Batmanhas been the star of many prestigious and belovedDCmovies over the course of his 86-year-long history - but one of his most highly-rated movies is still a little bit of a surprise, especially given how many major films it bests.Batman’s movie historyhas been defined several times over the decades, with a selection of tones and characterizations gracing the Dark Knight’s on-screen stories. A talentedrange of actors have played Batmanover these years, and with an equally strong assortment of supporting characters alongside them, there are very few Batman movies that don’t feel like something special.
Looking at this trove of iconic films, it’s natural to compare and contrast them, if only because something like the 1966 Adam WestBatmanmovie is simply so different to the likes ofThe Dark Knight- even if both are adored by their respective fanbases. With that said, how some movies fare against their peers and the tests of time can be wildly different, and sometimes unexpected, as I find to be the case for one notable Batman movie that often flies under the radar, and whose success bodes well for someupcoming DC Universe releases.
Batman’s Movie Roster Is One Of The Strongest In The Superhero Genre
While many superheroes have received more than one movie to their name over the course of the genre’s history,Batman’s collection of film adaptations is both one of the most extensive, and one of the most consistently celebrated. Burton’s films proved a dramatic and Gothic rendition of Batman and his city could be made into movie magic,The Dark Knighttrilogy reinforced that new imaginations were possible while also bringing one of the most successful superhero renditions of all time to screens, andThe Batmanhas paved the way for a big future for the hero and his cinematic empire.
Over the years, Batman movies have netted billions of dollars in box offices alone, not even taking into account the ample merchandising opportunities these releases have resulted in over the years - withThe Dark Knight RisesandThe Dark Knighteach making over a billion dollars in their worldwide box office. With so many critically celebrated and commercially successful Batman movies out there in the modern day, the matter of one of the highest-rated Batman movies of all time manages to be all the more notable, since it excitingly isn’t any of the afore-mentioned releases.
The Lego Batman Movie Beats Most Live-Action Dark Knight Movies On Rotten Tomatoes
A release like 2008’sThe Dark Knightbeing one of the highest-ratedBatman movies on Rotten Tomatoesis perhaps unsurprising, with the film holding a 94% Tomatometer score from critics. Given the film is still commonly considered the best Batman movie of all time even almost two decades after its release, this score feels pretty straightforward, as elements of the movie like Heath Ledger’s award-winning Joker performance are still highlighted as uniquely special to this day. What is a little more surprising, however, is thatThe Lego Batman Moviebeats almost every other live-action Batman film on Rotten Tomatoes.
WhileThe Lego Batman Moviehas a notably lower Tomatometer score thanThe Dark Knight- coming in at 89% - this is 2% more thanThe Dark Knight Rises' 87% score, and 4% higher thanThe Batman’s own 85% scoring. GivenThe Lego Batman Movieis usually entirely absent from conversations about what the best Batman movie of all time is - and is even often left out of the rankings of the Caped Crusader’s films altogether - its appearance as one of the highest-rated Dark Knight movies of all time is a pretty major deal.
Interestingly, this is only true when looking at Rotten Tomatoes' critic Tomatometer scores, as the Popcornmeter audience reviews paint a very different picture, withThe Lego Batman Movieinstead holding an 81% score in this field - lower thanBatman Begins' 94%,The Dark Knight Rises' 90%,Batman: Mask of the Phantasm’s 88%, andThe Batman’s 87%. This disparity in audience and critic reviews makes the matter ofThe Lego Batman Movie’s rating all the more fascinating, especially when compared to its compatriots.
Why The Lego Batman Movie Ranks So Highly
The Lego Batman Movie’s critic score makes a lot of sense when you consider that 2014’s originalThe Lego Movieholds an even higherTomatometerscore of 96%, reflecting that the Lego movie format - and its balancing of comedy, visual wonder, and a good dose of light-hearted entertainment all around - is a consistent hit with critics. While this resulting in the movie ranking higher than some more historically lauded films can feel somewhat wild,the movie does mirror animated classics likeShrekin the way it manages to provide a comedic plot that can effectively entertain both children and adults.
On a similar note, where the more brooding live-action Batman films have to contend more closely with one another, the plucky animated movie is able to work as a satire of sorts of these stories, and instead play with the world and its hero in a way these releases are simply unable to without sabotaging their own impact. This would explain to some degree why critics gave it a higher score, as it’s very possible some found the movie to exceed their prior expectations for its story, whereas something likeThe Dark Knight Riseswould be competing with the high standard set by its predecessors.
This very much appears to play a role given 2023’sMerry Little Batmancomes in with a whopping 97%Tomatometerscore of its own. However, the 2023 movie’s score itself does appear to be something of a potential outlier, due to the fact there are only 29 critic reviews of the film currently, compared toThe Lego Batman Movie’s 313 critic reviews, and live-action Batman movies having critic scores that generally spill into the hundreds.
Merry Little Batmanalso has a 72% Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes, showing critics reviewed it considerably higher than general audiences.
Though it’s likely many of these critics would actively rankThe Lego Batman Moviebelow other lower-rated Batman movies if they were actively comparing them all at once, the film’s reception is still promising. Seeing the celebration of a movie that takesBatmanlore in a very different direction is notable, especially given the limited number of animated DC movies that have seen a theatrical release. With more animated films like theDCU’sDynamic Duomovieon the horizon, hopefully the franchise’s future installments can mirror the surprising level of success their Lego ancestor can still boast to this day.
