FILM
MERRY LITTLE BATMAN
★★★★
OUT NOW (PRIME VIDEO) / CERT PG / 92 MINS
DIRECTOR Mike Roth
CAST Luke Wilson, Yonas Kibreab, James Cromwell, David Hornsby There certainly hasn’t been a shortage of Batman movies, but Merry Little Batman stands apart. The light-hearted tone is reminiscent of 2017’s The LEGO Batman Movie, but it’s accompanied by a welcome strangeness in terms of design, and a willingness to evoke mild kinder-trauma. When the retired Batman (Luke Wilson) is called away on a mission during Christmas Eve, his eight-year-old son, Damian Wayne (Yonas Kibreab), soon finds himself besieged by Batman’s now-geriatric cadre of rogues; he plays out his own version of Home Alone with hilarious results. The result feels akin to Nickelodeon cartoons or Cartoon Network’s series from the ’90s — with every potential to become a new festive favourite.