7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A cooler-than-ever Bruce Wayne must deal with his usual suspects as they plan to rule Gotham City, while discovering that he has accidentally adopted a teenage orphan who wishes to become his sidekick.
Starring: Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph FiennesAdventure | 100% |
Fantasy | 77% |
Animation | 64% |
Family | 63% |
Action | 61% |
Comic book | 61% |
Sci-Fi | 57% |
Comedy | 37% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Spanish=Mexican & Colombian; English DD=narrative descriptive
English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
For its third feature film, the Warner Animation Group abandoned the avian creepiness of Storks and returned to familiar snap-together territory with The LEGO Batman Movie, a spin-off (of sorts) from its surprise 2014 hit, The LEGO Movie. Co-produced by LEGO Movie creators Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and directed by Robot Chicken alumnus Chris McKay, LEGO Batman cedes the spotlight to Will Arnett's growly Caped Crusader, who, in the LEGO Movie, was a supporting player to everyman Emmett Brickowski. McKay and his creative team have freely plundered over a half century of Batman films and TV shows (not to mention sources as diverse as Se7en and Passenger 57) to create an orgy of pop culture riffs and satirical sketches loosely strung together by yet another story about a super-villain's plot for world domination.
The extras for The LEGO Batman Movie provide an informative overview of the
painstaking animation process, of which the final step is "lighting" scenes in the digital domain
to create the illusion of photography. The process even includes the addition of artificial "lens
flares" (see screenshot 13 for an example of one that bisects Commissioner Gordon), and McKay
confirms in the disc commentary that the number and placement of these manufactured artifacts
were carefully considered, as was the style of the "lighting" applied to every scene.
Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is a wonderfully colorful affair, filled with bright,
saturated and varying shades of red, yellow, blue and, of course, green. Blacks are deep and solid,
including both Batman's costume and the dark opening screen that, as Batman informs us in
voiceover, is a requirement of all "important" movies. The digital lighting in numerous scenes
has a deliberately harsh, and fluorescent quality, which the Blu-ray faithfully reproduces. Detail
is good enough that you can make out both the individual LEGO constructions and the portions
of the set design where the creators have departed from the "all-LEGO, all the time" approach of
The LEGO Movie and substituted semi-realistic
elements such as water or flame. A brief
sequence is desaturated of almost all color to convey Batman's depressed and purposeless state
of mind when it appears that Gotham's seemingly perpetual crime wave has finally been ended
(see screenshot 23).
With so many detailed frames and so many action sequences, you would expect LEGO
Batman to be mastered at the highest possible bitrate, but this is the Warner theatrical group
we're talking about. With about ten gigabytes of space left vacant on the BD-50, LEGO Batman
is presented with an average bitrate of 22.00, which isn't bad for digitally generated material and
is certainly an improvement over the meager bitrates used by Warner's TV division. There may
be compression artifacts hiding in some of the churning block patterns of the action sequences,
but if so, I didn't see them. The compressionist has done a capable job.
In what is becoming a trend with A-list titles from Warner Brothers, The LEGO Batman
Movie arrives on Blu-ray with a choice between Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtracks.
The standard Blu-ray defaults to DTS-HD MA, by which I mean that, if you insert the disc and
select "play" from the menu, you'll get the lossless DTS track. If you then access the audio menu,
it assumes you want to select "Dolby Atmos" and offers that option already highlighted, which
may give the illusion that the Atmos track is currently playing—but it isn't. You have to select it
manually. In what is also becoming an unfortunate trend, Warner has omitted the Atmos track from
LEGO Batman's 3D release, leaving
DTS-HD MA as the only option for 3D fans. The lossless
DTS mix will be discussed in the 3D
review. (Spoiler alert: It's inferior.)
The Atmos track has all the refinement, fidelity and dynamic range that one would expect from a
major studio production, and, assuming one has an appropriate speaker array (my viewing room
is configured for 7.1.2), it's an immersive mix, particularly in its use of musical cues. The
original score is by Lorne Balfe, who contributed to the soundtracks of all three entries in
Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, and who capably
evokes the themes composed for
those films by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, as well as cues from such diverse
sources as the 1978 Superman and TV's
Batman from the
Sixties. But despite having the
flexibility of Atmos' object-based processing at their command, the sound team has opted to
keep most of the non-musical sonic activity in front, with limited use of discrete rear channel or
overhead effects. This may reflect the "hand-made" approach that has many of the film's
characters mouthing their own sound effects (e.g., for laser blasts), or it may result from director
Chris McKay's background in TV. Whatever the reason, LEGO Batman's soundtrack provides
an effective accompaniment to the film, but it's unlikely to become anyone's "demo disc" for the
glories of Dolby Atmos.
Within this front-fracing orientation, LEGO Batman's mix is a satisfyingly elaborate
concatenation of clattering, crashing, vehicle roars (both aerial and earthbound) and explosive
encounters. The dialogue is clearly rendered, even when Will Arnett's Batman growl teeters on
the brink of unintelligibility. The extensive selection of songs, both original and catalog, are both
tuneful and often very funny. (You may never be able to hear Michael Jackson's "Man in the
Mirror" the same way again.)
It is a bittersweet coincidence that The LEGO Batman Movie is being released on home video
just days after the passing of TV's original Batman, Adam West, who always maintained that his
show was a comedy and whose tongue-in-cheek delivery epitomized a style of humor to which
even the darkest iterations of the Dark Knight have paid homage. LEGO Batman is a film very
much in the spirit of West's original creation, and it's loaded with invocations of his Sixties TV
series, from visual references to music cues. Though unintentionally, the film's release is a fitting
tribute to a true original, whose jocular incarnation of Batman rocketed the character to the lofty
popularity we take for granted today. The Blu-ray is technically superior with a worthy
complement of extras and is highly recommended.
2017
2017
with Batgirl LEGO Minifigure + Three Collectible Postcards
2017
2017
Exclusive Lunchbox
2017
2017
with $5 Vudu credit
2017
2017
The LEGO Movie 2 Movie Cash
2017
3 Bonus Figurines
2017
Ultimate Collector's Edition
2014
Collector's Edition
2020
2022
2016
2017
2008
2016
DC Universe Animated Original Movie #8
2010
2018
2003
2009
2019
2010
Ultimate Collector's Edition
2018
2023
Limited Edition Exclusive w/ Cosmic Boy LEGO Minifigure
2016
2019
DC Universe Animated Original Movie #23
2015
DC Universe Animated Original Movie #3
2008
Ultimate Collector's Edition
2004