Sunderland Echo

Batman’s Lego-cy is taken to pieces in fun trip to Gotham

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THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (U, 104 mins) Everything was awesome with the 2014 computer-animated comedy The LEGO Movie, which cleverly brought together DC Comics superheroe­s in a world of coloured building bricks.

Humour was pitched perfectly between the young and the young-at-heart, and a knowing script mined humour from the physical limitation­s of LEGO without dinting the brand’s enduring appeal.

This polished spin-off, directed by Chris McKay, comes close to capturing the magic of the original.

The beginning is a very good place to start with The LEGO Batman Movie because the opening five minutes of credits and droll voiceover are sheer perfection.

“All important movies start with a black screen,” growls Batman (voiced by Will Arnett), providing a hilarious running commentary of the production companies responsibl­e for his film.

Sly digs at previous incarnatio­ns of the Caped Crusader on the big and small screen up the comic ante, as the titular vigilante panders to his overinflat­ed ego.

“Remember kids, if you want to be like Batman, take care of your abs!” he advises.

It’s genuinely one of the finest animated opening salvos since the wizards at Pixar had us sobbing into our handkerchi­efs with Up.

The rest of McKay’s picture is a delight but doesn’t scale the same dizzy heights of razor-sharp hilarity.

Batman wallows in loneliness at Wayne Manor where loyal butler Alfred (Ralph Fiennes) expertly pinpoints the source of his master’s malaise.

“Your greatest fear is being part of a family again.”

Soon after, Commission­er James Gordon (Hector Elizondo) hands over control to his daughter, Barbara (Rosario Dawson), who calls into question the effectiven­ess of Batman when all of his nemeses including the Joker (Zach Galifianak­is) and Harley Quinn (Jenny Slate) remain at large.

Despite the stinging criticism, Batman is smitten - cue strains of Cutting Crew’s 1986 ballad (I Just) Died In Your Arms - and in the midst of this romantic fog, he inadverten­tly agrees to adopt plucky orphan Dick Grayson (Michael Cera).

The boy wonder infiltrate­s the Batcave, home to the Battrain, Batsubmari­ne and a Batkayak, and picks out a spandex outfit so he can join his new father on night-time escapades.

And Batman desperatel­y needs a sidekick when the Joker unleashes every villain in the galaxy on Gotham including the Daleks, which Batman casually dismisses as “British robots”.

The LEGO Batman Movie induces whoops of glee as familiar characters poke fun at their mythologie­s.

“We’re going to punch these guys so hard, words are going to spontaneou­sly materialis­e out of thin air,” confirms Batman as a familiar blitzkrieg of “KAPOWs” and “BLAMs” fill the screen during one epic showdown.

Arnett’s hysterical vocal performanc­e is heightened by a gushing bromance with Galifianak­is’ giggling maniac.

Set pieces are animated and edited with boundless energy, whetting appetites for future forays into the LEGO universe.

 ??  ?? The Caped Crusader is the star of the show in this Lego Movie followup.
The Caped Crusader is the star of the show in this Lego Movie followup.

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