Lego Batman - with pictures!

Lego Batman is everything you could want from a Batman movie, plus a few other movies.  Following closely on the success of The Lego Movie (who would have seen that coming?), Lego Batman tells the story of brick-ified Batman learning to move past his painful experiences and let people get past his cape and cowl again, all while kicking butt and laying down some sick tracks.

This was a great movie for families, though I think parents will probably enjoy it more.  There are a lot of references and jokes aimed at the older audiences, but everything stays child-friendly in terms of language, violence, and message.

For my part, I enjoyed the continued characterization of Batman as a self-centered narcissist, since it gave room for the character to grow and change, unlike the Batman I grew up with.  Plus, you get to have super mature moments like this one:

Batman is a super mature superhero, really.

Lego Robin/Dick Grayson was totally adorable, too.  I mean, look at this face!

I dare you to say no to this face.

Of course, adorableness is not just limited to orphan sidekicks.  Even The Joker, a self-actualized super-villain (think Doctor Phil in clown makeup), gets to look vulnerable and cute for the camera.  

I mean, you shouldn't make the clown cry, right?

The Joker isn't the only villain threatening Gotham City.  Every villain Batman ever faced (including obscure c-listers), and villains from other franchises come in to get a piece of the action.  It's like The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny but without Mister Rogers coming out the victor.  However over-the-top the action gets, the movie doesn't lose its light-hearted tone, and there are plenty of jokes and visual gags for audiences.

As far as weaknesses go, there is so much going on in this movie that at times it feels overwhelming.  The action scenes are very, very active and it's easy to miss stuff.  There's also the odd inclusion of live-action video in the movie - as in clips of Jerry Maguire directly imported into the movie instead of being converted to Lego minfigs.  It's a little jarring, and feels kind of lazy compared to all the other complex stuff they did in this movie.

I would love to go see this movie again, as there were a lot of jokes and visual gags I'm sure I missed, but that's what home-video releases are for.  If you're trying to decide what to go see this weekend, I highly recommend Lego Batman.