Batman is back, but this time he is the saviour of Gotham City, in the Lego World. In The Lego Batman movie, the world’s greatest detective is pitted against the worst villains on the planet, led by arch rival Joker and has to save Gotham while trying to pass on as Bruce Wayne, train a youngster as his sidekick, deal with Alfred’s snooping and Commissioner Gordon’s retirement.

Just like The Lego Movie (2014), everything is awesome here, and it also mocks Batman’s previous appearances in films and makes fun of some of the actors who donned the costume.

Batman (Will Arnett) is shown spending his days as Bruce Wayne and his nights as Batman but after successfully thwarting another of Joker’s plans, he returns home as a lonely man. He has no one to eat with, talk to and make him realise he is part of a family — except Alfred. Add insult to injury, the Clown Prince of Crime ‘Joker’ decides to surrender and Batman smells something fishy.

At first, he works alone to save Gotham but when he is unable to do it alone, he gets help from friends. Will the superheroes be able to save Gotham? Will Joker be able to defeat Batsy one last time? Watch out the flick to know more.

The selection of voice over artists is perfect — Will Arnett delivers the best Batman quotes in recent years. Dick Grayson (Michael Cera), Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) and Ralph Fiennes (Alfred) excel at their VOs but the man with the best character turns out to be Joker, brilliantly voiced by Zach Galifianakis. He is at his conniving best, even when he is sad that Batman doesn’t consider his enemy-ship important and that leads him to surrender.

Director Chris McKay must be commended for coming up with a wonderful flick for kids that make them realise the importance of teamwork as well as maturity. Batman is shown to be a kid who has grown into a man, an equation that changes with the passage of time.

The dialogues are so funny that people with know-how of Superhero movies will instantly fall in love with them. The 3D makes the already entertaining film a must watch and every kid who has been fascinated by Lego will be thrilled to find his favourite superhero and favourite pastime merged together. Go Batman!

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 25th, 2017