The LEGO Batman Movie (2017) - SPOILER-FREE Review

Editor’s Note: this is an old, unformatted, unedited review. The author’s opinion might not match the original thoughts written in this article.

Directed by: Chris McKay

Starring: Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes

Runtime: 90 min

After the huge success of The LEGO Movie, something around that same type of film definitely needed to come out. Well, Chris McKay just picked up the character responsible for a big part of that success and gave it a movie: The LEGO Batman Movie.

Batman(WillArnett) keeps saving Gotham from The Joker (Zach Galifianakis), but this time he's going to need all the help he can get. However, we know him for being a hero that works alone ...

Batman is definitely one of my favorite superheroes and every time I see him on screen, I simply can't get enough of his awesome personality and motivations that drive him ... LEGO or not, he's freaking Batman! So, does The LEGO Batman Movie reaches the level of its predecessor? Well, in some way yes, it's for sure what we would expect from it, but The LEGO Movie it's still superior to me.

The comedy and sense of humor are something "out-of-this-world" hilarious. I laughed so much (and even dropped a tear or two) during the whole runtime, which gives this film such an absurd replay value that I already see it as a classic of animation. Will Arnett is one of the best on-screen Batman ever, his voice is just perfectly suited for the Gotham's vigilante. The voices from the rest of the cast are also really great, with a special shout-out to Zach Galifianakis that gives a surprisingly amazing performance for The Joker.

The story goes from pure comedy and satire to some emotional bits along the way and it's mostly well-balanced. The visuals follow the same unbelievable quality that we've seen in the previous film and the first act is probably one of the most entertaining first acts of all-time ... Not kidding, it's a serious contender for the best initial 30-min of an animation (and maybe even live-action) movie ever.

I really enjoyed this film, but it isn't perfect. The super fast pacing abruptly drops after that exhilarating first act and it briefly becomes slow and a bit boring and dull. In addition to this, the jokes are so many and so quick that it's impossible to follow and understand them all ... Sometimes, I'm still laughing from the last joke and they're already making another, other times they simply don't make sense. Honestly, I think that there's a little bit of too much comedy or maybe it's just the balance of the time between jokes that's sometimes off.

All in all, The LEGO Batman Movie is a blast! Its incredible comedy and sense of humor elevate the movie to a super entertaining satire on superheroes and DC Comics has a lot to make fun at (to be clear, I'm not hating ... they just have a lot of material to through jokes at). Will Arnett has a perfect Batman's voice, the story is funny yet emotional, the visuals are amazing and the first act is one of the most entertaining 30-min ... ever in the cinema's history! An abrupt drop in its pacing midway through the film and a time between jokes off-balanced bring the movie down, but its replay value is still huge!