What’s new at the cinema
Everything was awesome with the 2014 computeranimated 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.
Batman wallows in loneliness at Wayne Manor where loyal butler Alfred (Ralph Fiennes) expertly pinpoints the source of his master’s malaise.
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 and in the midst of this romantic fog, he inadvertently agrees to adopt plucky orphan Dick Grayson (Michael Cera).
The boy wonder infiltrates the Bat Cave, home to the Bat Train, Bat Submarine and a Bat Kayak, and picks out a spandex outfit so he can join his new father on nighttime escapades.
And Batman desperately needs a sidekick when The Joker unleashes every villain in the galaxy on Gotham.