When the original trailer for Lionsgate’s Power Rangers debuted, I was all set to write up a TMB article for it but then it turned out to be nothing, really. Not spectacular but it had a bit of young adult adaptation about it (à la Hunger Games, Divergent, Chronicle, etc) and the following slew of toy reveals were not helping the image of the movie at all but as the release date creeped closer and no new trailer, expectant fans were growing even more concerned about the movie. Now, with just 9 weeks until theatrical release, a second trailer finally emerges so let’s see what we can expect…

Wow. Okay, that wasn’t terrible! I think everyone assumed that this was going to be a shit-show but that trailer was pretty cool! I don’t even mind the use of Kanye West’s Power, even if Saints Row did it first and better.

Five Teenagers With Attitude

The first trailer showed a lot more of the cast doing their thing in a desaturated Breakfast Club kind-of way but we got some revealing snippets of dialogue that give some insight to the personalities and I’m on board with a bunch of snarky gits taking the piss out of each other during training sessions.

Front and (Command) Center

Bryan Cranston was announced early doors as the Rangers’ blue-domed mentor and this is his first appearance. I like it! It’s different but it looks damn cool and Cranston (who is no stranger to the Power Rangers franchise) gives a powerful delivery to the lines we hear. Assisting Zordon, we have Bill Hader (of Saturday Night Live fame) as Alpha 5 and much like everything else in the trailer, looks better in motion than in concept art or toy form.

Back to Action!

The teaser trailer was light on suit action but we get plenty in this one as we see Jason assisting a helpless civilian from some rubble and Billy delivering some devastating kicks to a Putty monster. The suits look sooooo much better in motion than I’d expected.

Green with Evil

From her initial reveal to now, I’ve been in love with Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa. She exudes an aura of wickedness and power and we get to see plenty of that with this trailer. Speculation at this moment points toward her being the Green Ranger at some point and I would be totally down for that but given her more hands-on approach to world conquering and her line from the teaser “I’ve killed Rangers before“, she may not need the power boost.

We need Megazord power!

Oh boy, the Bandai toys did not do these mechs justice. They look great in motion for what is sure to be the climax of the film. Hell, even Goldar looks good in spite of his terrible toy design. We can only hope the filmmakers took a few cues from Pacific Rim when it came to the final kaiju fight.

My final thoughts on this trailer are really positive! I was going to give the movie the benefit of the doubt despite all of the associated media giving me cause for concern but I think, come March 24th, we’re going to see a truly morphenomenal movie!

As I recently said to Mars Needs’ own Elizabeth, LEGO has taken on this weird form of parody in recent times, with all the LEGO games and what-not, that I really enjoy and this movie builds on that in a massive way.

The first thing I really have to address is the animation. HO-LEE-BALLS, that is some crackin’ CGI. Not only is it pretty but the animators have obviously gone above and beyond to make the characters, surroundings and textures look like LEGO. It’s so good, it looks like stop-motion at times and that goes a long way to add a real-world feel to it. The LEGO games have characters bend and flex in a way that minifigures cannot but here they move how a minifigure does with only slight gestures added in to give them more emotion, it’s really astonishing! The production and casting is also star-studded, with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (21 Jump Street, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) and Chris McKay (Robot Chicken), the animators Animal Logic (Happy Feet, 300) and an all-star cast which we will get into but first, go check out the trailer already!

Block-Head

Immediately, we’re introduced to Emmet (Chris Pratt, who will be Star-Lord in Marvel’s Guardians of The Galaxy) He’s an average minifigure; not a superhero, brave knight or cowboy, just an average construction worker minifigure who is believed to be a Master Buidler by the old mystic, Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman!). He’s a bumbler but very likable right from the get-go.

♫~She’s a BRICK… House!~♫

I had to work The Commodores in somewhere and this movie obliged with the “tough female” lead, Wyldstyle (Voiced by Elizabeth Banks). I really like her design and hope there’ll be some tie-in minifigures you can get of the characters.

World Building

In a surprising move, this isn’t just a world filled with generic LEGO people but a world inhabited by minifigures from throughout LEGO history. DC Superheroes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Minifigure Collection, Space, Castle, and dozens of others are present in many of the scenes. I’ll be surprised if any Marvel Superheroes make an appearance though considering this is a Warner Bros. flick.

Guest-starring Batman!
Yup, Batman (Voiced by Arrested Development‘s Will Arnett) joins our motley crew as they try to stop Lord Business (Will Ferrel) and Bad Cop (Liam Neeson) from destroying the universe by gluing the world together. I swear I’m not making that up!

It’s no shock that I’m excited for this movie. It’s funny, charming, well produced and chock-full character and I hope it does well at the box office. You can expected to see a fully assembled The LEGO Movie in theatres Febuary 2014