Tyler Wilson: 'Lego Batman' a blast for all ages

After an uneven finale to Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy and the horrendous one-two punch of last year’s “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Suicide Squad,” DC’s most consistent superhero performer looked to be spiraling back to cinematic purgatory (it was there once before after 1997’s rubber nipple-laden “Batman & Robin”).

“The Lego Batman Movie” brings the caped crusader back to elite status. It’s everything a Batman fan, young or old, could want from a big screen experience. It lampoons the goofiest aspects of the Dark Knight mythology while also staying true to what makes the character resonate with generations of audiences.

The Batman of “The Lego Batman Movie” is the same cocksure loner we met as a supporting character in 2014’s “The Lego Movie.” Will Arnett returns to voice Batman and again mines huge laughs out of making the hero’s ego be his greatest adversary.

Much like “The Lego Movie,” the spinoff runs fast with an onslaught of visual gags and action set pieces. “Lego Batman” opens with a manic battle featuring practically every notable Gotham City baddie from almost 80 years of source material. Amidst all the mayhem, The Joker (Zach Galifianakis, refreshingly understated) realizes Batman doesn’t seem to care about their decades-long rivalry as much as he does.

Joker’s heartbreak is the first clever audible from what we typically expect from these big screen comic throwdowns. His subsequent scheme is as big and ridiculous as it gets, but his emotional anguish adds character-focused stakes to the numerous action beats that follow.

The middle act slows down to show us the lonely, solitary life of Batman (the movie is smart to maintain the hero’s alter ego, Bruce Wayne, as a mere façade of his true self). He microwaves lobster. Alone. Eats the lobster. Alone. And he stares longingly at portraits of his dead parents, terrified of feeling anything for anybody new in his life.

It’s the heavy, depressive Batman we know from previous incarnations, told with an endless barrage of visual gags and outright mockery. The building-brick animation style certainly supplements the humor, but like its 2014 predecessor, “Lego Batman” has some nuanced and effective dramatic elements working within its colorful toy advertising.

The movie also provides the first successful cinematic depiction of Batman’s sidekick, Robin, aka orphaned Dick Grayson. He’s played with pluck and innocence by Arnett’s “Arrested Development” co-star, Michael Cera, and between his zestful vocals and the character’s adorable design, Robin proves to be an engaging foil to Batman’s egomaniacal brooding.

Rosario Dawson voices Barbara Gordon, the newly promoted police commissioner who questions the effectiveness of a masked vigilante — If Batman is so great, why is the Gotham City still riddled with crime? Her arc, and eventual shift into the Bat-ally, also harnesses the best aspects of the longtime comic book character, even scoffing at the film’s only reference to the name Bat-“girl.”

Ralph Fiennes is also terrific as Batman’s long-suffering butler, Alfred, while several familiar comedians delight in bit parts of the Batman rogues’ gallery. Avoid the Internet and let the film surprise you with all sorts of fun cameos.

Make no mistake, the ultimate goal of “The Lego Batman Movie” is to sell a ton of Legos, and the film’s climax works as both a kinetic big screen spectacle AND an extended commercial for the “Lego Dimensions” video game franchise. Still, as Disney and Pixar have proven time and time again, the makers of “The Lego Batman Movie” (director Chris McKay of “Robot Chicken” fame and several credited screenwriters) know that a quality story with realized, three-dimensional characters are still the best ways to reach those financial goals.

Dark Knight fans old and new will find something to love in “The Lego Batman Movie,” including several nods to the ’60s-television show. There are so many visual references it’s almost exhausting.

The gags would be enough, but “Lego Batman” also provides a great story to an excellent representation of the character. Of all the Batman movies, only Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” from 2008 stands above it.

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Tyler Wilson can be reached at [email protected].