The Lego Movie did a great job establishing a classic hero’s journey while at the same time ruthlessly making fun of it. Even though it was a kids movie, it understood its narrative structure, stuck to it like glue, but also played around a bit and let the story breathe. You never once thought, “Oh, now we’re in the relationship-building scene.” It knew its boundaries but also knew when to cross the boundaries. And despite its ADHD pacing, it worked.
The LEGO Ninjago Movie, on the other hand, really has no idea what it's doing. It's sloppy and rushed story tries a little too hard to hit all the right beats but fails spectacularly. The storytelling feels...
When
The Lego Movie came out, I was honestly skeptical. The idea of throwing a popular toy franchise on to the big screen reeked of a get-rich-quick scheme by Hollywood producers, hoping to capitalize only on the brand name and not put much effort into the cinematic experience. Fortunately, I was very wrong, and admittedly, I fell for the same thinking trap again with
The LEGO Batman Movie.
I figured
The LEGO Movie’s success was nostalgia driven and wouldn’t be able to be replicated in future spin-offs. However,
The LEGO Batman Movie proved you can make a great movie on two...
Last month, Valleyfair hosted a legion of food trucks containing a wide variety of morsels and delicacies from all over Minnesota. The
Food Truck Frenzy was a big hit and may well become an annual tradition.
In July and August, everyone's favorite local amusement park is at it again, providing more memorable entertainment options for the whole family. They're calling it 'Cinema in the Sand' and you don't want to miss out.
On Friday, July 18th, Valleyfair will be showing the hilarious hit
Despicable Me, and on August 15th,...
It's interesting to see two unsuspecting (kind of) movies that have been the biggest hits in theaters over the past months.
Frozen has launched a seemingly endless phenomenon, and
The Lego Movie has been a smash hit since hitting theaters last month (96% on
Rotten Tomatoes!). It truly intrigues me that these are the two movies that almost everyone has seen and both are still topics...
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, is unique in the sense that it’s the second film in a series, while it’s the fourth film in the Lego Movie franchise. The success of the first film led to The Lego Batman Movie (an entertaining diversion), followed by Lego Ninjago (the less said about it the better), but those films occupy some other corner of the larger Lego Universe. It was a valid question of whether Warner Animation Group could live up to the hype of the first adventure of Emmet (Chris Pratt), Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), and Batman (Will Arnett).
