This film has one goal in mind (apart from the sheer merchandising factor, obviously); make it loud and clear that Batman should be fun. The live action films, the comics, the Arkham video games and such have all been going down the "DARKNESS!!! NO PARENTS!!!" route so far that this comes as a relief that this one goes "hey, you know there's all this ridiculous stuff that's still canon in Batman too, you can't change that". We effectively get a tribute to the entire history of the character here, where members of the Mutant gang from The Dark Knight Returns can be standing right next to Condiment King and Egghead, and the film actually lampshades this frequently mentioning how long he's been around in various forms. On top of that, so many of the recent Batman films have been about him going it alone that the storyline is all about the fact that he does need sidekicks like Robin and Batgirl around. He can't be the sole voice of law all the time, or there's no-one to question him when he does make a bad call. At a time when one of the early scenes of Batman v. Superman established that Robin was already dead (without actually showing us any of him, naturally), it's heartwarming seeing him here forming the proper Bat-Family, and actually calling it that.
However, the film is pretty blunt on this point, as the third act of this one is a bit clumsy in laying it on a little too thick. The later act of this one is very awkwardly structured, as it's like we've had a bunch of false starts to the main finale before it actually starts, just to labour this point on again. I know it's meant as a kids film, so there's a lot of trying to labour the point home, but thee is such a thing as overdoing it. Just as things should really be accelerating, the film just sort of starts going into a holding pattern for a bit. As such, it does make the climax feel a bit less satisfying than it could be, although it is still fun. Also, I'm not sure how well this is going to age compared to the LEGO movie as it's more about the position of Batman within the pop-culture at this particular moment, so that aspect may not be that relevant. After all, with recent efforts like Return of the Caped Crusaders, and the Brave and the Bold cartoon, there does seem to be an urge to go fun with Batman once more, so it could be this makes it keep up that momentum.
These are issues, but they aren't deal breakers, this is still a blast, from the sheer gag density, to the insane stuff that comes in the latter half that I won't even dream of spoiling. I love the fact that this keeps the same mad "kid in a toy box smooshing stuff together" vibe that worked so well in The Lego Movie, which more than justifies the way this has the whole history of Batman at once. So many of the cast are great in their roles; Will Arnett is still a superb comic take on the character, I do quite dig this version of Barbara Gordon as played by Rosario Dawson, and Zach Galifianakis makes for a far better Joker than Jared Leto... I realised as I typed that how little I was saying. There are plenty more great voice parts and cameos, but I am not going to spoil any of them, check them out yourself. Lego Batman is a must see, probably a "see twice" to be honest to get all the little side-gags and background details, just don't go in expecting something surprisingly transcendent like last time.,
No comments:
Post a Comment