Movies

'The Lego Batman Movie' Trailer Calls Out Batman For His "Unhealthy Behavior" [Comic-Con 2016]

The Lego Batman Movie trailer
By Angie Han

For this year's Hall H panel, Warner Bros. brought along not one but two Batmen. There was Ben Affleck for the Justice League presentation, of course — and then there was Will Arnett for The Lego Batman Movie. Arnett and director Chris McKay brought some new The Lego Batman Movie footage and took a few minutes to answer some questions about the movie.

The Lego Batman Movie Footage Recap

The Lego Batman movie trailer opens on Batman in his high-tech lair. "Computer, how do I put the Joker in Arkham Asylum?" he asks. "Quickest route, no freeways. Computer, do you hear me?"

But a giant "PARENTAL LOCK" sign shows up on the screen. A seat in the corner of the room turns around to reveal Alfed. "Hello, Master Bruce, I've taken away your privileges," he explains. "This is unhealthy behavior. You can't spend the rest of your life alone dressed in black and staying up all night," he scolds. "You need to take responsibility for your life, and it starts by raising your son."

The "son" Alfred is referring to is Robin, whom Batman seems more than a little reluctant to acknowledge. Robin, however, seems happy to be there, chirping "Hello, secret camera!" at, well, a secret camera. We see Robin walking around the Batcave, gushing, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, it's the Batcave!" When Batman appears, Robin asks, "Does Batman live in Bruce Wayne's Batman?" Batman is not amused by the question. "No, Bruce Wayne lives in Batman's attic," he snaps.

Bruce presents Robin an array of outfit choices, and Robin chooses one labeled "Reggae Man." Only there's something he doesn't quite love about it. "The pants are tight," he complains, and then rips them off. "That's better." Yep, it's an origin story for Robin's completely absurd-looking classic costume.

"You ready to follow Batman and maybe learn a few life lessons along the way?" Batman asks as he and Robin head toward the Batmobile. When Robin sits down and starts looking for a seatbelt, Batman says, "The first lesson is, life doesn't give you seatbelts."

We see a montage of various scenes including one of Batman kicking Alfred into a grand piano ("Alfred, I have incredible reflexes," says Batman by way of apology"), and snippets of Joker, Barbara Gordon, and more. Batman and Robin ride the Batmobile around Gotham, but when they come to a sudden stop Robin spills forward and hits his face on the dashboard.

"I am so sorry," Batman tells Robin. "As soon as I get back, I will make sure Alfred puts seatbelts in here."

The car lifts off the ground and flies back toward the Bat-mansion. Upon arrival, an A.I. voice asks for the password. The answer is obvious: "Na na na na na na na na Batman!" says the Dark Knight.

The Lego Batman Movie Footage Reaction

Not surprisingly, The Lego Batman Movie looks a lot like The Lego Movie. They've got the same warm, goofy vibe, and the same nearly-photorealistic animation style. (Well, "photorealistic" in that the characters and their universe look like they're made out of real plastic bricks.) And the character of Lego Batman is exactly as you remember.

I love that The Lego Batman Movie calls Batman out on his bluster and his "unhealthy behavior" — let's be real, Batman may be crazy cool but dressing up like a bat to fight crime is not normal behavior.

In addition to the Lego Batman Movie trailer, we got to see a cute reel showing Lego Batman, Lego Joker, Lego Barbara Gordon, and Lego Robin at a Lego Comic-Con panel moderated by Lego Conan O'Brien (the flesh-and-blood version was hosting the Warner Bros. panel in real life). While none of it was actual footage from the movie, they revealed a little bit more about the characters and their relationships.

Lego Joker looks more like an annoyance than a genuinely malevolent threat. "I gotta tell you, there's so much more of me than evil and mayhem," he tried to explain, adding that he counted improv, antiquing, and yoga among his hobbies. Needless to say, Batman was not surprised.

Lego Batman described Lego Barbara Gordon as "crime-fighting superbabe," and after she protested Lego Batman described her as "the finest detective in Gotham by day, and my platonic Bat-friend by night" with a big saucy wink.

And then there was Lego Robin, Batman's "Underoos-rocking sidekick." "Hi, dad!" said Lego Robin excitedly. "Easy on the dad stuff," warned Batman. "I'm sorry, Papa!" chirped Robin.

The Lego Batman Movie Comic-Con Panel Recap

"It's About a Boy as directed by Michael Mann," said Chris McKay, citing Jerry Maguire and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou as other inspirations. "Famously, Batman works alone, so when he's put into this situation, he's forced to confront a lot of issues," added Will Arnett.

Batman is an orphan and he's always been alone, so he's been left to his own devices and I think he has a lot of issues. This movie isn't just about Batman beating the enemy, it's about beating his own demons. When you have somebody that confident, they're oftentimes making up for deficiencies in other areas of their characters.

Of course, while Batman has plenty of his own demons to battle, he'll have lots of villains to go up against as well. "There's a slight Dirty Dozen element to this movie," teased McKay. "We go deep into the Batman rogues gallery."

And might we ever see Arnett play Batman in non-Lego form? "On the way down here, we literally just ran into Ben Affleck and he asked me the same question," Arnett joked. "But I think he's got a pretty good handle on it right now."

Chris McKay directed The Lego Batman Movie which opens February 10, 2017. The film stars Will Arnett as Batman, Ralph Fiennes as Alfred, Michael Cera as Robin, Zach Galifianakis as the Joker, Rosario Dawson as Batgirl, and Mariah Carey as the mayor of Gotham City.

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