I love Legos, and I love Batman (when he’s not stealing movies away from Superman, that is). But I did not love The Lego Batman Movie. Where’s the math in that?

Basic Synopsis: Lego Batman must protect Gotham from a random assortment of villains that have teamed up under the leadership of Joker.

Brief Thoughts: With Batman being a major highlight in The Lego Movie, it was only a matter of time before he got a movie of his own. Unfortunately it doesn’t live up to the world that built this universe, brick by brick.

Matter of fact, it doesn’t even acknowledge this Lego world. We know it’s there because The Lego Batman Movie pulls villains from other franchises, like the Eye of Sauron and Voldemort, but that’s about as far as the callbacks go, if this can even be considered that. And it’s a real shame.

Pew Pew Pew!: When it comes to action noises, there’s little to no exclamations that beat “pew pew pew!” for me. Then Lego Batman came along. At first I thought it was just going to be a one time thing for one scene in the movie, but it turns out these words would be uttered every time a gun is shot.

This may seem like a minor complaint, and it is, if not considering what I just said about this movie not acknowledging the world it comes from. Was “pew pew pew” just supposed to be a little beat to laugh at, or is it supposed to remind us that this is all being played out in a child’s basement? I’m choosing the first option, because this movie isn’t creative enough to show us what’s behind the curtain.

Random Dig At Suicide Squad: One thing I really appreciated about this movie is that it got a major aspect of Joker right: his obsession with Batman. Joker wouldn’t be the villain he is without Batman, and this movie has a lot of fun with that. Suicide Squad should take note. It just got upstaged by a children’s film.

Now if only Lego Batman could’ve shown the same respect to the other villains instead of delving into this Kumbaya nonsense…

Randomly Awesome Quote: “Turn two-face to black and blue face.”

It’s no “Darkness / No parents,” but this musical number at the start of the movie doesn’t disappoint.

Double Feature: I chose to watch The Lego Batman Movie and the new Power Rangers together, thinking it would be a fun way to revisit my childhood. Big mistake. If you thought I had nothing but complaints for this movie, just wait til you see what I have to say about Power Rangers (click here).

Final Thoughts: In comparison to its predecessor, The Lego Batman Movie has little of the creativity and imagination that spurred The Lego Movie on. Instead it’s just a simplistic Batman story made with Legos.

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