Movie Review: The Lego Movie

We’ve been sent a copy of The Lego Movie*, or as it’s known in our house the “AWESOME MOVIE!” (said in movie preview style American voice) to review.  I should first state that this is in no way an objective review because IT'S AWESOME!  

It made us laugh, it made us cry (mostly with laughter).  Despite the characters being little animated plastic people (and things) there was real jeopardy, real triumph, real adventure.  And did I mention, it made us laugh?

So, there is an ordinary guy (made of Lego) who is told he’s the special, the greatest Master Builder of them all, who must save the (Lego) Universe from the evil of Lord Business, who is bent on ultimate control of everything, and everyone Lego.  And that just about sums up the plot of the lego movie, but doesn’t even begin to describe this fantastic, subversive satire about the drawbacks of conformity and the power of the imagination.

Despite a baddie called Lord Business, this film could easily have simply become an over long advert for the Lego brand.  Leaving us parents feeling like we had been slightly stitched up by the powerful combination of, toy manufacturing multi-national and Hollywood studio. But instead, this is an entertaining, creative movie that children and adults can enjoy together.  Doing that clever thing that Toystory pulls off so well, allowing us to laugh at the same joke from a slightly different point of view.  This joyous movie celebrates the imagination of our childhood and glories in it’s zany logic.

We loved it the first time we saw it at the cinema as Mr Fox’s birthday treat.  That’s what I mean about it appealing to both children and the child in the adult.  The nostalgic stop-frame style animation, the in jokes, the pop culture references and the genre smashing storyline appeals to the adults, while the vivid colour, superheroes, unicorns, good v evil, slapstick storyline appeals to the kids.

We love Lego in this house.  Both the little foxes have played with it from their early Duplo days, to the complete worlds they now create, that take up the whole playroom floor and that I am not allowed to put away for weeks on end.   

My only, only, issue with the movie is that with it’s positive message of creative play and building free form creations rather than following the instructions, the Lego playsets that came out after the movie to exploit it’s success were of exactly the latter type.  But, it did make us go to the Lego website, ignore the movie tie ins and seek out the Bricks & More Range that gives you all the loose Lego bricks you could want to make your own Lego creations come to life.

And finally any review of this film simply would not be complete without mention of the song, yes, that AWESOME song that my children sang repeatedly for weeks after, and anytime the word AWESOME is said since.  I can say little to describe it's awesomeness, instead, here, see what you think...

*We were sent this movie to review by Suppose.com

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The Snowman and The Snowdog

We have just had a lovely Sunday.  We went to see a showing of  Channel 4's The Snowman and the Snowdog in Leicester Square.  As we stood outside the theatre snow swirled into the air above us and so the magic began...

The Snowman and The Snowdog is the brand new sequel to the Christmas classic The Snowman and will be shown on Channel 4 at 8.20pm on Christmas Eve.  Both little foxes sat with their mouths open in enraptured silence throughout the film.  

Raymond Briggs' iconic children's book The Snowman was adapted for the screen in Channel 4's first year on air (1982).  The Oscar-nominated film, wordless apart from its evocative theme,  has been screened by Channel 4 every year since this first transmission.

Father Christmas bought this book for our little foxes the year Louis was born.  We have the wordless version, I feel it is somehow easier to deal with the ending this way.  I just answer the children's questions about the pictures and yes it is sad, but...

On the 30th anniversary of the original film, Raymond Briggs has given his blessing to a sequel this time with a new friend, The Snowdog - complete with odd socks for ears and a satsuma for a nose.  Many of the team who worked on the original film have worked on the sequal, in close consultation with Briggs, and the hand drawn animation is wonderful.  

A young boy and his mother move house, the boy discovers a secret box hidden under the floorboards of his bedroom. In the box, he finds a hat, scarf, lumps of coal and a shrivelled tangerine - that we, if not our children, will recognise!  Later that day it starts to snow and the boy builds a Snowman and a Snowdog, that night, at the stroke of midnight, the two magically come to life.   

The boy awakes and joins them on an amazing adventure, flying over modern London and onwards.    We had spent the previous evening in town and driven past many of the London landmarks in the film, so, this gave the children a lovely introduction to the new flying sequence.  The new Snowman is complete with a brand new soundtrack and  ‘Light The Night' which features in the flying sequence is more pop based than the original theme.  Andy Burrows, the former drummer with Razorlight, is the man who has written the song for this sequence and whose voice we hear. 

It is of course a slightly bitter sweet film.  I was in tears within the first 5 minutes, my children held it together until the end of the film.  Even Mr Fox was glassy eyed as we talked about it after.  It was just lovely, there is no other way to describe it, and we came home and put our Christmas tree up.  Christmas is truly here now!

There is also a Snowman and the Snowdog game for the iphone, ipad, Android phones and tablets that Louis and Una have been hooked on.  Yes, I am one of those mother's who hands her kids her phone to keep them quiet.  And this game  is fab for younger ones.  It has all the characters from the film and is FREE to download from app stores.  It's a little more, shall we say "mellow", than Angry Birds and the like and I am much happier listening to the music from this one than most.

The Snowman and The Snowdog is a Snowdog Enterprises and Lupus Films production.
www.thesnowman.com

We have several Raymond Briggs books and I'll have to do a separate post to cover our love of his work.

 Lupus Films specialises in producing TV programmes and films for children and families, working across all genres and techniques including 2D and 3D animation, puppets, live-action drama and factual entertainment. 
www.lupusfilms.com

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The Rise of the Guardians

UK Cinema Release Date :  TODAY - Friday 30th November 2012
3D computer animated fantasy adventure film by Dreamworks, directed by Peter Ramsey

Ok, so, I didn't love this film, but, I enjoyed it.  It's no Monsters Inc, or Rango, or Toy Story.  But it is a good family Christmas film, sweet enough but not too sacharinne and great for little ones who will like the odd action sequence.  The animation is beautiful the details of background and characters fluid and gorgeously rendered.

Based on the idea that the man in the moon has chosen a group of Guardians to care for the children of the world.  When the evil Pitch Black (Jude Law) trys to expell hope and wonder and replace it with fear and disbelief the immortal Guardians spring into action.

There is a new Guardian in the team, Jack Frost, with the voice of (Chris Pine).  Jack has spent 300 years having fun, causing mischief and is not too keen on becoming a Guardian. The other Guardians are sure that he has been chosen for a reason and he needs to understand what is at his "centre".  

His new workmates include the half hummingbird Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) and the silent Sandman.  Their leader is Father Christmas (Alec Baldwin), a tattooed Russian sounding warrior.  The subversion of the usual characterisation of these childhood heros is one of the best parts of the film.  The easter bunny is a 6ft, boomerang welding Aussie.

I watched the film with my two little foxes, Una (6) and Louis (3).  Louis was a little scared in parts, although not so bad that he wouldn't watch it, just fingers over his eyes and then insisting he wanted to watch it to the end.   I would say the film is a little too old for his age.

Una, however, said it was "fantastic" her favourite characters were the; "Tooth Fairy because she's pretty" (and she has just had a recent visit from her!) and "Jack because he's funny, he landed and his cloak went over his head..."  She says she wasn't scared but I definitely remember holding her hand at one point.

They both jumped up this morning in excitement to check the windows for signs that Jack Frost had been and may have left some sign of his artistic talents on the window.  So, I guess they both enjoyed it really.

  

Based on William Joyce's The Guardians of Childhood book series and The Man in the Moon short film by Joyce and Reel FX. Peter Ramsey directed the film, while Joyce and Guillermo del Toro were executive producers. Produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

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