'The LEGO Batman Movie' Featuring the voices of: Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera Rated: PG for rude humor and some action Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes Quite possibly the best Batman movie ever made, this fun-loving animated feature really digs into what makes the Caped Crusader who he is, for better or for worse. One weakness of most Batman films is that they’re unwilling to question the nature of Batman himself, to interrogate the vigilante who patrols Gotham City single-handedly and anonymously. On paper, what Batman represents isn’t all that great — Bruce Wayne is a privileged one-percenter, an individualist who happily bypasses government programs to work alone and decide what’s best and who’s bad or not. Which is why “The Lego Batman Movie” is quite possibly the best Batman movie ever made, if not a close runner up to ”Batman Returns.” Liberated from the constraints of “dark,” ”edgy” or even “campy,” ”Lego Batman” is able to poke fun at the costumed gentleman hero, and really dig into the elements of Batman that make the character who he is, for better or for worse.
Who’da thunk you’d get all that from the sequel to an adaptation of building blocks. “Lego Batman” is very much in the vein of “The Lego Movie,” from which this was spun off. Will Arnett’s growly, sarcastic, heavy metal-loving Batman was such a hit in that movie that he deserved his own project. It was always going to be a fun Lego property, but no one probably expected this to be one of the best and most refreshing Batman movies. It’s due in large part to writer Seth Grahame-Smith, who is known for his twists on the classics, books-turned-movies “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” and “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” If there’s anyone who can give a beloved character a true rejiggering, it’s Grahame-Smith, working within the Batman canon and the larger Warner Bros. universe. A host of comedy writers contributed to the screenplay as well, so the jokes are densely packed and fast and furious — visual gags, puns, wordplay, one-liners. “Robot Chicken” director Chris McKay keeps a steady hand on the direction of the exciting whirling dervish visuals.
The film’s meta, self-referential nature starts at the very beginning, with Arnett huskily describing the opening credits, logos and all. He plays Bruce Wayne/Batman as the arrogant playboy he always has been, but the film reveals his vulnerabilities and loneliness more starkly. That cowl masks more than just his identity. He still mourns his family, but in “LEGO Batman,” that lack offers the room for a new family to move in — sidekick Robin (Michael Cera), new police commissioner and love interest Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson), and of course, Alfred (Ralph Fiennes). What’s different is that this time, Batman actually accepts them into his world. As the saying goes: “Everything is awesome, everything is cool when you’re part of a team.” There’s another song that informs the themes of “Lego Batman,” which is threaded throughout, with the lyric, “Take a look at yourself and make that change.” That’s the main idea to take away from “Lego Batman” — no one is beyond redemption or evolution.
After 10-plus feature film iterations, not to mention the ‘60s TV series and even more planned for the future, it was time to take a look at Batman and make that change. Sometimes, existential investigation yields great things. Also, the movie is truly hysterically funny, cute and very lovable. To describe any of the jokes would be to ruin all the fun of discovering it yourself.Type “Lego movie trailer” into YouTube and you’ll be presented with an avalanche of teasers for The Lego Movie, as well as individual scenes, foreign language versions and special publicity promos. What you won’t get – surprisingly enough – is a Lego recreation of The Lego Movie trailer, something reserved for the most-loved and most-watched regular teasers that aren’t already made out of bricks. Here are just twelve of our favourites, with particular attention going to community stalwarts Antonio Toscano and Brotherhood Workshop. The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug Best bits: There’s so much great detail, it’s almost impossible to pick.
The butterflies, the barrels, the splash of the water, the bricky intertitles, and a little wyrm called Smaug. Captain America: The Winter Soldier Best bits: Cap’s shield in bricks, the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy-referencing 42s in bricks and imagining what Steve Rogers’ barbershop quartet would look like in bricks. Best bits: The size of the ruby Pepper Potts is given, and the thought that somewhere out there is a Lego version of Trevor Slattery. Guardians Of The Galaxy Best bits: The haircut on Glenn Close’s beautiful plastic head, as well as that Lego cassette player you definitely, definitely want. Best bits: That GARGANTUAN cigar, the bottle and chair slicing in twain and the delightful R2-D2. Avengers: Age Of Ultron Best bits: It has to be the hulkbuster suit and the broken shield, right? Best bits: The fisherman! Or Amy Adams’ brick smirk! Or the clever work getting the cape to flap! Best bits: Just how old-school that car is.
That, and the skeleton zombies. Best bits: Not the raptors, not the poor shark, but... Captain Sparrow visiting the park. Even pirates need holidays.Has to be Gollum. Star Wars: The Force Awakens Best bits: As with the original teaser, when the Millennium Falcon swoops up and down and around, the TIE fighters shoot, and, and, and… why isn’t it December yet? Best bits: Slo-mo mid-air gun-catching-then-firing, as well as the little bricky oxygen masks that drop down. YouTube is a great place to find some wicked LEGOmation or "brickfilms" with many fans using the colorful little bricks and minifig characters to create tributes to their favorite movies. Here we've drawn up a list of ten great examples of film scenes, trailers and clips recreated in LEGO — although, perhaps controversially, we've deliberately left out any Star Wars-themed efforts as these could easily fill up a top ten list in their own right. So, following up the fantastic LEGO music video roundup we recently brought you, here is the film-themed equivalent, and as always, do let us know what we've missed (politely please, we're people too) in the comments below.
1. LEGO Matrix Trinity Help If you didn't think the awesome special effects from the bullet dodge scene in The Matrix would translate well in the medium of stop motion then you need to see this clip which took a staggering 440 hours (18 days!) to create. Time well spent, we say. With the special bonus of a surprise happy ending, here Steven Spielberg's classic don't-go-into-the-water horror gets a decidedly blocky makeover. 3. Crocodile Dundee - That's A Knife Very possibly the only funny line in Eighties outback flick Crocodile Dundee is immortalized here in LEGO as Mick whips out his Bowie and flashes it at an unsuspecting would-be mugger. 4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail in LEGO High-kicking knights and dancing skellingtons await you in this professional LEGO-backed clip that reveals Camelot to be a very silly place indeed. 5. The Battle of Wits in LEGO Vizzini and the Dread Pirate Roberts fight it out over iocane-spiked goblets in this great revamp of the classic scene from The Princess Bride.
6. Shaun of the Dead LEGO Trailer If you thought the line "Ooooh, he's got an arm off" from this Brit zombie film could not be more funny (and if so, you're not alone) then wait 'til you see it delivered by a little LEGO man. 7. LEGO Indiana Jones With official Indiana Jones minifigs available, the rugged adventurer was ripe for a brick film — and this is a great one. Stick around for the surprise ending that Harrison Ford fans will surely appreciate. 8. Blade Runner - Tears in Rain (in LEGO) It's amazing to see how the emotion still comes through in this short clip that swaps Rutger Hauer's Batty for an animated lump of plastic. 9. Napoleon Dynamite Bike Jump Scene In Lego Somehow the slightly amateur quality of this LEGOmation (no offense intended to the creator, we sure as heck could not do any better) juxtaposes really well with the slightly amateur Napoleon Dynamite not quite managing that sweet jump. 10. A Little Going Away Present This perfectly captures the fax-bashing scene from geek fave Office Space.