You guys, have you seen The Lego Movie? Have you have you have you have you? Because if you haven't, you should totally go see it as soon as possible. Yeah I know you're busy, but what have you got going on that's more important than being completely and thoroughly entertained for 100 continuous minutes? I'm feeling evangelical about The Lego Movie because I took my kids to see it this weekend and I was totally surprised by how much I loved it. While my 6-year-old was squirming in his seat and my 8-year-old was semi-distracted by the task of ferreting every last kernel out of his popcorn bag, I was utterly enraptured by the action happening onscreen. Honestly, I don't think I've laughed that much in a theater in years. What I'm saying is that I'm almost entirely certain you'll love it even if you don't have kids -- but if you need a little extra encouragement, here are 5 Lego Movie in-jokes that were clearly meant to sail right over little kids' noggins. The Lego Movie was written and directed by the team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who also did 21 Jump Street, which starred Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.
In The Lego Movie, Tatum voices Superman and Jonah Hill plays the socially awkward, overly clingy Green Lantern. Channing to Hill, when their characters get stuck together in a wad of gum: "I super hate you." Cobie Smulders from How I Met Your Mother voices Wonder Woman in The Lego Movie. If this seems like an oddly appropriate choice, given Smulders' gorgeous WW-esque looks, Joss Whedon has said he considered her for the role of Wonder Woman in his draft of the eponymous film, which never went into production. Smulders was also reportedly in the running for the Wonder Woman role in the upcoming Batman vs. Superman, but lost out to Gal Gadot. That's a bummer for her, but it looks like Smulders is at least enjoying playing a minifig version of the superheroine: The failed BIONICLE product line.When Morgan Freeman-voiced Vitruvius describes the various worlds Lord Business has tried to master, he mentions there are some no one cares about. Watch the blink-and-you'll-miss-it glimpse of Bioncile, the line of toys Lego discontinued in 2010 (semi-replacing it with the Hero Factory series).
Nice little self-deprecating nod to one of Lego's own unsuccessful products. Early on in the movie, Emmet's "friends" are seen eating croissants and turkey drumsticks while waxing poetic about what makes them all individuals. The joke here is that Lego only has a few foods that fit into mini-fig hands. Croissants show up in over 30 different LEGO sets, while turkey drumsticks are in well over 50. And now for the last one, which is a BIG spoiler if you haven't seen the movie ... At the very beginning of the movie when Lord Business and Vitruvius fight over the Kragle, we see a title screen that says, "Eight and a half years later." This we can assume refers to the birth of Finn, the live-action kid who's been playing with the Legos all along. As MTV puts it, So though it's never explicitly stated, when Finn was born, The Man Upstairs locked his toys away, separated the worlds and made sure that his son would never play with them. Given the poignant ending, this is yet another beautiful, emotional detail that adds to the richness of the film.
I couldn't possibly list all the rapid-fire jokes from the film, because they're nearly nonstop from beginning to end. And on top of all that relentless humor, the last 35 minutes take an initially confusing turn into live-action territory that may just have you sobbing into your popcorn. So many thumbs for The Lego Movie -- a true rarity in that it's equally enjoyable for kids and grownups. Have you seen The Lego Movie? Did you totally love it? Images via Warner Bros, InstagramIf Deadpool could parody the entire superhero genre, why not create a Batman movie that parodies the massive, long-running Batman mythology? It’s a smart, timely idea to build a monument to the decades of trivia regarding one of the most iconic superheroes (and characters) of all time, and as a followup to the hilarious and self-aware Lego Movie, which is ultimately a more thoughtful attempt to woo both kids and audiences. Within the story of Lego Batman Movie, the titular character (voiced by Will Arnett) is as much a pop culture phenomenon as he is in real life, singing songs about how incredible he is and lavishly surrounding himself with gadgets and vehicles that best represent his own ego.
But Batman is lonely, too, for reasons that might confound the same viewers who do manage to get all the references being tossed and visually planted. See in this “universe,” Batman has never had a Robin, Batgirl, or otherwise. He’s a member of the Justice League (sort of?), and the movie wants to suggest that his symbiotic relationship with Joker is an interesting parody of romantic comedies (helped by frequent references to actual romcoms Batman enjoys in private). It’s all written in a sloppy, haphazard way, because the viewers who will get the most out of the mountains of jokes and references will also wonder how all of this can simultaneously coexist with a Robin/Batgirl origin story, especially as there are loads of winks to previous Batman films (with those characters) being in the same mythology as this movie. In other words, it’s confusing, distracting, and hard to ignore, even for a movie that doesn’t ask you to take any of this seriously until it does.
The film’s primary message is that Batman needs to learn how to work with others as a team, and the path for him to get there is utter chaos. Entire scenes are mismatched in pace and tone, frequently stopping the action completely every few minutes or so to repeat (sometimes verbatim) the themes and messages of the movie, just in case the kids didn’t understand how hard it is for Batman to have…friends? As a result, Batman ends up learning the same lesson multiple times, sometimes pontificating the same ideas a scene later. It seems the writers (there were many) didn’t have sufficient time or freedom to edit the script because they also wanted to maintain the jokes they came up with to suit those scenes, so Lego Batman Movie comes off as a first draft riddled in mayhem and some interesting ideas, which will make it hard for audiences to feel less than overwhelmed by the frenetic references, action, and set pieces that turn on a dime. The saving grace, however, is the fact that most of these jokes are humorous, especially if you’re a batfan.