If you ever encounter anyone that watches this trailer and doesn’t immediately want to see The Lego Movie, run far away from them because they are soulless unholy Hellbeasts sent here to feast upon the joy of the living.
Is it going to be a 90 minute toy commercial? Yea, but so are 90% of the movies and cartoons we all watch. So does that even matter if it holds up on its own merits? The three (!) co-directors have some pretty decent credentials between them. Phil Lord and Chris Miller are responsible for the surprisingly fun film versions of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street, the pair also co-wrote this. The third director, Chris McKay, has done a crazy amount of Adult Swim stop-motion stuff, like Robot Chicken and Moral Orel.
It’s probably due to McKay’s influence that the characters move like the toys would and not all cartoony like the Lego Star Wars specials or the video games. Though thankfully they seem to have kept much of the sensibility of the specials and games, especially when it comes to humor. (God, I love that “…Michelangelo, Michelangelo…” gag.)
I’d be concerned that the novelty of watching a Lego figure movie might wear out, even for the kids, but then, we all watch Robot Chicken and it never bothers us and they all watch Ninjago and Chima and it never bothers them. We’ll find out how this experiment plays out in February.
