{"id":5165,"date":"2017-02-15T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T16:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=5165"},"modified":"2017-02-14T18:10:17","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T02:10:17","slug":"review-lego-batman-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/review-lego-batman-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: \u201cThe Lego Batman Movie\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
By: Ashton Newton\r\nEntertainment Editor<\/pre>\n
The original \u201cLego Movie\u201d (2014) introduced a different kind of Batman. Batman was funny, poked fun at previous Batman adaptations and knew how to kick some butt. \u201cThe Lego Batman Movie\u201d brings that concept back but this time on a much larger scale. <\/span><\/p>\n
Will Arnett\u2019s overly confident, sometimes childish and emotionally damaged Batman is hilarious from the very beginning. He\u2019s sympathetic, struggling with loneliness and a major fear of attachment, but he\u2019s also constantly making jokes. <\/span><\/p>\n
Batman himself is a very well-rounded character. In \u201cThe Lego Movie\u201d, Batman\u2019s negative qualities are shown without much of the positive, but \u201cLego Batman\u201d makes a point to highlight both. <\/span><\/p>\n
The supporting cast is great as well. Michael Cera\u2019s Robin is adorable and loveable and Zach Galifianakis gives a humorous performance as the Joker, albeit not the most sinister Joker. All the voice acting is top notch. Each actor brings their unique style to these characters, creating something entirely new out of a well known character. <\/span><\/p>\n
The all-star cast doesn\u2019t stop there; Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill reprise their roles as Superman and Green Lantern, Billy Dee Williams voices Two-Face and Conan O\u2019Brien voices The Riddler. The incredible cast is not utilized very well though, with many of the supporting characters only having one or two lines in the whole film. Billy Dee Williams, for example, has a lot of publicity for playing Two Face, yet he only says 10 words throughout the entire film. <\/span><\/p>\n
At its core, \u201cThe Lego Batman Movie\u201d is about family. The story of Bruce Wayne\u2019s parents being murdered is common knowledge among superhero fans, but this film takes it one step further by highlighting Batman\u2019s emotional struggles with attachment. While \u201cThe Lego Movie\u2019s\u201d big moral is creativity, \u201cLego Batman\u201d puts a huge focus on teamwork.<\/span><\/p>\n
One of the best parts of the universe that \u201cThe Lego Movie\u201d created was the merging of different film franchises, and \u201cLego Batman\u201d does the same thing. Film\u2019s worst villains, such as Voldemort, Sauron, King Kong and Daleks challenge Batman while reminding viewers that the film is still set in a massive universe. <\/span><\/p>\n
The film also did a great job of parodying Batman and DC movies. Multiple jabs were thrown at \u201cSuicide Squad\u201d and \u201cBatman v Superman.\u201d There are throwbacks to multiple different \u201cBatman\u201d films as well, poking fun at some of the ridiculousness of them. <\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cThe Lego Batman Movie\u201d is not only hilarious throughout, but it has every aspect of a good Batman film. There is fantastic character development for Batman and Robin throughout. I found myself caring more about these Lego characters than I did in either the \u201cDark Knight\u201d franchise or \u201cBatman v Superman.\u201d The team dynamic and growth is extremely rewarding. <\/span><\/p>\n
From start to finish, \u201cThe Lego Batman Movie\u201d is engaging, accessible for any audience and absolutely hilarious. With well written jokes and strong characters, \u201cLego Batman\u201d is not only one of the funniest films so far this year, but also one of the best Batman films there has ever been. <\/span><\/p>\n
Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
4\/4<\/span><\/p>\n
+ Team dynamic<\/span><\/p>\n
+ Excellent voice acting<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By: Ashton Newton Entertainment Editor The original \u201cLego Movie\u201d (2014) introduced a different kind of Batman. Batman was funny, poked fun at previous Batman adaptations and knew how to kick some butt. \u201cThe Lego Batman Movie\u201d brings that concept back but this time on a much larger scale. Will Arnett\u2019s overly confident, sometimes childish and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":937,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/937"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}