Admittedly, the LEGO Movie was entertaining. My kids laughed, I laughed, the animation was pretty good (albeit a bit too complex for its own good at times, trying, it seemed to me, to climb a notch above the usual LEGO video production quality), certainly watchable. There was a story, a message about being flexible and not always following the rules (though the kids couldn't quite put their fingers on it when I asked what it was), some good voice performances and a nice riff on the obsession of AFOL (Adult Fans of LEGO).
Yet it's obvious that this movie was made for one reason: to sell LEGOs. It's not product placement, it's movie as product. As it unspooled, you could almost identify which vehicles and setting would be landing on store shelves. Or have landed.
Nothing new, sure. Transformers had it down pat years ago. But everything -- everything, even the ocean water and soap bubbles -- are LEGOs. You can buy everything in this movie. And I suppose that's OK, except that the movie is aimed squarely at kids, who will certainly want to buy everything in it. I can see the story conference now:
"OK, we need at least five or six new vehicles."
"And a robot. Kinda like a Bionicle or the mechs in Ninjago."
"Yeah. And a bunch of new minifigs, a couple of which will be rare so the kids have to buy every set."
Maybe I'm being overly cynical. After all, I didn't keep my kids away from the movie. I'm just saying, let's call a commercial a commercial. Perhaps they should pay us to sit through it.
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