Trying to build on Lego, but this plastic’s not fantastic
Playmobil: The Movie (U) Verdict: Plasticky animation ★★✩✩✩
THE makers of this film must have known that unless it was very good indeed, they would stand accused of leaping aboard the bandwagon made of Lego.
Well, it’s not that good and yes, it is clearly an attempt to emulate the success of The Lego Movie, its sequel and spin-offs, not just as movies but as powerful merchandising weapons.
Its debutant director, Lino DiSalvo, comes with a promising pedigree: he was Head of Animation on Disney’s 2013 behemoth Frozen. Moreover, I really wanted to enjoy it, having watched my children create endless joyful fantasies out of plastic Playmobil figures (and only very occasionally swearing when treading on one in bare feet).
But the film itself feels rather plastic, with a time-travel narrative that will mystify much of its target audience, while striking their elders as a rip-off of Time Bandits of blessed memory.
Still, it’s nice to see the talented Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch) in a film that doesn’t make you jump out of your seat in fright. She plays Marla, a New Yorker who is forced to look after her younger brother Charlie (Gabriel Bateman) when their parents perish (unseen, but still a little dubiously in a film intended for young children) in a car crash.
As a proxy adult, she has to suppress her adventurous wanderlust, much to Charlie’s dismay. He duly runs away. But then, when she finds him in a vast Playmobil exhibition, they are both magically transformed into little figurines, embarking on a crazy adventure through time in which they encounter Vikings, Romans, cowboys, and a secret agent called Rex Dasher voiced by Daniel Radcliffe.
For much of the country, I gather, rain is forecast this weekend. A combination of wet afternoons and stir-crazy kids might be this film’s best chance of maximising box-office numbers and selling loads more Playmobil.