LEGO Batman serves as worthy followup to 2014 classic
2 min read
Pixabay
By CHRIS MARKHAM
When I watched the LEGO Movie for the first time two years ago glued to the couch in my living room during summer break, my interest grew from simply ‘interested’ to ‘emotionally invested’ rapidly. The witty comedy, emotional tugs and surprising twists launched the 2014 classic into my top-five favorite movies of all time.
My arguably unnecessary obsession with the LEGO Movie was grounded in its ability to stun me by surpassing all of my lowest expectations. The idea of a movie based on a toy didn’t excite me, and in fact, disappointed me by the apparent corporatization of LEGOs.
The argument could be made that the LEGO Movie franchise is one big commercial, and while that may be true, I had every intention of spending the money to see the spinoff LEGO Batman Movie in the theatre. I went to see it with my deaf and autistic brother for his 23rd birthday last week and I’m fairly positive I was more excited for the movie than he was. In addition to being a huge fan of the original movie, I consider myself a super hero buff, setting pretty high expectations for the first of many super hero movies of 2017.
The trailers appeared to show me everything I wanted in the LEGO Movie spinoff, focusing on the comedy of the movie but not giving away the emotional details, and there were plenty. I expected the LEGO Batman Movie to be absolutely hilarious, which is was, but what I wasn’t expecting was an emotional roller coaster that also had surprisingly intense action sequences.
I cannot overstate how satisfied I was with the LEGO Batman Movie. It had every element I was looking for in a spinoff of my favorite animated film. Subtle nods to the original and a hilarious array of characters from across the cinematic spectrum enhanced my enjoyment of this movie. Adult humor mixed into the easily digestible child entertainment made this the perfect family movie and an even better choice for a movie date, provided your partner has a good sense of humor.
The LEGO Batman movie was certainly a better-rounded movie with less plot holes than the original, but lacked the mind-blowing twist at the end that I was expecting. Still, I was laughing the entire way through and even came close to crying on a few occasions. The humor was nearly identical to the humor I witnessed in the original on my couch (too) many times over that summer and the Batman character held the same personality, which was important to me.
Recently, LEGO released a trailer for their new LEGO Ninjago movie, set to release in September of this year, and by the look of its first trailer, I’ll be investing another $12.50 in an animated LEGO film, something I am not ashamed to admit.
