Review: The LEGO Batman Movie

Runtime: 1hr, 44min
Director: Chris McKay
Release Date: 10th February 2017
Rating: U (UK), PG (USA)

What at first glance appeared to me a money-grabbing spin-off of 2014's The LEGO Movie, riding the waves of last years' Batman vs Superman and Suicide Squad adult flicks, I do not joke when I say this movie gave me faith in kids movies again.

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When I say that The LEGO Batman Movie is incredible, I am not being ironic; I wholeheartedly believe this movie is near-perfect. This movie should set an example as to how kids' movies should be made, unlike the recently-released Sing, which is the perfect example of how animated films for children can be churned out and swallowed up by an unsuspecting audience. 

Of course, partial enjoyment of this movie comes down to callbacks and references of the series of Batman films that have come before this, and while these throwbacks are not subtle, they also don't impose on the storyline that The LEGO Batman Movie provides; equating to an excellent balance. 

I was laughing throughout the majority of this film - the humour is designed for both adults and children; the perfect family movie, rather than restricting to just one generation. The performance of Batman by Will Arnett is the best thing he's ever done; Robin (Michael Cera) is spot on, and the Joker (Zach Galifiankis) is wonderful to watch on-screen.

Animation of the LEGO characters is top notch; I often didn't notice I was watching a LEGO-themed film and only saw the actual characters being portrayed in front of me. The film was, at times, a pleasure to watch in all its' animated action glory, and there was no ambiguity as to who the characters were meant to represent, despite being in their 'LEGO forms'.

My only criticisms are that the Phantom Zone included in the film is completely inaccurate to its previous portrayals, and that Harley Quinn's (Jenny Slate) voice doesn't sound very Harley-esque at all. I literally can't think of anything else worth complaining about.

Most amazing of all, the references to past Batman movies and comics add to the plot in such a wonderful way - inclusion of the Condiment King (rarely-heard-of, useless DC comic book villain), Batman poking fun at Suicide Squad, and even Bane (Doug Benson) having his accurate voice from The Dark Knight Rises! The film is not afraid to laugh at itself, and this makes the viewer laugh with it more.

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Because LEGO have so many different franchises at their disposal, it means that they also manage to include characters from multiple different sources, such as Lord Voldemort, The Daleks and even Godzilla. Including these characters made for an oddly-amusing twist.

This movie is wonderful - it's the highest rating I've given to a movie so far and with good reason. For those of you doubting giving up your movie-watching time to a kids movie, I urge you to give The LEGO Batman Movie a chance and go and see it - you won't be disappointed.

9.5/10

Review: Sing

Runtime: 1hr 48min
Director: Christophe Lourdelet & Garth Jennings
Release Date: 27th January 2017
Rating: U (UK), PG (USA)

From the pure standpoint that this movie is designed for children, Sing absolutely serves its purpose; however adult viewing sees a cliché, cringeworthy picture that leaves much to be desired. 

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A clear cash-grab, with its release sandwiched between Moana and LEGO Batman (both awesome!), I deemed Sing very dull and obvious. The plots' reality-TV/talent show model didn't overly appeal to me, and I feel if it weren't for the characters being members of the animal kingdom, it wouldn't appeal to many others either; an unoriginal decision for an animated kids' movie.

Scraping together some sort of storyline, Sing trails Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey), a theatre-owning koala, whose attempts at staging a city-wide singing competition in order to try and save his business from bankruptcy go far from smoothly. Despite the title and premise, I was disappointed to learn how overlooked the dialogue was - the vast amounts of poorly-performed pop music covers saturated the almost-two-hour-long screening (seriously, they must have forked out a fortune on rights).

Each creature that enters Busters' show has an unoriginal backstory and there is minor storyline lead-up to their reasons for entering; the constant switch back and forth conveys fear of losing the viewers' interest. Johnny the Gorilla's (Taron Egerton) father is a robber and wants his son to be part of his gang, when all Johnny is obsessed with is singing; Mike (Seth MacFarlane) is a loud-mouthed mouse, living on the streets performing jazz and swing numbers; and Meena (Tori Kelly) is too shy to perform in front of anyone despite being an elephant. The list of yawn-inducing, eye-roll-worthy character profiles go on - not a single differentiator from many a children's movie before it.

The performances the actors give are barely of note, nothing provided was particularly engaging or enchanting at all - most gave it their standard presentation and nothing more; the voice-acting wasn't horrible, but it certainly wasn't great either. 

On the other end, as far as animation quality goes, Sing is definitely up to scratch with the modern day; there was no point in the film where something looked unnatural in any way, so that can certainly be commended. Character movement and reactions are organic and fluid - the animation team are the ones to praise the most for this movie. 

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As harsh as I may have been to Sing, I cannot deny that children will love the movie - it is intentionally tailored to the under 11s of this world, of which it more than meets expectations: but unlike other children's movies which understand that parents will watch the movies with their kids, Sing does not decide to throw any adult humour in to make the movie more of a family film; Sing will leave any adult with common sense with a lot to be desired.

What Sing leaves us with is a movie which (most importantly) isn't very enjoyable. If I was forced to poke fun at the film in order to make my viewing time entertaining, there is certainly an issue with the film put before me. Watchable (barely) but hardly a classic.

3.5/10