There is an emoji movie coming out. To theaters. A movie... starring... emojis... from you phones. And you know what? I'm not surprised. This is where we've come, ladies and gentlemen, and it's everyone's fault. Maybe get up and go see a movie that isn't based off of anything that doesn't star someone A+ famous. Because every time you don't... we're getting shit like The Emoji Movie. Every time you don't, we get a movie based off a STUPID game you play on your phone-- we get The Angry Birds Movie. Every time you don't we get another movie based off of a RIDE a Disneyland. Every time you don't-- we get a movie based off of little tiny building blocks for children. Okay, actually let's scratch that one because we all know that The Lego Movie was an anomaly. Somehow when the studio decided to make a movie based off of Legos... the right writers and directors were in the right place at the "write" time (heh heh heh... I've lost all my followers). The Lego Batman Movie doesn't hit all the chords that its predecessor was able to, but it still captures the same humor and energy and is still a pretty fun ride.
The one thing The Lego Movie had going for it, other than the fact that it was damn funny, was that it was very clever. And it had a great message about honing your creativity and being yourself. That being said, everyone knows that Batman (Will Arnett) stole every scene he was in. It's actually probably my favorite portrayal of the character of Batman (that or George Clooney's bat nipples... it's a toss up). With the success of The Lego Movie, there are bound to be NUMEROUS sequels each getting shittier and shittier as they go along. The Lego Batman Movie takes just a step down from the original and the second spinoff... already coming out later this year... The Lego Ninjago Movie... looks to be a step or two below that. This is what happens in Hollywood, people. Then again, the most expensive original movie last year was Passengers and that wasn't very good... so it's really a give and take.
Batman is in a constant battle with all of his enemies, but the one he has to tussle with the most is the Joker (Zach Galifinakis). The Joker views the two of them as perfect opposites who complete one another. Batman views him as a nuisance. This, of course, annoys the Joker, as he takes it personally, and releases every single Batman villain ever to go after Gotham. Along with the hoard of villains, Batman also battles with inner demons of loneliness. He's constantly lonely in his giant batcave, eating lobster alone, and watching Jerry Maguire by himself in his massive bat-theater. However, along the way, Batman inadvertently adopts Dick Grayson, who becomes Robin (Michael Cera). He also befriends the new Commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson), who eventually becomes Batgirl. And the trio, who eventually show Batman the value of friends and family, go off on an adventure to save Gotham city.
It's a pretty action-packed film that got just a little bit tiring in my opinion. Nearly every scene is an action scene, either fighting off the Joker or trying to save Gotham or the people in it. There's hardly every a dragged on conversation or moment of levity, which I think may have exhausted viewers a few times. The good news is, however, that even though there is a high energy pretty constantly througout the film, it's also very funny. So, you may be searching for that quiet moment or two of levity in between all of the adventure, but it's relieving to know that even during all the 'action' there is still quite a bit of humor. And while only about 80% of the jokes land... that's much higher than most movies nowadays.
Once again, there's a good message to kids and a movie for adults to enjoy. There's several callbacks to previous Batman/Dark Knight films and Batman is just as humorous as he was in The Lego Movie. I do feel, however, that the film is essentially one giant joke. They still re-use some of the humor from the first film (like characters making the "pew pew" noises when shooting a gun), and Batman is still the same droll character, but it's all one joke. The joke is funny most of the time, but by the end you're hoping this was the last of the Lego Batman "franchise" because I don't know if I could take another one of these. I realize this makes it sound as if I didn't enjoy the film, because I did. And while it didn't make me laugh as hard or as often as The Lego Movie, the humor is there. It's still very impressive how detailed the animation is and how gorgeous the movie is to look at.
As far as animated family movies these days, it's still nice to see one company that isn't Disney respecting kids and not churning out movies that treat children like they're stupid. So far, these Lego movies have been very smart and don't pander to the lowest humor common denominator. As long as they can keep up, at the very least, this level of humor and cleverness, I'll be glad to keep seeing them. But, that doesn't seem to be how Hollywood works. Hopefully, they can transcend Hollywood tradition.
B-
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