★
A young woman travels to the animated world of Playmobil to find her missing younger brother, Charlie. In order to bring him back home, she must embark on a thrilling adventure.
Classification: U
Just like its plastic toy counterparts, Playmobil: The Movie is going to draw comparisons to its main market competitor Lego, and with The Lego Movie series going four films strong in the last five years, Lino DiSalvo's animated adventure has a lot to live up to. Unfortunately nothing on offer from Playmobil: the Movie is worthwhile with its mediocre plot, dull characters and its ham-fisted attempts of thematic relevance leaving an animated experience with very little laughs or excitement. While the animation is amusing in certain scenes, there is a sheen to it all that makes the film seem to be inhabited by a strangely designed people rather than the living embodiment of toys. The plotline is a lame mixture of Jumanji, Labyrinth, and Finding Nemo but no amount of similarities creates an experience on par with these influences. Just presenting a tired story of the main character on an adventure to find her brother while encountering a menagerie of hackneyed stereotypical characters including Vikings, Romans, Pirates, Aliens, and Cowboys.
There's nothing tangible to grasp on with the storyline or characters as Playmobil's attempt of larger emotional storytelling just feels hollow and there merely to make this appear as a film rather than a really long commercial for the new Playmobil toy lines. The variety in the new locations and characters do derive some initial enjoyment but like every other element of the film, it quickly wears thin as nothing about the film has any strong foundation in original storytelling. Even Daniel Radcliffe's Bond parody secret agent Rex Dasher who is clearly designed to be the Lego Batman scene-stealer grows tiresome before his first scene is even over. Shallow themes of family and adventure are woven through each of its set-pieces as the characters realise their strength through the power of believing in them self through arbitrary storytelling. It just roots all of the character development in infancy so that the climaxes and emotional catharsis only has the potential to entertain a small child and no one else in the audience.
Playmobil: The Movie suffers from poor comedy and musical numbers desperate to have the same effect as Lego's lighthearted brand from their films. Despite the variety of locations and characters within the universe the characters traverse, there is not a joke to be found as Jim Gaffigan's Del who serves as the film's comic relief just delivers a pathetic shell of a character without any real likeable or memorable traits. The other voice actors don't stand out much either with completely forgettable supporting characters and villains making the world of Playmobil not one particularly exciting to visit. The animation design doesn't lend itself well to representing the characters as living toys but when the film briefly shifts to one of its musical interludes, the animators can break the film away from its monotony and do something remotely fun. The songs aren't particularly memorable but watching some Playmobil Vikings dance around for a few minutes does give some much-needed distraction away from the boring story. The few moments that can be interpreted as enjoyable are only really a result of the majority of the film being so tedious that when the slightest effort is displayed it feels like a breath of fresh air.
It's clear that Playmobil was hoping to capitalise on the success of the animated Lego films but five years since the highly successful franchise launched, it just seems Playmobil is late and now unwelcome to the party. It comes across like an inferior, rushed product that misunderstood all of the elements that makes Lego such a successful and responsive franchise. From faults in the films internal logic, lack of real tangible stakes in the story and stale clichés driving every element of the plot and character development nothing about Lino DiSalvo's vision of a Playmobil universe makes it justifiable to audiences. Children may draw some amusement from the visuals but essentially Playmobil: the Movie is just a lobotomised version of The Lego Movie that will leave audiences dissatisfied and looking to find the far superior adventure.
Director: #LinoDiSalvo
Cast: #AnyaTaylorJoy, #JimGaffigan, #GabrielBateman, #AdamLambert, #KenanThompson, #MeghanTrainor, #DanielRadcliffe
Release Date: August 9th
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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