Title: The Lego Batman Movie

Director: Chris McKenna

Voice Cast: Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes

Genre: 3D computer animated action comedy

The spin-off to the 2014 film ‘The Lego Movie’ chooses DC Comics’ most popular superhero as protagonist: Batman. Bruce Wayne, in Legoland, will embark on a personal journey to acknowledge the importance of relationships with adopted children, platonic lovers, as well as long-time friends and enemies.

The script of ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ was written by Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern and John Whittington, and harps upon the importance of teamwork and friendship, as the hero in disguise saves Gotham City one more time from a hostile takeover set carried out by his legendary opponent: The Joker.

The entire plot has some amusing moments of mockery towards the history of film (especially romantic comedies such as ‘Jerry Maguire’), and teases the glorification of the comic book heroes that have inundated movie theaters in the past few years. There is an amorous tribute to the character of Batman, especially when the Lego-Alfred goes down memory lane reminding Mr Wayne of his previous identity crises, listing the years that refer to all the previous Batman movies.

The A-list actors, who are part of the voice cast, overplay their brick alter egos, throughout the entire erratic and fatiguingly goofy-looney adventure. Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson and Ralph Fiennes, parodically animate the Lego characters, further helping the sales of the popular children’s game.

Technical: B

Acting: C+

Story: C-

Overall: C+

Written by: Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

By Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi, is a film critic, culture and foreign affairs reporter, screenwriter, film-maker and visual artist. She studied in a British school in Milan, graduated in Political Sciences, got her Masters in screenwriting and film production and studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York and Los Angeles. Chiara’s “Material Puns” use wordplay to weld the title of the painting with the materials placed on canvas, through an ironic reinterpretation of Pop-Art, Dadaism and Ready Made. She exhibited her artwork in Milan, Rome, Venice, London, Oxford, Paris and Manhattan. Chiara works as a reporter for online, print, radio and television and also as a film festival PR/publicist. As a bi-lingual journalist (English and Italian), who is also fluent in French and Spanish, she is a member of the Foreign Press Association in New York, the Women Film Critics Circle in New York, the Italian Association of Journalists in Milan and the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean. Chiara is also a Professor of Phenomenology of Contemporary Arts at IED University in Milan.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *