What Makes Lego Batman The Most Faithful Batman

I'm a night stalking crime-fighting vigilante I don't feel anything emotionally except for rage everyone knows who Batman is but prior to 2017 the vast majority of DC comics bat verse was still waiting to be Faithfully translated to the Silver Screen then the Lego Batman movie happened it could have been a glorified toy commercial but in what came as a delightful surprise to pretty much everyone it turned out to be the ultimate cinematic Love Letter to The Dark Knight and one of the most faithful Batman adaptations ever I've seen you go through similar phases in 2016 and 2012 and 2008 and 2005 and 1997 1995 1992 and 1989 and before we take this topic apart Brick by Brick why not take a moment to subscribe to the nerdstogic channel by the early 1980s the general public mostly associated Batman with the campy 1966 Adam West TV show a darker grittier version of the character managed to fight his way onto the screens in the 1989 movie simply titled Batman directed by Tim Burton ever since then film audiences have been treated almost exclusively to increasingly dark serious and realistic takes on the Caped Crusader the Lego Batman who appeared in 2014's Lego Movie and who was modeled on the Batman from Burton's movie was a great satire of these black body armored Gravelly voiced movie Batman Emmett this is my boyfriend Batman I'm Batman his role in the original Lego movie was to be a romantic rival for the protagonist Emmett but along the way Batman was featured in some of the film's most memorable bits and became something of a breakout character if anybody has blackboards I need them okay I only work in black and sometimes very very dark gray still it wasn't obvious that he had a tale of his own worth telling much less one that demanded a spin off so when the Lego Batman movie was announced fans understandably suspected a cash grab it would be the feature directorial debut of Chris McKay who had worn a number of hats on The Lego Movie but was still greatly an unknown commodity to the pub public turns out McKay knew what he was doing from a World building perspective Lego Batman instantly realizes what is by far the most expansive version of the bat verse ever to make it onto the big screen sure it all doubles as commercials for Lego figures and playsets but everything happens in a way that supports the story and character Journeys the film only takes minutes to establish all of Gotham City Wayne Manor the bat cave the Batmobile the bat signal and a Commissioner Gordon who is used to turning it on every time he's in trouble it also immediately shows us Batman's Marquee super villains like the Joker The Riddler the penguin Catwoman and Two-Face this stands in sharp contrast to the more serious takes which tended to start with origin stories and then build and populate Batman's World piecemeal over the course of several films Lego Batman is as far from an origin story as you can get it just dives into a fully formed to bat first and even many of Batman's more obscure adversaries like crazy quilt eraser polka dot man mime and condiment King get to make appearances okay are you making some of those up nope they're all real probably worth the Google the film is full of fun Batman Easter eggs and just generally gushes with love for all things Batman given the hyper detailing the Lego Batman movie probably could have rested its case on Nostalgia alone but instead it also delivered what is among the most complete and heartfelt Batman stories ever in a movie the plot is pretty simple despite Batman being the celebrated hero of Gotham Bruce Wayne Spends His Life sad alone and trying not to think about how much he misses his family his life is so empty he can walk around Wayne Manor in a bathrobe and cowl it doesn't matter there's no one to hide his secret from but one night he accidentally adopts Plucky wide-eyed orphan Dick Grayson and the two team up to take on the Joker over the course of their Adventure Batman Begins to feel a fatherly Pride to his new Ward who of course becomes Robin meanwhile The Joker is hurt and outraged because Batman won't admit their rivalry is special you mean nothing to me so he gets himself sent to The Phantom Zone where he recruits monsters from other franchises like Sauron Lord Voldemort King Kong and a bunch of others to help him attack Gotham the scale of the threat forces Batman to confront his fears to win the fight he has to open himself up to being a part of and working with a new family that includes Robin Alfred and the new police commissioner Barbara Gordon why did you build this thing with only one suit because lastly checked I only had one butt but to save Gotham City from falling into an abyss he also has to team up with all of his villains which means fessing up to his special relationship with the joker Chris McKay was a lifelong Batman fan and it showed in every frame of the movie he crafted a heartfelt Ode to found family where the assembled bat first itself turned out to be the hero of the story and he did it while simultaneously respecting the mythology of The Lego Movie if Joker's bomb were to go off these plates would break apart plunging every Gotham citizen into the Eternal Abyss that smells like dirty underwear audiences loved it critics loved it and most importantly Batman fans loved it what are you doing punching Bane that was unnecessary the Lego Batman movie sounded like a stupid idea in the abstract but that actually turned out to be its greatest strength it meant it didn't have to worry about seeming goofy while we still have yet to see a live-action kid version of Robin the Lego Batman movie built its whole story around the Batman Robin relationship my name is Richard Grayson but all the kids at the orphanage call me dick well children can be cruel yeah and the inherently goofy nature of Lego Batman made it easy to hand wave off some of the problematic aspects of a billionaire using an orphan to perform dangerous superhero work we use code names mine could be Robin as in this small Midwestern frail Bird yeah and I already have a catchphrase tweet tweet on the street heart pass and when he's allowed into the bat cave his reaction is nothing short of wondrous and rapturous Delight Batman thrusts him into the field on a whim and he's hilariously great at it so we're never worried about Lego Robin it all works because the tone of the overall world is so silly the aesthetic of the Lego characters also make it so easy to poke light at some of the comic books arguably dated wardrobe choices like Robin's green underwear and bare legs pants are just a little tight I don't know if I could throw a kick or jump in them I got an idea it's better it wouldn't have worked in live action but here it serves as an a knowing Wing to the camera and sets up Batman for a joke I can only look you in the eyes right now that kind of thing freed viewers up to focus on the story of two lonely orphans who become each other's found family without getting bogged down in the kinds of troublesome real world details that had frustrated previous attempts another element of the Batman Universe that Lego Batman was able to put back at the center of the storytelling was family specifically the bat family which is the name fans used to describe the core characters in Batman's life but Lego Batman took the idea of the bat family to its furthest extreme and by the time the movie is over the whole city is effectively Batman's family Bruce opens himself up to being part of a family again and he gains his whole world most fitting of all is that Bruce's new family forms around Batman unlike the more serious tone takes being The Dark Knight isn't a curse to bear in this universe in The Lego Movie being Batman is a good thing and it saves Bruce's life in multiple senses no wonder Batman fans loved it and it's opening minutes the movie establishes that Lego Batman remembers the climaxes of Batman 89 and Nolan's Dark Knight what about that time with the two boats this is better than the two boats at the same time elements of the Adam West show like Egghead and chief O'Hara and all those wacky silver aged comic book villains are also a part of his world and the Lego Batman movie is faithful to all of those experiences so what do you think did you like The Lego Batman movie and how do you think it stacked up against other cinematic takes on Batman let us know down in the comments below and if you enjoyed the video check out the rest of the channel [Music] thank you

Channel: Nerdstalgic

Views: 1,644,638

Keywords: Batman, Lego Batman, Lego Batman Movie, Lego Movie, Lego Movie Spinoff, Nerdstalgic, Lego Movie 2 The Second Part, Lego Movie Everything is Awesome, Lego Movie Universe, Batman Animated, Batman Will Arnett, Batman Legos, Batman Movies, Batman Comics, Batman DC Comics, Batman Justice League, Batman Villains, Batman Rogues Gallery, DC Comics, DCEU, DCU, The Justice League, The Flash, The Flash Trailer, The Flash Batman, The Flash Michael Keaton, New Rockstars, Screen Crush, IGN

Id: v0r806en_Z4

Length: 8min 22sec (502 seconds)

Published: Wed May 10 2023