The LEGO Batman Movie

Grade: B

Director: Chris McKay

Starring the voices of: Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Mariah Carey, Jenny Slate and Channing Tatum

MPAA Rating: PG

Running Time: 1 hr. 46 min.

The LEGO Batman Movie isn’t the DC movie we deserve, but it’s the one we need right now. In a time when the cinematic Caped Crusader feels both exhausted and exhausting, along comes a Lord & Miller-inspired parody to save the day. Director Chris McKay unifies the iterations, drawing its material from not just the Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan exemplars, but also clever callbacks to the Adam West-starring TV series, the Super Friends cartoon and even the Joel Schumacher debacles, It even offers an olive branch to recent critics by taking some knowing jabs at the Zack Snyder re-imaginings. Want a film that lampoons Suicide Squad one moment—”I got to do something!” exclaims Killer Croc—then Bat Shark Repellant the next? Well, this is the Dark Knight for you.

You won’t find a funnier thirty minutes of film than LEGO Batman Movie’s opening act, with its surfeit of pop-culture references (including a recurring Jerry Maguire gag, of all things) and comic-book cues. Joker (Zach Galifianakis) leads a battle royale between the entire Batman rogues gallery, plus a cadre of concocting baddies like “Egghead” and “Condiment King.” It’s just a matter of minutes before Batman (Will Arnett, reprising his role from The LEGO Movie) has foiled the Joker’s plans again, but not before the proudly angry and lonely Batman refuses to acknowledge Joker as his greatest nemesis.

A wounded Joker quickly hatches his path to renewed infamy when Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) assumes the reins of police commissioner from her father. Normally, the sole duty of Gotham City police commish was the ability to push the button illuminating the Bat Signal. Barbara promises a new era of crime fighting based on “statistics” and “compassion,” and “not Batman.” When Joker and the rest of the traditional rogues gallery turns themselves into Barbara, it threatens to render Batman obsolete.

The rest of Joker’s plan rests on stoking Batman’s ego, exile to the Phantom Zone (yes, Superman doesn’t get off easy, either) and an escape accompanied by a new band of iconic villains: Sauron, Voldemort (Eddie Izzard), Gremlins, Dracula, Agent Smith, King Kong, Jaws and many more. It’s understandable if you spend large swaths of the film trying to figure out how the filmmakers acquired licensing privileges of all its characters.

Meanwhile, Batman’s psyche of solitude is invaded by both his latent attraction to Barbara and the arrival of orphan Richard Grayson (Michael Cera), who goes by “Dick” at school—”Well, kids can be cruel,” Batman retorts. The wide-eyed Grayson soon dons a red and yellow costume belonging to a scuttled hero named “Reggae Man” and adopts the moniker “Robin.” Nudged by the ever-reproving Alfred (Ralph Fiennes), Batman gradually recognizes the value of teamwork and embraces his new substitute family: Barbara the platonic coworker; Robin the surrogate son; and Alfred the father figure.

If the middle portion of LEGO Batman Movie appears to sag, it’s only in comparison to the joke-a-second opener. There’s little of the sentimentality of The LEGO Movie. Indeed, obvious appearances aside, LEGO Batman Movie is less a LEGO sequel than both a superhero send-up and an exhilarating standalone. It’s fun, family-friendly, and, in keeping with the heyday of Abrahams and Zucker, a searing satire accessible to kids and adults alike. Everybody do the Batusi.

Zootopia

Welcome to the new Voter ID process

Grade: B +

Director: Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush

Starring the voices of: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, J.K. Simmons, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Octavia Spencer and Bonnie Hunt

MPAA Rating: PG

Running Time: 1 hr. 48 min.

Smart, funny and thoughtful, Zootopia is one of the finest Disney-proper animated feature films in many years. The film isn’t a product of Pixar, the Disney subsidiary, but perhaps the best compliment that can be paid to Zootopia is that it would fit seamlessly in the esteemed Pixar canon. The film lends itself to repeat viewings by audiences of any demographic, including the essential parent-child pairing. It’s a buddy-cop movie, an animal education primer, a movie parody, a coming-of-age flick, and a gateway into earnest discussions about racial and gender prejudice, bullying and cultural inclusiveness.

Judy Hopps (brilliantly voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) is an ambitious, diminutive bunny in an alt-universe populated by anthropomorphic animal species. The instinctive conflict between predators and prey has been erased, although preconceptions about differences between species remain. She’s bred in a backwater “burrow” to limit her aims. “It’s OK to have dreams,” declares Judy’s aw-shucks, carrot farming dad (Don Lake), “just just as long as you don’t believe in them.”

However, Judy dreams of becoming the first rabbit cop in the metropolis of Zootopia. Although predators make up 10 percent of the population, they still occupy most positions of authority, from Mayor Leodore Lionheart (J.K. Simmons) to Police Chief Bogo (Idris Elba), a grouchy water buffalo.

So even after graduating at the top of her police academy class, Judy quickly hits a glass ceiling. Bogo assigns her to meter maid duty, and she’s further reprimanded when her successful apprehension of a shifty bandit wreaks more havoc than Bogo deems worthy.

But Judy’s upbeat exuberance, and friendship with little lamb Dawn (Jenny Slate), Zootopia’s deputy mayor, soon puts Judy on the trail of a missing otter. Judy has 48 hours to find the otter or be fired, so she reluctantly enlists the help of Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman, equally tremendous), a cynical sly fox and Judy’s newfound foil. Judy and Nick’s snooping undercovers an epidemic where predators are reverting to their base savage instincts. This plot turn further widens the allegory to mass fear, hysteria and stereotyping.

While the issues are weighty, the wit remain breezy and biting. Directors Byron Howard (Tangled), Rich Moore (Wreck-It Ralph) and Jared Bush craft fully realized districts, from Little Rodentia to Tundra Town and the upscale Sahara Square. There’s a running riff on The Godfather involving an arctic shrew crime boss named Mr. Big. A DMV office literally staffed by slow-moving sloths is the film’s comedic showstopper.

The whodunit caper drags in parts, and its resolution is a tad tidy and anti-climatic. And the film’s theme song, “Try Anything,” sung by a slinky pop star gazelle voiced by the slinky pop star Shakira, is used once too often and too cloying and synthetic by half. But these are minor quibbles for this amusing “Animal Farm” analog.