Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The LEGO Movie: A Dream Come True and the Satire of The NeverEnding Story We Have Always Wanted!


I opened my first LEGO set when I was seven - a small tower on an even smaller island with a couple of British soldiers and a couple pirates in a rowboat. And a little gray shark. Don't forget the awesome shark.

From then on, I was a LEGO-Maniac - buying into their 1990s marketing scheme like a kid in a candy factory. 300 pounds of bricks sitting in storage later, The Boy has taken an interest in the tiny building toys to the point that he has more at his age than I ever did. The cool sets they have now doesn't help. I also built Star Wars ships well before LEGO started making them. I confess - I'm a blockhead.

But things have gotten weird for them lately. Franchises rights, from everything to Marvel, Disney, and now Ninja Turtles! Tons of themed games and hard-to-watch CGI movies have cheesed-up my favorite childhood pastime. Then, WB announced a movie. I admit having mixed feelings about it, even with the comedic genius of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs's Phil Lord and Christopher Miller set to direct.

Then the trailer came out. It's Stop-Motion animation! WOW!!!!!

As you can already guess, I'm totally for this (for The Boy, right?).

Needless to say, the anticipation for this movie is "building!" :D

Doing this in Stop-Motion (actually, it's a computer program to make it look like Stop-Motion) is actually a pretty smart move. It gives the environment texture and a greater sense of tangibility, not to mention that Stop-Motion LEGO movies are a big deal on Youtube.

Like this famous classic!



Now you might be asking, why is this a satire of The NeverEnding Story, Dave? It's more or less these little nuances I picked up. After all, Neverending Story was an 80's film. LEGO's popularity spiked in the 80's. The remix in the trailer is from a popular 80's song.

Both films were even produced by the same studio!

Clearly, WB knows its audience.

Some of these similarities include, but are not limited to:

A conference with peeps about the end of the world ...

 

And flying on the back of something totally awesome!

I'm Batman ...

I even drew this subtle, yet blatant conclusion:

The antagonist of The LEGO Movie is "Lord Business."

The antagonist of The NeverEnding Story is "The Nothing." 

So if a guy does "nothing" and someone asks, "Whatcha do'n?" and they answer, "none of your business," that guy's "business" is "nothing." In other words: Lord Business = The Nothing!

I am so smart.

One thing that also dropped my jaw when I saw the trailer was the custom LEGO girl they made for this movie. You know about this zombie book I'm writing, right? If you want a LEGO minifig of what the main girl looks like, THAT'S her! Right down to her highlights!

Oh, and did I mention the cast?

Will Ferrall, Liam Neeson, Elizabeth Banks. Chris Pratt!

And Morgan Freeman gets to play God. Again!

In short, this looks to be an interesting piece of cinema, blending every brick and every fluid ounce of nostalgic juice into a random adventure that lifelong diehards like me are going to be rolling on the floor laughing (ROTFL) at all the subtle references. Bring on 2014!

(but watch your step ... those little bricks can murder your feet!)

What do you think about this LEGO movie? Is it something you'd see, kids or not? Will this do well or "fall apart" at the box office?

I'm David, and I only work in black ... and very very dark gray ...


21 comments:

  1. I loved/love Legos, but I'm not crazy about the idea of a movie. Of course, I'm one of those who's more nostalgic for the "old" Legos - back when they got to be original and interesting, instead of just sets from every movie and cartoon series out there (although I was a sucker for the Star Wars Legos. Just sayin'.) So it's possibly I'm just too much of a grump for this movie.

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  2. Oh wow...I never drew the connection between the Lego movie and the Neverending Story. But it's totally there. Thanks for pointing it out.

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  3. Love legos! I was totally obsessed with them as a kid (though what's up with the girl-oriented legos today? Don't get that). I love that this looks like stop-motion, totally makes it so much more fun!

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  4. I used to have so much fun with my Lego moviemaking set. It was fantastic, you could do stop-motion so it looked like the Lego people were moving! :P It's a shame it doesn't work on new computers (it's Windows 2003!)

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  5. The Lego Movie - hey, if they can do Battleship, they can do any toy, right?
    And Morgan Freeman always makes a good God.

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  6. What ever happened to just the big box of pieces that let the child guide the building-- not some instruction booklet? (Do I sound like an old curmudgeon?)

    Hmm Lego movie-- not up my alley but it will find an audience.

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  7. LOL! Too funny, DPK. I actually strangely want to see this movie. Maybe...

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  8. Oh no. My kids are all too old for me to have an excuse to go.
    My oldest son went through the lego nuts stage. Together he and I built all those huge castles in that series with the ghosts, hidden passages and trapdoors. Knights on horses. Canons that shot big plastic balls. Oh, the fun.

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  9. I thought of Never Ending Story when I first saw the trailer too, it's that big council meeting that did it. My son actually makes stop-motion lego movies, so we're all pretty psyched.

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  10. Those are awesome. LEGO can really do anything these days.

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  11. I think I spent more money buying LEGOs for my son than I spent feeding him. And he ate a LOT. Yes, he was an expensive child. :)

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  12. Hi David .. co-incidences .. you need to see my latest posts .. lots about Lego - no the movies though .. and a 3rd post will go up tomorrow ... I'll link back to you!

    Lego - what is it with Lego?!

    Enjoy ... my brothers loved it - I couldn't quite get to grips with it .. cheers Hilary

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  13. That trailer does look awesome. I was in the DC area recently and saw one of the Lego sets, the death star. I was immediately excited because I love star wars and Lego, but then i noticed the price. It was somewhere around $500. I remember the cool Lego sets from my own childhood, but i don't really remembering them being that expensive. oh yeah, it had thousands of pieces too. The movie looks interesting, and I'm sure i would see it. :) Thank you for sharing.

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  14. I used to LOVE Legos!!! People stopped buying me Barbies when they realized that I'd chuck them in the toy box and just play with my brothers' Lego sets. I haven't even heard of this movie, but that is pretty darn cool.

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  15. I never could make anything of legos so when you say a lego movie, I think of 2 hours of watching a wall, the only thing I ever made.

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  16. I still have my Legos. The movie will be a little like Wreck It Ralph - very nostalgic.

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  17. I've always loved watching ads for legos and their mini-movies. I truly believe this movie will blow up, profitably. Morgan Freeman? I swear when he dies, his voice will still be doing movies. Love him. Cool post David.

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  18. I still have my lego pirate ships from when I was a kid! Also, got to love the Never Ending Story, spoof or no:)

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  19. My first LEGO set was a tow truck, I think.

    My oldest made some funny stop motion movies with legos and Bionicles. It took him a whole day just to film 5 seconds! That's pretty hard to do.

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  20. Very perceptive, you are! I would have missed those conclusions for my lack of awareness, no?

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  21. Hi David .. I have just put up today's post - took me ages I'm afraid .. hope you enjoy it, when you can get over .. cheers Hilary

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