their story. This Batman is one who's faced with either saving the city or catching the criminal, as the lone crusader can't do both. We've seen a Batman reluctant to work with others before (in 1995's Batman Forever), but here it's filtered through Arnett's characterization, which is something like the ego and privilege of Donald Trump combined with the over-self-confidnece of his own G.O.B. Bluth from Arrested Development, and it's a joy to behold. He's still an excellent crimefighter, but boy oh boy is he high on himself.
Like its predecessor, The Lego Batman Movie is packed with terrific sight-gags and visual invention afforded by the Lego format, best demonstrated as Batman's personality is filtered through his home and belongings with aplomb. The Batcave is now a Batcavern, filled with just about every Bat-vehicle and Bat-costume imaginable; Wayne manor has three giant fireplaces in its dining room, the largest easily rivaling the one seen in Citizen Kane's Xanadu; not to mention a fridge packed with the Dark Knight's favorite leftover dinner, lobster thermidor. With access to characters from other creative properties (King Kong, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings to name a few), the filmmakers get to play around with a lot of toys in their sight-gag toolbox, but it's always the ones centered on Batman that get the biggest laughs (and he wouldn't have it any other way).
Lego Batman is just the latest in a long line of lovably insufferable protagonists, and the filmmakers keep their story moving along at a quick enough pace to never let Batman's ego get tiresome. The Lego Batman Movie doesn't quite equal The LEGO Movie—though its humor is nearly as clever, Lego Batman lacks the emotional heft owed largely to The LEGO Movie's big third act reveal—but it's nevertheless a sharp new take on a character that has been brought to the screen 10 times. The Lego Batman Movie rewards viewers for knowing those films—composer Lorne Balfe's score is particularly influenced by the Batworks of Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer—but still offers a wealth of character comedy to keep Batnovices entertained all the same. For the first time since the 90s, a Batman movie is really funny, and for the first time since Adam West donned the cape and cowl, it was done on purpose. Lego Batman would be proud that his movie is so good, though he probably wouldn't recognize a different opinion anyway.