Friday, February 3, 2012

LEGO Captain America Movie

You know, sometimes it really seems like a movie can fail because it gets stretched in too many different directions... Especially with superhero movies.  Studios want them to be at the same time gritty and family-friendly; realistic, yet true to the comics.  You can't always have it both ways.

 Captain America sort of felt this way to me.  I saw it in theaters this past summer with my 9-year-old cousin.  He liked it just fine, but his taste in movies isn't all that discerning.  In fact, he stopped mentioning the movie the next day and was back to his previous obsession (not a good sign).  It left a similar impact on me.  The movie was entertaining in parts, but felt very bland and generic.  A fine summer movie, but nothing I'd recommend to anyone or feel the need to watch a second time.  In all honesty, the beginning of the movie wasn't bad, but the second half just didn't have the same flow.  It's an origin story set in WWII.  Did we really need the alien cube thing?  Were they really that desperate to tie this movie into the Avengers setup?  Seemed a bit forced to me.  

In general, I'm a little worried with the direction Marvel in particular is taking with their movies.  Captain America was ok, Thor was ok.  Iron Man I was good, II was admittedly bad.  They all just seemed like setups for 'The Avengers', which for Marvel's sake, better be good.  They have a lot riding on it, since almost all of their other movies are tied into it.

The one departure seems to be the next Ghost Rider movie, which actually looks pretty decent in the sense it isn't trying to capture the young kid audience.  That's a good thing since Ghost Rider really isn't a character for kids, and never was.  It should be noted that the first Ghost Rider movie was very tongue-in-cheek and seemed to want to capture the kid audience, again an example of being stretched too many different ways.  Didn't work.  It should also be noted that the first Ghost Rider movie was not a Marvel Studios film.  Check out the trailer here

Who knows... I'll likely keep watching them.  It's just one of those things where since I have a familiarity with the characters, I'll always have a sense that some things could have been done better.  That some parts of those movies should have better met my personal expectations for how that character would be portrayed.  It's a double-edged sword: a built-in fan base, but one that is overly critical.

Anyway, the reason for my ramble was a cool little Captain America LEGO short that got me thinking about super hero movies.  It's one of the more over-the-top LEGO films I've seen, and I've seen quite a few.  It almost makes me wish the actual Captain America movie wasn't so kid-friendly so we could have had some scenes approaching this.

Super over the top, right down to the Wilhelm scream and the screaming eagle sound effect.
 Kudos to ForrestFireFIlms, this was really well done.

16 comments:

  1. Felt the same with most movies. Captain America was cool but I felt the way you did. I guess it could of been worse. As for the vid, OMG how sick was that. Amazing. I love lego animation like that.

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  2. That Lego movie was better than the live action one.

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  3. My only grief with Ghost Rider is that they picked Nic Cage... I will never understand why he keeps getting cast as an action hero. National Treasure should have been the limit on that.

    That lego captain america short is brilliant though haha.

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  4. Yeah, I got kinda bored watching Captain America. I honestly think I enjoyed Thor better. I hope The Avengers lives up to it's name and reuptation.

    Wow, that video looks like it took a ton of work. Holy crap!!!

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  5. That was a really awesome homage. Captain America seemed alright but I do have to agree Avengers better be awesome.

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  6. The Lego one was pretty cool haha. I couldn't stand Ghost Rider, only cuz Nicholas Cage is such a bland actor for action movies. I think Marvel is just setting up for the Avengers. I agree though if Avengers sucks then they wasted a ton of time and its just gonna be really disappointing :/

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  7. Not sure on the Ghost Rider movie, that first one was a HUGE piece of crap. Most superhero movies are okay for a watch and then that is that. Especailly the first, as they are the origin stories, which many have seen 1000 times already.

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    1. I agree the first Ghost RIder movie was pretty much crap, but again, that wasn't a Marvel Studios picture. That happened back before Marvel got control over their characters. Back then, the character rights were shopped around to the highest bidder, and Marvel got a producing credit but didn't have much creative control. Movies like the first Ghost Rider eventually led the the current incarnation of Marvel Studios, which has gotten back almost all of their character rights and assumed creative control over the direction of their characters in film. I believe as of right now, Fox still owns the rights to the Fantastic Four.

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  8. I'm a HUGE superhero movie buff. I loveeee Iron Man. The Dark Night still gives me chills. Thor was great!! But Captain America? Eh lol

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  9. You know, you're absolutely right. They'd probably make for better movies if they focused on one set of people. Or just one general direction. The Avengers thing is also starting to irk me the wrong way. It's just a monopoly they're showing off until the movie comes out. And I really hope it gets good reviews, or else I'll have to hear everyone I know complaining about the damn thing.

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  10. That was awesome! :D

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  11. I'll be honest, The Avengers looks like Iron Man 3. :\

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  12. Wow. What can't legos do. I'm also a bit distraught about what marvel has done with its movies.

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  13. I'm not into comic books, but it looks like a nice movie to just fall asleep to. We all need that sometimes :)

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  14. I don't even want to think of the amount of work that went into the lego movie. That's some serious animation.

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  15. yea that would have been awesome if it wasnt so mass market and more for adults

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