Emmet, Wyldstyle and Friends Reunite in All-New StoryEmmet and his Master Builder friends return in “The LEGO® Movie™ 4D A New Adventure,” an all-new, theatrical attraction that combines dazzling, 3D computer animation with “4D,” real-world effects such as wind, water and fog. Set after the events of the blockbuster movie, the 12 ½-minute story finds the gang entangled in an Evil Secret Plot involving a mysterious theme park inspired by their adventures in “The LEGO Movie.” Returning to voice their iconic characters are actors Elizabeth Banks (Wyldstyle), Nick Offerman (MetalBeard), Charlie Day (Benny) and Alison Brie (Unikitty). Actor, writer and comedian Patton Oswalt voices the scheming Risky Business, brother of movie villain President Business, a new character created exclusively for the attraction. “The LEGO Movie 4D A New Adventure” plays multiple times per day in the theme park’s Wells Fargo Fun Town Theater, which recently underwent a dramatic, Hollywood-style makeover, adding giant, golden Emmet statues, character handprints in cement and an interactive red carpet filled with special effects.
Batman (voiced by the great Will Arnett) is back — but this time front and center — in "The Lego Batman Movie."You want me to review "The LEGO Batman Movie"? You really think that readers are going to see the headline, "Movie review: ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ builds on a great brand," and think, "I really wonder what the Daily News thinks of Will Arnett's return as the Caped Crusader. I'm also curious about whether Zach Galifianakis can pull off the challenging role of the emotionally scarred, but sadistically vicious Joker. And, now that I'm about to click on the review, I do wonder whether the author, who called the original 'LEGO Movie' the 'best film since "Citizen Kane,"' will ultimately be a fair arbiter of the spinoff." I guess what I'm saying is, you don't need a review of "The LEGO Batman Movie." If you saw the original, you know exactly what you're getting: animated bricks, a simple action movie plot, and Arnett's cocky Batman — with so much fourth-wall breaking that people in the front row will likely leave covered in debris.
But I'm paid to do this stuff, so here goes: "The LEGO Movie" was indeed a five-star classic: It was innovative, it was irreverent, and its touching plot added a live-action twist at the end that, while cloying, felt real. Robin is not as annoying as one would have expected, given he's played by Michael Cera. "LEGO Batman" pulls heartstrings, but they bend rather than break. In short: We know Batman works alone (mostly in black, but sometimes in gray, Lego pieces), and we know that his inevitable crime-fighting partnership with Robin (Michael Cera), Alfred (Ralph Fiennes) and Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) will end in the long-reviled group hug. But only the under-10 crowd will be bawling when it happens. It's hard to get emotional about mini-figures. If you remember anything about the original “Lego Movie,” Batman likes to work in black or dark gray. Much more successful is the Lego film franchise itself. This version feels a lot less like a long advertisement for Lego products than the original, which featured multiple "here's how to build something cool" segments.
And "LEGO Batman" uses pop culture better than the original. A scene in which Batman must confront his solitary existence employs Three Dog Night's "One (Is the Loneliest Number)" to near perfection. And several references to the late-1960s "Batman" TV series will also please the adults, especially a fight scene in which words like "Pow!" and "Kersplat" appear above the action, seconds after Arnett's Batman said they would. Yes, there's lots of self-references to "The LEGO Batman Movie," but isn't that what you're paying for? And isn't that why you're still reading this review? Oh, maybe you want one more thing: The movie poster quote. Here goes: "The LEGO Batman Movie" takes the best thing about "The LEGO Movie" — Batman! — and makes him America's new action hero. Take that, Vin Diesel!"Send a Letter to the EditorEverything is, indeed, awesome. Following a deal with the BBC that saw the inclusion of Doctor Who in the video game Lego Dimensions as well as get its own fantastic Lego playset, it looks like the Doctor may be taking a trip to the big screen... to join Emmet, Wyldstyle and friends for The Lego Movie 2.
The follow-up to the wildly successful Lego Movie (which itself featured a plethora of cameos, from DC heroes to Star Wars) is being directed by Rob Schrab, who appeared on this week’s Harmontown Podcast—who teased that Warner Bros. and the team behind the movie are currently in talks with the BBC to negotiate an appearance by the Doctor in the sequel.Schrab didn’t say much more about it—such as whether or not this would be a cameo akin to Han Solo and Chewbacca’s appearance in The Lego Movie, or a more prominent role similar to Batman’s presence in the film—but it makes sense given the Lego company’s recent collaboration with the BBC for other Doctor Who products. It was a goddamn delight to hear Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor in action with Wyldstyle, Batman, and Gandalf in Lego Dimensions, so the thought of that actually playing out on the big screen in The Lego Movie 2 is fantastic. Plus, with all that talk about a Doctor Who movie over the last couple of years, there’s something rather funny about the idea of the Doctor’s first real foray into movies since the 1960s Peter Cushing films being as a tiny, animated Lego minifigure.
[H/T Ken and David!]First it was The Muppets. Then it was The Lorax. Now, the Fox Business Network has found another children’s movie that is clearly promoting an “anti-business” agenda. Ladies and gentlemen, beware The Lego Movie. The first thing you need to know, according to Fox Business host Charles Payne, is that the film features a character who is actually named President Business. He’s voiced by Will Ferrell and “looks a little bit like Mitt Romney.” “Listen, Hollywood has its own agenda, and we’re kind of used to this” Payne conceded. “But it feels a little bit more threatening when they start to push this out to our kids over and over.” When his media analyst guest suggested that a CEO can be an “easy target” when screenwriters are looking for villains, Payne was having none of it. “Why is the head of a corporation, where they hire people, people go to work, they pay their rent, their mortgage, they put their kids through college, they feed their families, they give to charities, they give to churches—why would the CEO be an easy target?” he asked indignantly.
When it was contributor Monica Crowley’s turn to chime in, she decried Hollywood’s long history of “anti-Capitalist” movies. In fact, she had to go all the way back to 1946’s It’s a Wonderful Life to make the point that movies, in general, hate rich people. She then used the logic that “Hollywood” must think The Lego Movie is going to make a ton of money “no matter what” so they might as well “embed these kinds of anti-Capitalist messages and get away with it.” They must have made that decision at last year’s big “Hollywood” meeting. By the end of the segment, Payne had concluded that the whole thing “smacks of hypocrisy” and “there’s definitely something wrong with it for sure,” but he did not seem quite ready to define what that is. The Lego Movie exists for one reason and one reason only — and it’s not to entertain small children. The idea that a film designed solely to sell more Lego toys could be anti-Capitalist would be laughable coming from anyone, let alone a television network that proclaims to employ experts in the subject of business.