THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE
Wayne’s World
RELEASED OUT NOW! 2017 | U | 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray 3d/ Blu-ray/DVD/ VOD/download Director Chris Mckay Cast Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Rosario Dawson, Michael Cera, Ralph Fiennes
He’s arrogant, rude, has massive issues dealing with other people, and it’s debatable whether he’s actually the world’s greatest detective. Yep, it’s fair to say The Lego Batman Movie’s portrayal of the Caped Crusader is pretty spot on. Spinning off from Will Arnett’s memorable Dark Knight in the original Lego Movie, this trip to a plastic Gotham is an affectionate, comics-literate and very funny pastiche of DC Comics lore.
Plundering everything from Shark Repellent Bat Spray to some of the more obscure members of Gotham’s rogues’ gallery (mentions of Calendar Man and the Condiment King come with a knowing invite to check Google), it plays like a Robot Chicken sketch extended to feature length. As much as we love Bats, a billionaire playboy who plays vigilante while doing cosplay is inherently ridiculous, so fair play to DC for allowing one of their crown jewels to be so thoroughly lampooned – there’s plenty of material.
And that’s the movie’s biggest problem. The gag rate is so relentless that it feels like you’re caught up in a giant brainstorm, that every idea the production team ever thought up has been crowbarred in. As the (admittedly impressive) action scenes merge into more dramatic moments, you can’t escape the feeling of sensory overload – slowing things down for a breather occasionally would really have helped. Supposedly key themes about Batman’s desire for a family get lost piles of loosely connected Lego bricks, and it’s less the central characters you remember than classic one-liners from the special guest villains.
Extras As with the film, the Blu-ray release is packed, but it’s difficult to take everything in. Director Chris McKay teams up with numerous members of the production team for a commentary that plays like slightly shambolic, backslappy zoo-style breakfast radio. The most substantial featurette, meanwhile, is “One Brick At A Time” (16 minutes), which manages to squeeze an impressive amount about the production process into its brief
It’s like being caught in a giant brainstorm
running time. Five further sub-four-minute featurettes mix of real-world behind-the-scenes material, and in-character promo material: “Rebrick Contest Winners” (three minutes) is the highlight, showcasing the work of fans who have made seriously impressive stop-motion Lego Batman shorts.
There’s new material in four new shorts (eight minutes) – the best sees Batman co-opted into the Justice League Of Canada – while four intermittently funny deleted scenes (seven minutes) are too incomplete (a mix of final footage, animatics and stand-in voices) for anyone other than completionists. A Lego Ninjago short and trailers round out the disc. DVD viewers just get the “One Brick at a Time” featurette.
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