Skip to footer

'The LEGO Batman Movie' is exhilarating and exhausting

( PG ) ( Monitor Movie Guide )

At its best, 'Batman' has the same whiplash wit and inspired freneticism as 'The LEGO Movie,' though it's not quite as good.

|
Warner Bros. Pictures/AP
Batman, voiced by Will Arnett, stars in a scene from 'The LEGO Batman Movie.'
  • By Peter Rainer Film critic

When “The LEGO Movie” screened for critics a couple of years ago, I initially passed on it, concluding that an animated kiddie movie featuring LEGOs was not exactly in my (or your) wheelhouse. But the word on it was so good that I quickly caught up with it. Lo and behold, it was one of the sharpest and funniest movies of 2014. Honest!

The sequel of sorts, “The LEGO Batman Movie,” directed by Chris McKay, with the assist of a gaggle of screenwriters and the animation company Animal Logic, is not quite as good, but at its best, it has the same whiplash wit and inspired freneticism.

The plot has something to do with the Caped Crusader (voiced again by Will Arnett) and his heroic ditherings with the likes of Robin (Michael Cera); his pathologically loyal butler, Alfred (Ralph Fiennes); Gotham City’s new commissioner (Rosario Dawson); and the Joker (Zach Galifianakis).

The film’s only real drawback, shared by its predecessor, is that it is simply too inventive. There must be more jokes and gags and throwaways per second than in 20 other comedies put together. It’s both exhilarating and exhausting. Grade: B+ (Rated PG for rude humor and some action.)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to 'The LEGO Batman Movie' is exhilarating and exhausting
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2017/0210/The-LEGO-Batman-Movie-is-exhilarating-and-exhausting
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe