Everyone wants to be Batman, even the Lego version.

Well in the middle of Oscar Bait season, it’s actually nice to be writing about a film which isn’t out for shiny shiny. Well, I say that, it’s really a giant marketing tool for both Lego and Batman. It’s been more than a little slutty in terms of putting itself out there with large tie-ins with advertising Sky Broadband. Generally when you see a lot of something, you expect failure.

After all, when the Lego Movie first arrived on the scene, you wouldn’t expect it to work. In fact you’d be just cynical about it being about it even being remotely entertaining, rather than just brain washing everyone to buy Lego. But you know what? It did. It did it brilliantly. The Lego Movie had a great story with a wonderful twist, fantastic characters with excellent voice acting and just looked so much like the actual products. I’d happily sit down and watch it over and over again. Even if it’s just to sing the insidious “Everything is Awesome.” Don’t judge me….

One of the highlights of the Lego Movie was Batman. Yes, you read that right, Batman. Voiced by Will Arnett, Batman stole the show at times by showing everyone how awesome he is, and that everything in his life is black, or dark grey.

But again, it’s a risk to bring just that chracter to his own film. After all, the Minions went solo away fro Gru (Despicable Me) to their own Minions movie, and the film ended up being so poor, so much of a drop in quality, that we’ll pretty much forget now that it ever existed. Warner Bros, whose own DC Universe project is not exactly having a wonderful time of it so far, need a hit. The best Batman film last year was in fact the animated “Return of the Caped Crusader” with Adam West and Burt Ward. It pretty much destroyed Batman Vs Superman in terms of entertainment with a far smaller budget.

This is what happens when you don’t have enough protein in your diet. Fact.

So would Lego Batman live up to the Lego Movie and not give Warner Bros another stinker?

From the opening few seconds, you instantly want to say yes. Batman narrates over the credits, sounding just awesome thanks to Will Arnett coming back, and it’s really funny. Not only that, we go hot into action as The Joker (voiced by Zach Galifianakis) takes over a plane and tries to destroy Lego Gotham City with a bomb. The Joker’s being aided by most of the villains that Batman has collected over the years.

But the filmmakers can’t even help themselves in terms of taking the complete p*ss out of the Batman history. For example, a Tom Hardy type voice is behind Bane. The mockery continues throughout the film at various points and none of it is out of place. It’s astonishing.

Batman comes into save the day while singing a heavy metal song of which we watch the opening credits over. The level of action on screen is fantastic, and in essence destroys any hope of holding out against the fun. But while the film is very funny, at times it does actually attempt to tell a story about loneliness, relationships (or just ships) and by working as a team can be much better than trying to do everything alone. That’s as far as I really want to delve into the film actually without spoiling anything more. Trust me, when you see it, it’s all the more sweeter to discover.

Ok, slight hint; They do bring in characters from other franchises. It’s fantastic. The supporting cast are also fantastic, and …. just wait till gun / laser fights start and the noises you hear…. That’s all I want to say….I’m struggling to contain myself here!

So would I recommend this film to anyone? Oh dear god yes! Everything is still awesome!

Without a doubt this is the first film of the year which really entertained me from start to finish (Far above La La Land, I’m not ashamed to say), while actually pointing out a lot of the flaws behind everything about Batman. It allowed for character development while actually being funny as hell. All while  being rated U – Universal, suitable for all. If this doesn’t get any Oscar nods next year for just being wonderful while also being a long commercial for Lego and Batman, I actually will be annoyed. Lightening doesn’t hit twice normally. With this, it really did. Just can’t recommend this film enough.