MOVIE: The LEGO Movie (2014)

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The LEGO MovieYear: 2014Rating: PGLength: 100 minutes / 1.67 hours As a child, LEGO was my toy of choice. I collected it. I built with it. The endless possibilities it provided gave me endless hours of entertainment. In translating this toy to the big screen, the primary concept of imaginative play is front and center. The LEGO Movie (2014) benefited from an alignment of two forces that made it into an instant classic. First, the animation accurately depicted the feel of these plastic bricks. Second, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have created another comedic masterpiece for kids and adults. The debt that The LEGO Movie owes to all the kids (and adults) who used the bricks to make their own stop-motion films is unavoidably huge. The LEGO video games were a bit more flexible in their character animations...sometimes to their detriment. By keeping the models stiff and abiding by the blocky limitations of the medium, The LEGO Movie made each scene feel...
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VIDEO GAME: LEGO Builder’s Journey (2021)

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LEGO Builder's JourneyYear: 2021Rating: ETime Played: 133 minutes / 2.22 hours I've played a lot of LEGO games over the years, but none of them quite matched the experience I had when playing through LEGO Builder's Journey. Early LEGO video games hit a lot of different genres until they settled into the "action adaptation" model that most LEGO games occupied in the early 2000s. Builder's Journey felt both classic and new in its minimalist puzzle platformer format. It's only a shame there weren't more levels to explore, but at least it told a tight story in the few hours it takes to get through it. Each level of Builder's Journey conveys a small piece of an overarching narrative that's communicated without a single word. This kind of storytelling is impressive in its own right, but even more so considering LEGO didn't lean on the expressiveness of their iconic minifigs. Instead, the characters are made of simple bricks that hop around the bonsai-like...
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VIDEO GAME: The LEGO Movie Videogame (2014)

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The LEGO Movie Videogame Year: 2014 Rating: E10+ Time Played: ~10 hours Growing up with Legos, I definitely enjoyed The LEGO Movie (2014) when it came to theaters. Sure, it may have just been a knock-off of The Matrix (1999), but there were enough humorous bits and meta references for me to enjoy myself. Considering how Lego had been adapting several film franchises into Lego-themed video games for quite a few years prior to this movie's release, it just made sense that they would then turn their first arrival on the big screen into a Lego video game as well. Of course, by now the "Lego video game" had become somewhat of a tired formula. Even if I could play through the events of the movie, the almost mind-numbing action wasn't much different from any of the other Lego video games I had already played. It's no wonder that I felt burned out from these games after playing through this one. You definitely get the...
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VIDEO GAME: Lego Marvel Super Heroes (2013)

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Lego Marvel Super HeroesYear: 2013Rating: E10+Time Played: ~23 hours In 2013, you would have been stupid to not cash in on the phenomenon that was the up-and-coming Marvel Cinematic Universe. A year after The Avengers (2012) showed what could be done with a handful of movies, and suddenly everyone is into Marvel superheroes. It then makes sense that Lego would release the Lego Marvel Super Heroes video game in 2013. What's even better is that the muddled movie rights for Marvel IP don't apply to video games, thus making this game a smorgasbord of superheroes to play with. I can appreciate how this game incorporated some of the popularity of the MCU (I mean, look at the characters front and center on the cover), but didn't completely need to adapt to the movie versions of these heroes. The voice-acting work for these characters was top-notch and really brought the quality of this game above the various grunts and cheers of the playable...
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VIDEO GAME: Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (2011)

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Lego Pirates of the Caribbean Year: 2011 Rating: E10+ Time Played: ~25 hours I have to give props to Lego for making perhaps the best movie franchise video games that have ever existed. Sure, there were a few good Disney games for the SNES back in the day, but the scope of Lego's video game adaptations of famous film franchises makes any official video game adaptations of these movies pale in comparison. Sure, it's basically the same game over and over again with a different skin, but if it's a fun formula, why change it? Lego Pirates of the Caribbean may only cover the first four films in the franchise (which I'd consider a good thing), but it's certainly enough content to enjoy a solid playthrough. These games are fairly easy to get 100% completion on, and this one is no different. Gameplay is still the standard "collect items in each level" and "unlock upgrades and characters with studs" that most Lego video games had...
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VIDEO GAME: LEGO Batman – The Videogame (2008)

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LEGO Batman: The Videogame Year: 2008 Rating: E10+ Time Played: ~30 hours LEGO Batman: The Videogame is a little bizarre because it came out well before The LEGO Movie (2014), where Will Arnett made LEGO Batman his own meme-able character (and eventually starred in his own movie spinoff). It also came out the same year as The Dark Knight (2008), which is arguably the best Batman movie in existence. However, this video game came early enough in the LEGO movie adaptation run in the late-2000s that it still had some of the rough edges that they hadn't smoothed out by later games in the series. This video game doesn't quite fit in the "movie adaptation" formula LEGO had created with hits like LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga. Instead, they seemed to pull from the iconic Batman the Animated Series for the game's episodic structure. We can all be grateful that the Tim Burton Batman films influenced this game much more than the Joel Schumacher...
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VIDEO GAME: LEGO The Lord of the Rings (2012)

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LEGO The Lord of the Rings Year: 2012 Rating: E10+ Time Played: ~15 hours In the early 2010s, the one franchise I could trust to create faithful adaptations of movies into video games was none other than LEGO. Their formula of action, puzzle solving, and exploration worked for other franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones, so when it came time to adapt what is arguably one of the best cinematic trilogies to grace the big screen, I was all on board for the LEGO The Lord of the Rings video game. Following the events from the three films that came out a decade before this video game, LEGO The Lord of the Rings captures the feel of those movies in the individual level segments that follow the plot. As per usual, you need a variety of characters to reach all the collectibles in each level, which sometimes necessitates re-playing levels after beating them the first time. Using these collectibles, they can buy upgrades that...
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VIDEO GAME: Lego Indiana Jones – The Original Adventures (2008)

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Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures Year: 2008 Rating: E10+ Time Played: ~20 hours Indiana Jones is one of those franchises that I enjoyed growing up, but was probably a bit too adult for me. Considering the amount of graphic violence that popped up in these films, it was easy to just "look away" during these intense moments. Heck, I hadn't even seen Temple of Doom (1984) until I had moved out on my own. It then seems weird to me that there would be a Lego video game based on this trilogy that's aimed at older children when the movies themselves probably should have been PG-13. In terms of gameplay, Lego Indiana Jones is still the same fun, simple, and mindless kind of game that encourages multiple play-throughs of the levels to collect all the items from three movies' worth of plot. This felt a bit more tedious in this game when compared to the six-film collection in Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga....
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VIDEO GAME: Lego Star Wars – The Complete Saga (2007)

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Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga Year: 2007 Rating: E10+ Time Played: ~40 hours Back in the day, this game was an intersection of many of my interests. Not only was it based on Lego, but it had a Star Wars theme and was a playable video game. The trifecta. My younger brother bought one of the earlier games in the series, which convinced me that I needed to buy it myself. Fortunately, I only had to wait a few years for Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga to be released since it contained gameplay from all six of the (at the time) Star Wars films in Lego video game style. Split into a handful of levels that represent the plot from each of the Original and Prequel trilogy films, most of the gameplay is fairly simple. Break blocks, build things, collect items, and overcome obstacles. It can get a little chaotic—but that's when it's the most fun. With an enormous roster of playable characters,...
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MOVIE: The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

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The LEGO Batman Movie Year: 2017 Rating: PG Length: 104 minutes / 1.73 hours While The LEGO Movie (2014) did a good job of initially not making its universe seem like it was just in the imagination of a 10-year-old child, The LEGO Batman Movie (2017) dispenses with that illusion and goes full-bore into the child-like mind. From the dialogue to the wide variety of licensed characters to the regular “pew, pew pew” sounds made when guns and lasers are fired, The LEGO Batman Movie steps right into what you’d expect a movie about a children’s building toy would be. Of course, with Batman being one of the best characters from The LEGO Movie, it’s no wonder why he was first to get a spinoff film. Regarding plot, it was simplistic. Kids would certainly be able to “get” that family matters, even if they aren’t biologically related. But fear not adults, there’s plenty for you in this film as well. Perhaps the best mark of...
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