The other day I saw The Lego Batman Movie with a few friends. I’d seen The Lego Movie back in 2014 and liked it, but wasn’t sure how I would feel about Lego Batman since I’m not the biggest fan of superhero movies. I was pleasantly surprised by not only the plot of the movie, but the writing and dialogue as well.
Aside from Batman having to deal with The Joker and literally every single other villain from the Batman universe, the side conflict of the film is that Batman adopts a little boy from the local orphanage named Dick Grayson, who in the comics originally became Batman’s Robin. Robin (Dick), when first going home with Batman does not know that Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same person, and thus assumes that he will have 2 dads. The nature of his realization is in no way a joke, but actually a genuine and optimistic discovery. I greatly appreciated this, especially since it is a movie meant for kids and is a great way to go about normalizing gay relationships. I think this is one of the first times in awhile that I can recall a piece of popular media not portraying gay relationships in a joking manner.
Another surprise to me was the way that the movie went about Batman’s past trauma of losing his parents and how its affected him as an adult. The Joker wants Batman to admit that he is his greatest enemy, but Batman flat out says that he ‘doesn’t do relationships.’ Batman spends the majority of the movie being aloof from others and doesn’t like to have intimacy or closeness with anyone, not even Alfred to some degree. One of the other main characters is Barbara, the daughter of Commissioner Gordon, who becomes the new police commissioner after Gordon announces his retirement. She encourages Batman to work side by side with her to help keep Gotham safe, but Batman repeatedly declines, stating that he works alone. Alfred at one point says that Batman’s greatest fear is being apart of a family again. These themes are arguably mature to be in a kid’s movie but nonetheless are portrayed well.
In the end, Alfred, Barbara and Robin become Batman’s new family. He learns that his actions do affect others and sometimes, it can be in a negative way. The movie stresses the theme of ‘friends are family’ and even ends the film with a song about that. Throughout the course of the film, Batman learns how to be vulnerable and accept help from others. Because after all, it takes a village – not a Batman*.
*a quote from Barbara during her initial speech
I highly recommend this movie for those interested in Batman and in general, good movies. The animation of course is beautiful, and the Lego style never fails to be a nice touch. I hope to see more movies that are targeted towards kids have such appropriate writing and great ways on how to approach sensitive topics. A 10/10 from me.