The new trailer for The LEGO Movie has arrived, and it’s basically the perfect storm of nostalgic pandering, as it combines a multi-generational love for the world’s greatest building blocks (suck it, Duplo and amino acids) with a ton of voices provided by celebrities that we mostly love. Chris Pratt stars as the voice of Emmet, an ordinary LEGO bro just living the happiest life that he can, before he’s suddenly sucked into a world of super heroes that includes Superman (Channing Tatum), Batman (Will Arnett), Wonder Woman (Cobie Smulders), Vitrivius (Morgan Freeman) and 1980s-something Space Guy (Charlie Day), as well as the mega villain President Business, voiced by Will Ferrell.
And that’s just the tip of the voiceberg, as Liam Neeson, Elizabeth Banks, Jonah Hill, Alison Brie and Nick Offerman are also along for the ride. So is there any cause for concern? Sure, but let’s watch the trailer first.
The LEGO Movie was written and directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who are a mixed bag when it comes to writing and directing. On one hand, they directed 21 Jump Street, which was a great comedy, and they also helmed both Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movies. On the other hand, they’re directing Alvin and the Chipmunks 4 (a paycheck’s a paycheck, I guess) and they wrote Extreme Movie, which was a mediocre sketch/spoof movie that somehow starred Michael Cera (with Frankie Muniz, Matthew Lillard and Jamie Kennedy *vomits*).
With this cast and basic idea, I’m leaning toward the positive on this one. But I’ve been fooled before.