The LEGO Batman Movie is the new computer-animated movie from the same folks that brought us The LEGO Movie back in 2014. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the writers and directors of the original film, act as producers on this movie and hand over the directing reigns to Chris McKay. The LEGO Batman Movie will serve as McKay’s feature film directorial debut. The excellent voice work includes the likes of Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson and Ralph Fiennes. The LEGO Batman Movie is rated PG by the MPAA for rude humor and some action. Batman has kept the streets of Gotham crime-free for years by always doing things on his own and never needing anyone’s help. When a new police commissioner is appointed, she wants to see the city work more as a team to fight crime and not just rely on one masked vigilante. Batman obviously doesn’t like this idea as has he grown accustomed to being a loner in both is personal and professional life.
As this shift in power is taking place, the Joker is planning his most diabolical scheme yet. The Joker’s plan is to hand himself over to the authorities and in turn release all of the world’s most vile villains from captivity. Batman will soon realize that he cannot win this time all by himself and he’s going to the need the help of the new commissioner, Alfred, and even his newly adopted son. The LEGO Batman Movie is a smart, funny, action-packed blockbuster the whole family will love. I think the parents are going to enjoy this just as much as the kids. The thing that truly makes this a fantastic movie is the incredibly intelligent and quick-witted screenplay, not to mention the gorgeous animation. The one-liners come at you fast and furious and if you’re not paying attention you might just miss some of them. I believe Will Arnett was born to play this snarky, arrogant Batman and I can’t imagine anyone else in the role. Warner Bros. really has something great on their hands with this new LEGO film franchise and it feels like they have exactly all of the right people involved;
from the writing, to the directing, and even the voice work. They have really knocked it out of the park with both of their installments in this franchise. The LEGO Batman Movie is a great excuse to get the family out of the house and into the Cineplex to overcome the doldrums of February. The LEGO Batman Movie opens in theaters on Friday, February 10The Dark Knight has always been a bit of a loner. Fighting crime, righting wrongs, embarrassing the police and protecting the citizens of Gotham are all things he likes to do on his own. But sometimes even the Caped Crusader needs a little help from his friends, and luckily in his newest adventure LEGO Batman: DC Superheroes, the Bat grudgingly (very grudgingly in Superman’s case) learns to love. If you’ve ever played LEGO Harry Potter or the other games in the series, then you’re going to be right at home here. They’re not trying to do too much outside of the LEGO game series wheelhouse. But what it does have is 14 huge, vibrant levels in service of a wholly original and fun story told through brilliant cinematics.
The blocky characters are brought to life with some amazing voice acting and a whimsical sense of humor. We could honestly watch a full length animated movie based on this game–it’s that good. All of the game’s fairly linear levels are filled with tons of things to smash apart and build up, puzzles to solve and evil henchman to dispatch. Since the name of the game here is teamwork, you’ll spend most of your time switching between Batman and Robin or another character as they have to work together and use their different skills to get around the traps or obstacles. Even though the game pretty much controls where you go at all times, it’s up to you to figure out how to get the end. The creative approaches to the problem solving, once you figure things out, can bring you some truly heroic moments. You really get a sense of accomplishment and fun once you see something like Superman freeze a waterfall with his breath so that Batman can climb up the hill and join in the fight.
While the game is a massive amount of fun, it does have some noticeable flaws, the most important one being the controls. There are a few different control options for you, and none of them are all that great. Missed jumps, doing the wrong things in combat, and failing to interact with objects are all pretty commonplace and can be really infuriating at times. It’s pretty obnoxious when all you’re doing is trying to push a button and you end up end flailing around like a chicken with its head cut off (although it can be fairly amusing watching Superman go buckwild with his heat-vision for no reason at all). The game can also be a little confusing at times, as certain things aren’t explained that well. Various game mechanics like special skills and the way puzzles work can be confounding. Even figuring out how to continue our saved game was an enigma at first, and there’s just no reason for things to be so confounding. LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes is a very fun game that needs a little work.
The graphics are gorgeous, the sound and music are amazing, the levels are fun, and the gameplay–when it works–is awesome. It’s got a few things that need to be fixed, and it would be nice if even the simplest game aspects weren’t sometimes baffling, but overall this is a great game full of fun characters, clever puzzles, and one of the best stories we’ve seen in an iOS videogame.Through the 15 missions in the LEGO Batman 2 campaign, there are 10 mini-kit items that can be found in each by performing some crafty tricks and using various character powers. To get the mini-kits required for each level, you’ll need to play through each mission in Free Play mode after the campaign is first completed. Not only do you need to switch to other characters, you’ll first need to have certain characters unlocked and available in your stable. You’ll need The Penguin, Aquaman, The Joker, The Riddler, Man-Bat, Lex Luthor, and Poison Ivy to get all the mini-kits. Once you have gone through the trouble of finding all the kits, you can do a little jig in celebration of the additional 15 new tiny vehicles, as well as some achievements and trophies for your troubles.