LEGO Batman a fun takedown of the Dark Knight

Batman and Robin in The LEGO Batman Movie. Image courtesy Warner Bros.

The LEGO Batman Movie is worthy of appreciation solely for offering a humorous look at the eponymous vigilante, serving as a contrast to the űber-dour caricature inflicted upon cinemas for nearly three decades. The concept of Batman is silly, so having a resource that deflates the character's overwhelming seriousness – and far, far away from the Zack Snyder interpretation – is sort of a blessing in and of itself. That Will Arnett's vocal work adds an additional layer of sarcastic self-importance to Batman only adds to the fun the film offers for much of its run time. Arnett's take worked great in The Lego Movie, his Batman serving as one of the highlights of an overall terrific film. But as the lead of his own film things get a little squiffy. The joke about the super self-important Caped Crusader runs dry by the midway point and the lesson the character is meant to learn less interesting than the one offered by this film's predecessor. So while LEGO Batman Movie is one of the best films about Batman in years, it a less than stellar movie about toys that induce sharp pains in one's foot when stepped upon.

Admittedly, the main issue comes from the films’ senses of humor. The comedic brilliance from Lego Movie doesn't shift over to Batman's feature film due to the absence of writing/directing duo Chris Miller and Phil Lord. They are replaced by director Chris McKay – whose work includes Cartoon Network staples Robot Chicken and Moral Orel – and a bevy of writers who can't replicate the mashing of plot and jokes accomplished by Miller and Lord. LEGO Batman Movie is a little looser with its plot, the jokes more often coming as asides than feeding from the flow of the film. (the comedic vibe is quite similar to the aforementioned Robot Chicken.) Not to say the film isn’t funny – the talents of Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Jenny Slate, Doug Benson, Ellie Kemper and the rest of the cast keep things afloat – but the jokes are forced and come in a less organic fashion than its predecessor.

Fortunately LEGO Batman Movie retains the underlying inventiveness of Lego Movie that makes the latter so memorable. The master builder concept from the first film carries over, reinforcing the creative aspect of the product this film is trying to sell. The filmmakers also take advantage of the access to characters outside the DC universe, giving the filmmakers access to Batman's rogues gallery (Riddler, Two-Face, Joker, Harley Quinn and many others) along with random villains Voldemort, Godzilla, King Kong and the gremlins from Gremlins. It adds to the playfulness of the endeavor, along with contributing to the weird vibe the film taps into on a regular basis. Weird is good for a film about toy blocks, so the frequent non-sequiturs back to previous Batman iterations (including the shark repellent) add to the meta humor the film succeeds at hitting.

The filmmakers were smart enough to avoid retelling Batman's origin story and focus instead on his connections with new ward Dick Grayson (Michael Cera), new police commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) and faithful butler Alfred (the wonderful Ralph Fiennes). Batman's tragic beginnings are well-trod at this point, so skipping them offers more time to analyze who Batman is now . LEGO Batman Movie has one of the better explorations of what drives Bruce Wayne to be Batman, even if it is done in a somewhat blunt and very child-friendly way. It explores how Batman would respond without villains to fight (Batman ennui is the best ennui), how far over the line Batman goes to capture criminals (along with the consequences of doing so), and the co-dependent nature between the character and his enemies. One of the main subplots, Galifianakis' Joker feeling spurned by Batman's blasé attitude toward him, is the most interesting interpretation of their duality depicted in a major motion picture. Viewers learn more about the Batman character in this film than they do after more than two hours of him acting like an idiot and waiting to fight Superman. That is one of the benefits of parody, as removing any sense of verisimilitude takes the audience a step away from the cinematic universe; the only way to fill the gap is to explore the character to the very bottom of his soul.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG

Run time: 104 minutes

Genre: Animated
 

Ask Away

Target audience: Families, Batman fans and people who enjoyed The Lego Movie.

Take the whole family?: This film is generally tame and the humor is appropriate so even the younger kids won't have an issue with it.

Theater or Netflix?: A matinee screening would work just fine if you go see it.

What else is missing from this movie?: Mark Hamill. Zach Galifianakis does solid work as the Joker here, but it still pales in comparison to what Hamill did on Batman: The Animated Series and several other formats. Hamill could hit the light notes the film requires of its joker, but the moments of menace that Galifianakis can't quite hit would be filled perfectly by Hamill.

Watch this as well?: The Lego Movie is a helpful complement to this. This film also references a lot of the older stuff Batman has starred in, so including a few episodes from the Adam West era, the brilliant Batman: The Animated Series, and a couple of the Tim Burton/Chris Nolan reboots is handy as well.

Moana is better than your average Disney princess

Moana and Maui in a scene from Moana. Image courtesy Disney.

The most enjoyable part of the Moana screening didn't come while watching the film, but shortly thereafter while waiting in line to pick up a cellphone. In line were a few women talking excitedly about it, their excitement peaking with the fact that the eponymous female Disney character with royal roots has not one but two living parents. While on the outset it seems like an odd thing to consider, Disney has a historically nasty habit of using dead parents (or the illusion of that in the case of Tangled) as plot points to build female characters from. It's a cheap way of creating the ideal strong, female character, a figure that can overcome the worst loss and succeed with a slew of despites in her way. That Moana didn't resort to killing the lead character's parents is an appreciated change of pace for the folks who grew up frustrated by that pattern.

Better still, the filmmakers didn’t need to do it to prove their central figure's bona fides as a character. Moana, voiced by newcomer Auli'i Cravalho, is shown immediately as a courageous soul who embraces the dangers of the unknown. She’s drawn immediately to the tale her grandmother (Rachel House) tells about cocksure demigod Maui (voiced by the unfairly charming Dwayne Johnson) and is lured by the adventure the legend promises. Life is waiting for her at sea, albeit one conflicting with her status as her island's next queen, a role her father (Temeura Morrison) and mother (Nicole Scherzinger) push her toward through a catchy Lin-Manuel Miranda tune. The tension of the situation could be resolved through a sad song by Moana before the great adventure serving as the film's drawing point begins. But Moana doesn't take the easy route with its decision, instead having Moana see her value on the island and only leave as a means of saving her friends, showing the leadership she exhibits in one song without abandoning the promises she just made in it. The concept is a fairly complex one, and it reveals just a shade of the traits and portrayal, both in the writing and in Cravalho's performance, that make Moana such an interesting, deep character to pull from.

Her role underlines how much of Moana is devoted to women, whether it’s Moana (who pulls off most of the successful feats of daring as Maui watches), her mother, her grandmother, and the island Moana and Maui adventure off to resurrect to save the island. The film even pulls off a third act twist to realign the narrative to fit the concept and emphasize the film's feminine bent, switching up the prophecy at the film's heart to a nuanced resolution that fits the film's themes perfectly. This isn't exactly unknown territory for a film to take, but it remains nice to see Disney at least continue to broaden its characterization of its female characters that has taken the company from comatose damsels to clever and competent seafaring leaders.

Moana's thematic depth extends beyond female role changes to rip into trite narrative shortcuts. This is the kind of film that uses the concept of The Special – the one character destined to be Neo or Harry Potter or Superman – as a plot point and as a way of criticizing the concept at the same time with the idea of fate being limited by free will. In the filmmaker's eyes, a savior has to decide to be one even if the actual ocean itself anoints that person for the role. Moana has a habit of undercutting tropes – Johnson's Maui makes a few cracks about Disney princesses – but this one is the sharpest rebuke and the one that has the most resonance, or at least is taken most seriously by the filmmakers.

Moana is worthy of respect for its layers and intelligence, but it earns its keep through a rather fun plot that excels in its simplicity. There's nothing overly complicated about the hero's journey, and the filmmakers throw in the right level of levity, homages (among them a rather goofy one to Fury Road), Miranda songs and Dwayne Johnson to make the whole experience sing. Add that to some gorgeous animation and you have a pretty strong case for the best animated film of the year. At the least, it is good enough to please a fan base eager for Disney to catch up with the times.

Review: Four and a half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG

Run time: 113 minutes

Genre: Animation

Ask Away

Target audience: Families and people who want a Disney protagonist with two living parents.

Take the whole family?: One sequence is a little intimidating, but overall this should be acceptable for kids ages 5 and up.

Theater or Netflix?: Theater is cool for this one. I'm not entirely sold on the need for 3D though; the regular format was gorgeous as is.

What of the short film at the beginning?: It's OK. Called Inner Workings, the short features the internal struggles the protagonist's mind has with the rest of the body to figure out what's in the best interest of the human. There's enough humor from the awkwardness of the brain tugging along the heart, stomach and other organs to keep everything in line, although the final message is a little heavy-handed. The best of the recent batch of shorts remain 2012's brilliant Paperman.

Watch this as well?: Just about everything from Disney's recent run of good to greatness is worthwhile, but I'm going to step away from the Mouse and recommend another terrific animated film that rips holes into narrative tropes and has an infectious score to boot: The Lego Movie.