Review: Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered

Warning: There may be spoilers for this short film below.

After first premiering last October on Cartoon Network, Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered became available to stream on Netflix this past week. The short film is 22 minutes long and is a sequel to Lego Batman: The Movie — DC Super Heroes Unite.

The only other Lego animated rendition of Batman that I have seen is The Lego Movie, which I found painfully difficult to watch. So, I am happy to report that Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered is superior to that movie. The short film begins with Batman battling Man-Bat, The Penguin, and The Joker in a museum when they are trying to steal a diamond. Superman joins in on the action, much to the chagrin of Batman, to try to help out and also extend an invitation to Batman to the newly-formed Justice League.

However, when Superman disappears, Batman enlists the help of Flash to help find him. In a battle with Captain Cold, Flash (along with Captain Cold and what he was stealing) disappear. Batman continues searching for other Justice League members then, including Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg, but they all disappear as well. Batman eventually comes to the conclusion that Bat-Mite kidnapped them and is holding them captive at the Hall of Justice.

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This short film had its moments, but it was geared really young and was just too silly at times (kind of how I feel about Teen Titans Go!). In terms of basic issues I had with it, first off, Man-Bat, The Penguin, and The Joker don’t actually disappear, but they are later shown having been captured by Bat-Mite along with the other villains that actually did disappear. Secondly, while there was an All-Star cast of voice actors on this one, the script was really poor, featuring a ton of one-liners that made me wince. Like I said, there were some highlights, though. The opening shot of Gotham City was nice. It was awesome to hear Tom Kenny reprise his role as The Penguin from the The Batman series. Khary Payton is also of course the quintessential Cyborg, and I have to credit him a lot for adjusting to play Cyborg in adaptations of extremely varying tones. And finally, the fight scene where the Justice League teamed up to take down all the villains Bat-Mite had captured had some fun action. Overall, I’d have to give it four batarangs out of five (if Batman’s included, it’s hard for me to give anything a lower rating than that).

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