LEGO Marvel

I've gotten tired of these. They've totally lost their charm for me. They are just going through the motions at this point. *1/2.

No matter the franchise, the CGI LEGO specials ALWAYS manage to underwhelm. Even the best of them are essentially lazy cash grabs.

I mean, Red Guardian isn't even Natasha's father, which is where the entire tension of the relationship comes from. This special acting like he is is missing the entire damn point, and why they are so interesting and horrible together. The trite daddy / daughter issues seen here make it seem a LOT less interesting than the cruel and messy premise actually is.

So when Thor turns into a frog, he's the same size. That apparently goes for all LEGO minifigure characters outside of the Hulk (and the Wendigo). Even Red She-Hulk is the same size as everyone else.

The Wendigo was a DAMN clever callback. I also never expected this project to be the return of the amazing Steve Blum to the role of Wolverine. He's always been my favorite voice of the character even over Cal Dodd. Probably because Dodd was forced to say ridiculous, cringe things on a TV-Y7 rating, and Blum was gifted better scripts on Wolverine And The X-Men. But if we can finally see X-Men in the Lego stuff now are the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man far behind? I hope not.

I love Collector saying he once tried collecting musicians but none of them were in good condition. Funny, deep, and true.

The Santa stuff was SO stupid and crap like that is why I can never fully support the LEGO stuff.

Also Sam and Steve are BOTH Cap? How does that work? And how is Red She-Hulk the last Red superpowered person on Earth if Red Hulk is mentioned as her father but never seen?

If I had written this thing I would have included Scarlet Witch and Crimson Dynamo. Wanda in particular would be neat because she both has red in her name and IS an Avenger. I'd feel Nat's headgame with Collector there would be a lot more clever if she wasn't lying. If Wanda were present, she wouldn't have to be.

Also aren't Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Wasp, and Vision Avengers too? Collector hardly had a full collection of them with so many notable names missing.

This take on Omega Red amuses me for how angry it will make genuine fans. I admit the take sucks. But I picture Wolverine fans getting far angrier over it than they should.

It's LEGO. It's got bad jokes, and the plot and themes are a mess. And yet it actually got a licensed song, which suggests a little more thought and effort (not to mention money) was put into this than usual. Not that I actually liked it all that much more. 2 1/2 stars.

Generally speaking, the Lego Marvel cartoons tend to be less successful than the DC and Star Wars ones. Why is that? Shot in the dark: Both Lego DC and ESPECIALLY Lego Star Wars are outside of the rest of the most of those franchises. Yes, DC has some comedy toons, but they are not the most notable ones, Teen Titans Go!'s popularity notwithstanding. For Marvel, the jokes in the Lego specials feel very much like the same shit not just from Spidey And His Amazing Friends. But Ultimate Spider-Man and Guardians Of The Galaxy TAS too. They also tend to have the same casts as other Marvel animated stuff which again makes the tone seem very similar to everything else.

How is this outing? Probably the best one so far. It didn't spend money for faux stop-motion animation the way Lego Star Wars: Rebuild The Galaxy did, but it's definitely the best animation of all these specials. When shit is outsourced to Disney instead of Marvel Television, things look nicer.

Another thing that I like about Marvel cartoons: Unlike DC, modern Marvel cartoons will often pay money for licensed music. Teen Titans Go! famously did The Night Begins To Shine, but that is an outlier. This special, Guardians Of The Galaxy TAS and X-Men '97 actually have legit standards in their soundtracks which is pretty cool, and sort of makes you look down on the fact that this is a VERY recent thing and almost no other cartoons besides Justice League Unlimited (once) ever did it.

I like the part of She-Hulk claiming Deadpool stole her bit of talking to the audience. Because just going by their comic book timelines, it's true.

I would say it's cool they got Tom Brady to voice himself except he serves no purpose to being there, so I'm like "What the fuck?" instead.

Currently Marvel Animation on Disney+ does not have the rights issues that plagued the stuff from the 1990's and even the Marvel Television stuff from the 2010's. Spider-Man doesn't actually appear in THIS special, but Ghost Spider does, along with Wolverine, Storm, Thing, Daredevil, Punisher, and other previously-seeming-near-impossible gets. And yes, Deadpool DOES show up in the tag.

I noticed the "Magneto Was Right" graffiti right away. There were a ton of Easter Eggs I either missed or didn't get, but I got that one.

Vanessa Marshall voicing an invisible Sue Storm as a thickly-accented New Yawka grates a little, but then a LOT of stuff in these specials do.

Pretty good for Lego Marvel stuff. I see Disney is now making an effort to not phone this crap in anymore. Wish DC had done that when they had the license. 3 1/2 stars.