The Force is strong with LEGO.
What They Say:
A long time ago, in a galaxy built brick-by-brick . . .
As the Clone Wars rage across the galaxy, an unlikely hero will face the newest challenge to the Republic! Ian, a young stowaway, has joined a group of Padawans and their teacher, Yoda. When a Dark Jedi steals the Republic’s secret battle plans, it’s up to Ian and Yoda to save the day. But first, they’ll have to survive a crash-landing on the ice planet, Hoth, and each other. . . .
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the original Star Wars LEGO game spawning quite a few other properties getting adapted into that form, I have to admit that I’ve played it and the others heavily and my kids have adored the games throughout. And a big part of it is the fun of the characters in LEGO form going around, being silly and poking fun at it all. I’ve long wanted a TV special adaptation of the games in a way, though I knew we’d get what we do have here in a show that’s definitely aimed more at young kids than something like the Clone Wars series. And that’s okay because the games are maent to be incredibly accessible in general to younger kids and this lets them see the games in a whole new light. And for older fans? Those that don’t have a stick up their backsides will find it to be a lot of fun, simple but with enough nods and winks to work as well.
The episode focuses around a Jedi Temple school trip where we see Yoda leading a small group of them on a field trip to the Senate so they can see how things work. The group is small and cute with nobody of any note besides Yoda, though there’s a cute moment with a kid that joins the group who is trying to avoid the Senate police. He fudges a name to join them, Ian which makes it even more comical since it’s just a variation of Han, and he ends up causing a huge amount of chaos in the Senate with a rumble amongst all the delegates. Of course, it was very amusing from the start of it as you have Palpatine putting his hood on and taking it off saying “Sith, not a Sith” and Darth Vader getting into the scene too early before Lucas comes on and shows him he’s not due for quite a few more scenes yet.
The thrust of the episode involves one of the Battle Droids getting a hold of some secret battle plans and the kids on the bus getting caught u on it with Yoda and a trooper in pursuit, along with “Ian.” It takes them to various worlds such as Hoth, Tattoine and more which means lots of simple gags and plenty of cuteness, especially with Ian spending time with Yoda. There’s such a barrage of gags and humor here that it can be overwhelming at times and it has a lot of appeal because it keeps it clean. As much as I enjoy the Family Guy and Robot Chicken works with Star Wars, there’s plenty of room for this kind as well and this one has a very different kind of fun to it. I couldn’t help but to smile throughout this and feel that it needs to be watched multiple times in order to catch all the gags that are here.
In Summary:
LEGO Star Wars: Padawan Menace pokes the right amount of fun at itself and does it in great LEGO style. There’s something reassuring about it all happening with the clicking sounds of the bricks coming together and apart and with some of the tweaks that come from the games as well. Though it works younglings throughout, it has plenty of adult characters and various versions of familiar characters that get involved in positively comical ways. It has its quiet moments here and there, but it mostly keeps things moving very well with all the trappings of Star Wars, just from a different angle. This is the kind of thing that if it was a TV special back in the day, it would have been a massive fan event that delighted many. It may not reach most of the fans that have long since ditched Star Wars, but for this long time fan and his family that really enjoys the movies and the games, it’s a wonderful piece of work and I hope we see more specials. And it definitely has me looking forward to the home video release which will have additional shorts and the original movies compressed into two-minute LEGO form.
Content Grade:
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
We watched it twice in a row at my house, and I laughed right along with my boys both times! I loved the Yoda gags, and I found the Darth Vader bits also quite funny. 🙂