Now AiringThe Lego MovieA plain Lego figure leads a quest to save his city from its evil ruler.Watch The Lego MovieIn the decades since “Airplane!” many filmmakers have assaulted audiences with a barrage of gag after gag, but only a few have realized that there has to be a structure to support those jokes. For “Airplane!” it meant making audiences take the disaster elements (borrowed directly from the non-comedy “Zero Hour!”) at least a little seriously. For “The Lego Batman Movie,” that structure is, of all things, Batman’s emotional growth from a loner to someone who will allow himself to have a family. And while that premise might sound like a comedy-killer, it’s actually the opposite. Not only does the Dark Knight’s inner development give the animated film some emotional stakes, it also demonstrates that the filmmakers understand this character far more than Zack Snyder, apparently, ever will. Less a sequel to “The Lego Movie” than a big-screen, family-friendly version of Adult Swim’s blackout-sketch show “Robot Chicken,” “The Lego Batman Movie” gleefully parodies every mass-media iteration of its hero, from the serials to “Super Friends” and from Adam West to Ben Affleck.
While hard-core devotees will enjoy an overflowing basket of Easter eggs, you don’t have to be a super-fan to enjoy its crafty mix of outlandish verbal humor and outrageous visuals. See Video: New 'Lego Batman Movie' Trailer Mocks 'Batman v Superman' (Even the sound design is funny, from the occasional clickety-clack of plastic feet running on plastic surfaces to the actors who say “pew, pew pew!” out loud while their characters are firing guns.) Returning from “The Lego Movie” is Will Arnett as an arrogant Batman who covers up his loneliness and longing for his parents with a never-ending stream of boasts. (His staccato braggadocio will sound familiar to anyone covering the White House these days.) The film opens with Batman saving Gotham City for the umpteenth time from the evil machinations of the Joker (voiced by Zach Galifianakis), who has gathered together all of the hero’s C-list villains, including Calendar Man, Gentleman Ghost, Egghead and Condiment King.
Also Read: 'Lego Movie' Sequel Lands 'Trolls' Director Mike Mitchell The Joker is crestfallen to hear that Batman doesn’t think of him as his main nemesis, or even that they’re in a relationship at all. (Sometimes you just want to hear those three little words: “I hate you.”) With Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) taking over for her father Jim as commissioner — she graduated at the top of her class at “Harvard for Police” — the Joker turns himself and all of his cohorts in, partly to remove Batman’s reason for existence and partly as an elaborate ruse that involves the Phantom Zone and the many nefarious villains therein. Batman is such a jerk that he’s willing to put his newly adopted son Dick Grayson (Michael Cera) into a Robin outfit just so the kid can face certain death when they break into Superman’s Fortress of Solitude (where the Justice League is having a swinging party to which Batman has not been invited). Once the Phantom Zone blows wide open — revealing villains from various intellectual properties that have been Lego-ized — can Batman and his surrogate family (including long-suffering butler Alfred, voiced by Ralph Fiennes) save the day?
Also Read: 'Lego Movie Sequel' Script to Get Rewrite From 'BoJack Horseman' Creator That we actually care about how that question will be answered is a testament to the five screenwriters and to director Chris McKay, a “Robot Chicken” alum making his feature debut. “The Lego Batman Movie,” for the most part, very skillfully keeps the wackiness from overwhelming the plot and vice versa. And while the various Bat-vehicles take us through vertiginous zooms on land or through the air, McKay keeps the action rousing but never jumbled. Movie superhero fans tend to be divided into camps, with Marvel people complaining about the dank glumness of the DC films, and DC partisans decrying the jokiness of Marvel movies. Committed to lunacy while paying homage to the varied legacy of Batman over the decades, “The Lego Batman Movie” might be the common ground that satisfies both camps. The History of Batman's Suit: From Bat-Armor to Bat-Nipples (Photos) Many directors and costume designers have had their takes on Batman’s outfit, ranging from simple utility belts to chiseled abs
Zach Snyder has unveiled on Twitter a new look for Batman that will be featured in his upcoming DC film, "Justice League." It's been nearly 75 years since the iconic crimefighter first appeared in movie theaters, and his Batsuit has gone through a lot of changes since then. This is my Next The Lego Movie Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller Genre: Animation, action, comedy Running time: 100 minutes Rated PG With Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Berry (Recommended) If you'd told 10-year-old me there was going to be a movie all about Legos and the world they inhabit, I'd have been in line at the theater right then. Oh, it's not out until 2014? Okay, let me just build a time machine out of Legos and travel to the future. But adult me, hardened by years of non-Lego life experience — insipid toy-to-movie adaptations like Battleship, for instance, plus a sore lack of a regular free-form building sessions — had his guard up. Wasn't necessary: The Lego Movie may be one giant advertisement, but all the way to its plastic-mat foundation, it's an earnest piece of work — a cash grab with a heart.
Made for, with and about Legos, the movie is also made for, with and about imagination, and when that association seems completely natural, it's a win all around. The movie chooses as its hero the unimaginative but boundlessly positive Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt), who's just another average Lego guy living in the big Lego city going about his regular Lego day. As with most things Lego, there's an instruction manual for everything, and Emmet eats, watches and says exactly what he's supposed to. The instructions say that's how you fit in, make friends, lead a happy life — only somehow that hasn't worked out for Emmet, who doesn't really have friends yet. (There's an unsubtle critique of mainstream conformity going on here, exemplified by the transparently dumb yet incredibly catchy Lego pop hit "Everything is AWESOME," which won't be leaving your head for days after you hear it.) There's an evil mastermind bent on destroying the world, a prophecy about a chosen one and a spirited adventure to get to, but let's talk for a second about how this movie moves: When Emmet showers, the water and soap suds are Lego pieces.
When circumstances lead Emmet out of the city and across Lego deserts, forests and oceans, the land, sea and lava are all solid Legos. Animated in 3-D, but made to look like it's a stop-motion joint, the movie takes pleasure in translating how we move to a Lego-based reality and revels in the goofiness of a world operating under Lego-specific laws of physics. When you ride a horse its legs stay frozen even at a gallop; your head can swivel 180 degrees; and Krazy Glue spells immobilizing doom. Writer-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, charged both with balancing the needs of a brand and telling a lighthearted story, never miss an opportunity to get silly with how Legos work: When Emmet catches a mysterious woman named Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) poking around the construction site where he works, for instance, the slow-motion hair flip you've seen in a thousand Hollywood romances is a clip-on hair piece swiveling back and forth on her The self-conscious, irreverent tone holds steady as the stakes increase.
When Emmet finds a strange red piece that sticks itself to his back, Wyldstyle identifies him as The Special — the smartest, most talented, most interesting, most superlative-in-everything person who's destined to save the Lego world from the order-obsessed Lord Business (Will Ferrell). Of course Emmet goes along with the idea, with Pratt lending him a can-do enthusiasm that's infectious to everyone but the movie's other characters — especially once Wyldstyle, along with sage Lego wizard Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), and a brooding, self-absorbed Lego Batman (Will Arnett) discover that he's not special at all. That doesn't stop Emmet from being pursued by Bad Cop (Liam Neeson), on orders from Business, across the diverse Lego world. (If there's a Lego set for it, they go there.) Neeson also voices Good Cop — the split personality living on the back side of Bad Cop's head — and it's a rare delight to hear Neeson depart from the growl for cheery words of encouragement. Energetically plotted and lousy with jokes, The Lego Movie succeeds as much more than a marketing ploy, not least because it understands what makes Legos so appealing and embraces the anarchic way kids actually play with them: The instructions are there, but often the most fun you can have is when you break the rules and assemble something weird and new that only you could create — whether it's a spaceship built from mountains and alligators or a double-decker couch.