ViewGuide

Created Feb 20, 2017 01:01AM PST • Edited Jun 02, 2021 12:17AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   Super smart, super funny, super current, super classic and super cutting, The LEGO Batman Movie is a super sequel to The Lego Movie, that perfect piece of pop pizazz. Lego B is also the funniest Batman movie ever. Hell, it may be the best Bat movie ever, given its carte blanche to satire the comic’s full history, with special attention paid to the Adam West TV series I was weaned on as a young Boomer. Boom! Pow!!

   The Lego Movies are now bona fide cultural phenomena. They alchemized an iconic toy franchise with iconic cultural figures, catalyzing the admixture with rapid-fire irony and ample star-power. More please!

   The Lego Movie that started the series introduced Batman as a farcical übermensch who toys with our superhero dreams – Buzz Lightyear with issues. Batman is the focus this time, and his issues have grown.
   He denies his feelings, but we don’t, especially about this supremely funny takedown of a boyhood hero.

   In short, The LEGO Batman Movie is super boffo. No assembly required, no kids either. It’s too great a movie to be wasted solely on children. After all, who doesn’t have feelings about Batman? Don’t deny it.

4. Acting

   Perfect 5.0

   The huge voice cast includes big names in tiny roles, e.g., Channing Tatum as Superman and Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman. But the main stars make the movie, especially given how hard it is for voice actors to stand out.

   Will Arnett as Batman / Bruce Wayne

   Will Arnett’s Batman stands with Tim Allen’s Buzz Lightyear in the mini-pantheon of satirical superheroes. I’d dubbed him the best Batman since Michael Keaton for his performance in The Lego Movie. Now he fully explores the Bat-issues in what is a superstar-making performance for Arnett. “There is no us.”

   Allies

   • Ralph Fiennes was born to voice Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s butler and father-figure.
   • Michael Cera gives Dick Grayson / Robin an ideal boyishness.
   • Rosario Dawson is equal parts solid and sexy as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl.
   • Mariah Carey adds little as the Mayor of Gotham City.
   • Susan Bennett (credited as “Siri”) as the Batcomputer. Batman calls her Puter.
   • Héctor Elizondo as Commissioner Gordon, Gotham City’s police commissioner
   • Channing Tatum as Clark Kent / Superman in a funny turn.
   • Jonah Hill as Hal Jordan / Green Lantern, also funny.
   • Adam DeVine as Barry Allen / Flash
   • Chris McKay – the Director – as Pilot Bill

   Villains

   • Zach Galifianakis is ideal to voice the “Clown Prince of Crime”, impressively taking nothing from Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson or even Burgess Meredith’s Jokers.
   • Jenny Slate rocks as Harley Quinn, Joker’s sidekick.
   • Conan O’Brien doesn’t do much with the Riddler.
   • Jason Mantzoukas as Scarecrow
   • Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent / Two-Face
   • Doug Benson as Bane
   • Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle / Catwoman. More please.
   • Kate Micucci as Basil Karlo / Clayface.
   • Riki Lindhome as Dr. Pamela Isley / Poison Ivy

   Phantom Zone

   • Eddie Izzard as Lord Voldemort
   • Seth Green as King Kong
   • Jemaine Clement as Sauron
   • Ellie Kemper as Phyllis, the gatekeeper of the Phantom Zone.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Perfect 5.0

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Lego B is a stellar film that speaks more to adults than kids, though it is an off-the-hook great kiddy flick.

    Chris McKay, the new director for this sophomore Lego Movie, does a bang-up job, albeit just a touch off the perfection achieved by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller in The Lego Movie. Lord & Miller also wrote their movie, a singular accomplishment.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Great 4.0

13. Music Really Great 4.5

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.8

17. Sex Innocent 1.4

18. Violence Fierce 2.1

19. Rudeness Salty 1.8

21. Reality

    Fantasy 4.3

    Fantasy? It’s a superhero cartoon populated by Lego people living in Legoland, for goodness sakes.

    Fantasy aside, The LEGO Batman Movie is unintentionally ironic in addition to all its intentional irony. It presupposes a Hillary Clinton presidency, given the overt homage to It Takes a Village and the main plot arc taking down an imperious and isolated alpha-male. Whoddathunk she would’ve lost? It’s doubly ironic that Steven Mnuchin – President Trump’s Treasury Secretary – gets a prominent producer’s credit.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 3.0

23. Biological Fantasy 5.0

24. Physical Fantasy 5.0