(PHOTO PROVIDED VIA GOOGLE)
(WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)
STARRING:
Will Arnett - Batman/Bruce Wayne
Michael Cera - Robin/Dick Grayson
Rosario Dawson - Batgirl/ Barbara Gordon
Ralph Fiennes - Alfred Pennyworth
Zach Galifianakis - The Joker
I just want to start this off by saying that as a loyal life long Batman fan, this movie in no way represents the character of Batman in an accurate portrayal by any means.
Okay now that I got the negative out of the way, I will say that I did enjoy this movie when I recently took my daughter to see it. You may ask yourself: "Why would he start off with such a negative comment about the film and then say I enjoyed it?" The answer is easy. For one, I understand that the film was not meant to be taken seriously as any sort of installment to the Batman film lore. This film is purely made with the younger audience in mind and was meant to be a lot of fun. The movie was exactly that. In some ways, I feel that the filmmakers made fun of the Batman character but not in a malicious or negative way. Look at the tag line on the movie poster above, "Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman." I love the line, Batman has always been a super confident character who could back it up in a big way. That tag line says it all in my opinion and it's hilarious.
When we have serious and dark superhero movies out there such as Batman v Superman, it's nice to have an alternative out there that I could take my daughter to enjoy. I would never let her see Batman v Superman or Man of Steel for that matter, definitely not Suicide Squad. These movies cater to a much older audience. The fact that Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment put out something like this for a younger audience only made me a bigger fan of what they release in general.
I also enjoyed how they brought in other characters from other film franchises as well. My reaction to seeing gremlins in this movie was an exciting surprise and added a huge sense of nostalgia for myself as Gremlins was one of my favorite films back the 80's.
I also liked how they mixed in the Harry Potter universe and we got to see two Ralph Fiennes characters on screen, one of course being Alfred Pennyworth and the other being Harry Potter's Voldemort (voiced by the great Eddie Izzard). Plus we finally get to see Billy Dee Williams as Two Face (One of the many things the Batman '89 franchise dropped the ball with).
The Lego Batman Movie gets 3 out of 5 stars. My daughter loved it and I had fun watching it. Just because it has the name Batman in it is the reason I will be tougher on it. But I have a sense of humor and I knew what this movie would be going into it. All of the actors did a great job voicing their rolls. The only one that truly stands out though is Will Arnett. He did a great job. However I will never say that he is the true voice of Batman, that title is still held by Kevin Conroy. I thought I would be more annoyed with the Robin character, but it worked for this movie. I would recommend any parent take their child to see this movie.
