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

This is one of those train-wreck movie ideas that really demands my interest because it’s just so hilariously misguided. Yes, this is indeed based on the board-game of our youth. Yes, it does star both Liam Neeson and pop singer Rihanna. And no, I can’t wait for it either.

When the announcement was made a year or two back that this was in production it raised not much more than the typical chuckling and eye-rolling from online community that you’d expect. Many a joke was made about a possible Snakes & Ladders movie starring Samuel L. Jackson (that may just be me making that one up, but c’mon, you’d watch it too) and we all dismissed it as a bad idea that might never happen anyway.

Well it did, and it’s here. And I can’t wait to see the trailer, can you? Let’s watch.

– Wait.. What?

You know when they boast that a film is “from the producers of that big film you like” or “from the makers of that similar kind of film”?

Have you ever seen them boast that it’s from the makers of those TOYS you like? No, me neither. Welcome to a whole new world, folks. It’s only going to get uglier from here…

– So uh, aliens

Anyone see this coming?

I look forward to the alternative game version where one side is lime green and the battleship is shaped like a saucer.

– It’s a metaphor or something

Want to see this movie summed up in a facial expression?

Yeah, we don’t know why you’re in this movie either Alexander Skarsgard. You’re much better than this.

– Wanna blow some stuff up?

I’m not gonna lie, some of the action in this looks cool and there seems to be a hell of a lot of it.

But far too much of the design (and sound effects) mimic the Transformers franchise. Like, REALLY mimic it. To the point where a lot of this looks like a spin-off movie rather than one of it’s own making. That might be a good thing for some more than others.

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Overall: This will either be awesome or terrible. There is no middle ground here. So far, it’s wacky enough to have my attention. It could be a fun action flick. I just hope that the writing won’t be as bad as the movies this is trying so hard to look like.

Considering the coverage this site has given in the past to the Marvel films of Thor, Captain America etc. it’s probably not very surprising that we here at DOOM Towers are quite excited at the prospect of seeing The Avengers. In fact, three of our staff have the same Thor action figure. So now that the first real trailer has been released we’re… well, lets say “giddy”.

I personally felt that the teaser trailer we got after the credits of Captain America was pretty weak. We got flashes of nothing in a pretty large sense and apart from one shot of the gang standing in the same room, I saw very little to get excited about. I also saw very little.

We have a year to go before this film is going to be released, so whatever we see now will be the easiest stuff to shoot and finish (so lots of talking and intense staring). But lets hope it manages to stir the same feeling in my loins as the last few trailers for the solo films.

Lets have a closer look, shall we?

– What Are You Looking At?

You may have noticed that there are a couple shots of people aiming guns at the sky. Lots of people, lots of sky, and they’re ALL looking up. So what has them scared?

I can’t believe that it’s just Loki. Is the Skrulls rumour true? Are they looking at an alien invasion?

– Hit Him!

Could we be looking at the first meeting of Cap and Thor?

It certainly has all the hallmarks of a comic-book meeting by two heroes. Read any comic about Spidey meeting Daredevil for the first time or Hulk and Wolverine… they’re all misconstrued fights that turn to a friendship. I look forward to seeing this playing out on the big screen.

– Blink And You’ll Miss It

So there is a half second shot of Loki choking Tony Stark and throwing him out a window. It’s so quick, any snapshot I tried to get of it ended up blurred like this.

But, with thanks to the internet (and specifically Tumblr) I found this nifty little gif of it.

Cool, right?

– Green Giant

They have shown very little of Hulk in the build up to this. It’s understandable why, though. His film was the least popular. The momentum is with the other characters who we’ve all seen more recently. And yet, THIS is the thing that got me excited.

I seriously can’t wait to see Hulk interact with the rest of the team and, well, I just can’t wait to see him smash stuff guilt free.

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Was I thrilled with the trailer? Not really. Am I happy with it? Sure. I wasn’t expecting much more than what we got at this early stage and there is nothing I’ve seen that would dissapoint me or bug me going into the film.

Although that “we’ll avenge it” line was laughably bad. Guys, you don’t have to give us a reason to call the team The Avengers. Just leave it be.