‘LEGO Batman’ toys with our funny bone

If you haven't yet seen "The LEGO Batman Movie," you might wonder if it's as good as its predecessor. I try to answer that question in the review that I wrote for Spokane Public Radio:

Movies have hawked products since before they featured sound. In his 1922 film “Dr. Mabuse the Gambler,” Fritz Lang inserted a card that identified the makers of the gowns his actresses wore. The practice ultimately became so rampant that the very basis of some movies was built on the notion of product placement: Remember 2004’s “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle”?

Now, a dozen years later, the adventures of Harold & Kumar seem almost precious by comparison. Products these days aren’t just the basis of movie plots. They embody movie plots, particularly when they focus on toys, such as Barbies, Trolls, G.I. Joes or, since 2014, LEGOs.

That first LEGO movie, simply and frankly titled “The LEGO Movie,” was a surprise hit. Both an action flick and a comic lampoon of every action film Hollywood has ever produced, “The LEGO Movie” features both a sterling cast of voice actors – headed by Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks and Will Arnett – and a musical score that includes the infectious song “Everything Is Awesome.”

So the only real question about the spin-off production titled almost as simply “The LEGO Batman Movie,” is can the same formula work twice? And I’m here to say yes. Mostly it does.

First, director Chris McKay and company recognize what everyone else has: that Batman is an enduring character. At the same time, they recognized just how ripe he is for the kind of satire that would both comment on, and yet embrace, the various gestations the character has undergone over his nearly eight decades of existence.

Second, despite being written and directed by a whole new crew – four different screenwriters share script and/or story credits – “The LEGO Batman Movie” boasts the same sense of parody and progression of quick-hit running gags as the original. Those gags fly at us right away, when Arnett – whose deep voice resonates the perfect Batman growl – explains to us that we begin with a black screen because, well, every important movie begins with a black screen.

Third, and maybe most important, “The LEGO Batman Movie” uses a clever plot device similar to what Trey Parker and Matt Stone devised for their 1999 “South Park” movie: Where Parker and Stone set up an ironic scenario in which we’re expected to feel sorry for Satan because he is being emotionally abused by Saddam Hussein, McKay’s writing team wants us to feel sorry for Batman’s foe The Joker because he can’t win Batman’s hatred.

In fact, no one can get close to Batman, friend or foe, because his fear of intimacy has pushed him toward a lonely life of arrogant narcissism. Which, besides establishing the overall tone, sets us up for a couple of great “Jerry Maguire” jokes.

Overall, “The Batman LEGO Movie” may not quite match the quality of the 2014 film, if only because it has a slight feel of been there, done that. But Arnett, joined by Zach Galifanakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes and more, do achieve something special.

They and their LEGO characters manage … to complete us.