Product Placement Nirvana...

I can't imagine how many Legos have been sold in the last week.

I loved them growing up, and I think they do help kids unleash a lot of creativity (that's the primary plot thrust of The Lego Movie, by the way), but I was a little put off by the brazen product placement in this one. From Krazy Glue to Titleist and, of course, the dozens of themed Lego kits that one can buy in any toystore, this movie basically doesn't even try to gloss over the fact that it's a great big commercial. 

The visuals were hard to keep up with in the first half of the movie, but I suspect the huge audience (it took in 69 million dollars on opening!) of kids didn't mind. There were plenty of explosions to keep them laughing, and there was lots of that in the theater we attended here in JAX.

The live-action in the third act was actually done well, and Will Ferrell was good as President Business. I liked the film (C/C+) okay, but I won't care to watch it again. This film is the new paradigm for kids--glitzy special effects with mondo product placement and cross promotion to the local fast food joints. There's a tiny soul in there--a little message about being true to one's self and overcoming homogeneity--but it's unfortunately dwarfed by the rest of it... 

I'll take The Goonies and The Karate Kid every day of the week...