Page Not Found (404) Sorry, what you're looking for can't be found! The page might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavaible. Or it probably just doesn't exist.“The Lego Batman Movie” is the best interlocking plastic toy bricks movie since 2014’s “The Lego Movie.”Faint praise, of course, but it really is pretty good — for kids and grown-ups alike. This animated action comedy is as respectful to the Bat legacy as it is irreverent.In this incarnation, Batman (voiced by Will Arnett) is a friendless, ageless billionaire surrounded by those who would wreak havoc on the world around him. In his downtime, he spends hours alone in a sprawling empty mansion, telling his personal computer how great he is.(Any similarities to our current president may be purely the construct of this writer’s imagination. Except when Batman brags about not paying his taxes. And boasts of dating activewear models. And says his greatest enemy is a Kryptonian illegal alien.
The film opens with an action set piece that the live-action Bat-movies will never match. The Joker (Zach Galifianakis) skyjacks a cargo plane full of dynamite, C-4 explosive and tiny cartoon bombs (just go with it) for a Gotham City battle royale featuring all of Batman’s costumed enemies.Naturally, Bats arrives just in time to dispatch the bad guys, but, this being set in the cartoon Lego-verse, he does so while singing a heavy-metal ode to his vehicles, his abs and himself.“Who’s the manliest man/With the buns of steel?/Who can chokehold a bear?/Who never skips leg day?”Directed by Chris McKay (animation director on the first “Lego” movie) and scripted by a bevy of writers led by novelist Seth Grahame-Smith (“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”), “The Lego Batman Movie” is like watching 40-something fanboys with encyclopedic Bat-brains play Legos for 90 minutes.Everything in the 78-year Bat-mythos is in play, from the ambiguous relationship between Batman and Robin (voiced by Michael Cera) to the campy goofiness of the 1960s TV series to the absurdity of an adult woman being called Batgirl (Rosario Dawson).
The animation is fabulous. Like “The Lego Movie,” “Lego Batman” follows its own internal logic, physics and anatomy. But it also shows some incredible attention to real-world detail, to the point that dust motes float in the cavernous Wayne Manor.Among the film’s imperfections: The pomposity of our hero grows a little thin after an hour or so, and there are way too many easy butt jokes.“Lego Batman” also sadly jettisons the rich gallery of Bat-villains about midway through in favor of evildoers from the Warner Bros. film vault. With Bane, Catwoman, Penguin, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, et al. locked up in Arkham Asylum, the Joker recruits Voldemort and Sauron — along with King Kong, who, not so coincidentally, will star in his own Warner Bros. reboot next month.It’s a weird move for the story but makes perfect sense economically. Why spend time fleshing out the psychosis of the Riddler (Conan O’Brien) when the studio could advertise its other film properties? Thus, a blitz of flying monkeys from “The Wizard of Oz” and Mogwai spawn from “Gremlins” sub in for Killer Moth, Calendar Man and Mad Harriett.But trust this 40-something fanboy: Batman’s one-note bad guy Kite-Man is the villain this world deserves, if not the villain it needs right now.
It’s not all fun and games. Batman is a lonely orphan. Through all the giggles and silliness, the filmmakers understand that Bruce Wayne’s ultimate fight is against his estrangement from the world. It’s why Batman needs a Robin. And a Commissioner Gordon and a Batgirl and, yes, a Joker. And the need for family is why the character resonates after he was unleashed upon the Gotham underworld nearly 80 years ago — and why it’s a perfect theme for a family film in the 21st century.Even though it’s squarely targeting kids and the parents who accompany them, “Lego Batman” serves as a refreshing palate-cleanser after the dour “Batman v Superman” and the often inchoate “Suicide Squad.”Kudos to McKay and the Lego-verse for making the Caped Crusader great again.‘The Lego Batman Movie’☆☆☆Rated PG. Time: 1:32.Building the ‘Lego Batman’ worldCompared to the bright sets of “The Lego Movie,” where everything is awesome, “The Lego Batman Movie” is dark and brooding, like its title character.
Here’s where Warner Bros. says the filmmakers found their inspiration:▪ “The Batcave was meant to be ludicrous,” says production designer Grant Freckelton. It’s a vast bunker for Batman’s fleet of vehicles, costumes, disguises and computer nerve center. “The benefit of tackling things in a humorous way,” Freckelton says, “is that you can ask yourself what a person would build if they had literally billions of dollars to spend and an ego to match that amount of money.”▪ Wayne Manor (above the Batcave): Think “Citizen Kane’s” palatial Xanadu, with hints of the real Boldt Castle in New York’s Thousand Islands.▪ Arkham Asylum: A cross between a high-security prison and a hospital, a blend of “sci-fi prison below and old-timey prison up above,” Freckelton says.▪ The Phantom Zone: A realm from the Superman comics and movies that imprisons the universe’s worst criminals. Here, the zone is filled with bright, white bricks — infuriating for shadowy villains with dark souls.
Let friends in your social network know what you are reading aboutTwitterGoogle+LinkedInPinterestPosted!A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Exclusive: Everything Is Awesome in Legoland's new Lego Movie 4DLast SlideNext SlideDefying conventional wisdom, The Lego Movie has proven to be enormously popular and wildly funny -- not just among the toy brand's target audience of children, but for adults as well. Released in 2014, the quirky movie generated north of $450 million at the box office, earned glowing reviews, and bestowed a hip cachet to the line of plastic figures and snap-together bricks.On January 29, Legoland Florida will debut a sequel of sorts when it opens The Lego Movie 4D A New Adventure. Developed exclusively for the toymaker's theme parks (it's set to open February 6 at Legoland California and at all Legoland Discovery Centers soon after that), it's really more of a mini reunion. The 12 ½-minute film brings some of the movie's key characters and voice talent back together for a story set at Brick World, a shameless knockoff of Legoland.Rendered in glorious CGI animation, the unlikely gang of returning do-gooders includes leading lady Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), the pirate with the oversized, weapons-packed body, MetalBeard (Nick Offerman), spaceman Benny (Charlie Day), and unicorn/anime kitten mashup with serious anger management issues
, Unikitty (Alison Brie). Instead of Chris Pratt, voice actor A.J. LoCascio takes over the role of everymini hero, Emmet. Also MIA is Will Ferrell. The Lego Movie 4D introduces Risky, the brother of Ferrell's character, President Business. (Yup, that makes him Risky Business).As with the theatrical movie, the new film simultaneously succeeds on two levels. Your children will love the fizzy action and silly antics. You will love the sly, laugh-out-loud, meta dialogue and absurd plot developments that will sail right over kids' heads. How sly and absurd? Upon meeting Risky, not-Chris-Pratt Emmet remarks that Business' "voice sounds so much less expensive" than his brother's. Played by comedian and actor Patton Oswalt, the megalomaniac replies, "Indeed. And with the millions I saved on voice talent, I made something truly spectacular – a magical, fun-tagical place with rides based off of your adventures in The Lego Movie!" The nonstop stream of self-aware lines like those is hilarious – and sometimes bordering on mildly subversive.
And this is at a Legoland theme park, no less.In order for Brick World to work, Lord Business needs to subdue the protagonists and incorporate them against their will into the park's shows and attractions. Will evil and corporate profits triumph over the earnest, if hopelessly overmatched Emmet and pals? Did we not learn that everything is awesome in the original movie?To help thwart the baddies, the Master Builders enlist the help of the audience, thereby making them part of the action. The "4D" effects also immerse guests in the attraction. Shot in 3D, the fourth "D" includes sensory enhancements such as water spritzes and wind blasts.The New Adventure has the same delightfully off-kilter sensibility as its predecessor. There are even some subtle – and funny – digs at the Disney parks (the President Business to Legoland's more ragtag Emmet). But underneath all of the shenanigans, there are some heartfelt human feelings that resonate (well, as human as CGI renderings of plastic figures can be, I suppose).
Given its much shorter run time and its theme park setting, the Legoland film doesn't have the ability to go as deeply as the original movie. But the qualities that first endeared us to the characters are bubbling just beneath the surface.Helming the new film is Rob Schrab, who also co-wrote the script. Known for his work on smart, celebrated TV shows such as Community and The Sarah Silverman Program, he brings a deft touch to the proceedings and maintains the tone of the first film. "We only spotlight [the characters] for a fraction of the amount of time," Schrab said, "so it's important to get to the fun as soon as possible."But he'll have plenty of time to go deeper when he takes over the director's chair for The Lego Movie sequel, which is in production and is scheduled for a May 2018 release. "The events of the first movie will push the second chapter forward and upward," said Schrab. "[We have] written a lot of funny stuff for Emmet and Wyldstyle, but there’s a deep, emotional message at the core of the story."