THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE

After Batman's appearance in The Lego Movie, and with the character's rich history in comic books, it's no surprise that the character became the focus of his own Lego movie.  The Lego Batman Movie is solid entertainment, with both lots of in-jokes for comic book fans and a couple of flaws as well.

The movie opens with Batman (Will Arnett, giving a nice comic exaggeration to the current gravelly-voiced character) single-handedly defeating almost his entire gallery of villains (including some new ones, obscure ones, and ones from the 1966 Batman TV show).  While everyone loves Batman, in private he's terribly alone -- watching romantic comedies by himself and wandering around an empty mansion, to the concern of Alfred (Ralph Fiennes).  His desire to be alone has Batman refusing to work with new Police Commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) and not acknowledging the Joker (Zack Galifianakis) as his arch-enemy.  And when Bruce Wayne accidentally adopts orphan Dick Grayson (Michael Cera), Batman pretty much ignores him -- even when Dick becomes Robin.

The Joker, upset by Batman's slight, hatches a master plan that begins with getting himself and every other villain in Gotham City arrested, involves Harley Quinn (Jenny Slate), and winds up with a slew of amazingly powerful (and non-DC) villains taking over Gotham City.   Batman, meanwhile, keeps using or ignoring Robin, carelessly insulting Alfred, and refusing to work with Barbara.

As one might expect, there are innumerable elements from Batman's history, from the cartoons, TV shows, and movies to the obscure villains from the comics and black and white serials.  There are also plenty of other comic book and pop culture references, including the Super Friends, non-comic book characters (that aren't all Lego sets), and pop music.  The voice talent is terrific (including numerous celebrity voices) and there's plenty of action and humor through the movie.

The Lego Batman Movie also has a couple of problems.  The movie drags a lot in the middle and could have been a good deal shorter.  The story arc is pretty obvious, and there are several inconsistencies that pop up in the movie (that can't be explained away by the Lego universe).  But even with those, The Lego Batman Movie has lots of entertainment, for little kids and adult comic book fans.

Overall grade: B

Reviewed by James Lynch

THE LEGO MOVIE

Who's have guessed that a movie with the most blatant merchandising tie-ins ever would still manage to be so entertaining?  The Lego Movie has plenty of toy tie-ins, but it also has some terrific action, a sly sense of humor, and plenty of pop culture references -- plus some metafictional moments tossed in as well.

Emmet (Chris Pratt) is the ultimate regular guy and conformist in a world entirely made out of Lego.  Emmet always follows instruction manuals (from buildings to life), loves everything that's popular, and agrees with everyone in the hopes that they'll like him.  After a run-in with the free-spirited Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), Emmet gets the Piece of Resistance attached to him.  This convinces the blind old prophet Vitrivius (Morgan Freeman) that Emmet is "the Special," a MasterBuilder destined to save the Lego universes -- with some help from other MasterBuilders, from Batman (Will Arnett) to the cute-and-repressing-rage Uni-Kitty (Alison Brie), to the 1980s spaceman Benny (Charlie Day) to Lego characters ranging from Shakespeare to Michelangelo (sculptor) and Michaelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle), and Lincoln.   Too bad Emmet doesn't seem to have any original ideas besides a double-decker couch.

It turns out that President Business (Will Ferrell) is also the evil Lord Business, a control freak who hates anyone showing any creativity.  Business' plan is to use a non-Lego artifact called Kragle to freeze all Legos in place on Taco Tuesday -- and send in his Micromanagers to pose them as he wants.  Business' enforcer is a split-personality police officer called Good Cop/Bad Cop (Lian Neeson), whose personality changes as his head spins around.  And there are plenty of robot cops and skeletons, not to mention vehicles, to chase the good guys,

The Lego Movie manages to be as entertaining in its own way as the original Toy Story.  The voice talent in The Lego Movie is impressive (especially Will Arnett as the self-important Batman and Liam Neeson alternating between menacing and silly), and the visual effects make almost the entire movie feel like it was built out of Lego sets.  There's lots of humor, some surprisingly touching moments, and plenty of excitement.  The Lego Movie is another terrific animated feature that has as much appeal for adults as for kids.

Overall grade: A-
Reivewed by James Lynch