‘The LEGO Movie’ was an unexpected crossover smash in 2014, quickly establishing itself as a wry, pop culture-skewing comedy that transcended the family audience and helped launch Chris Pratt’s cinematic career. So if a movie about one line of building toys can spawn a movie, why can’t another. And thus we have ‘Playmobil the Movie’.
This appears to work in reverse from ‘The LEGO Movie’, which featured a transition to live action at the end. In ‘Playmobil the Movie’, two live action kids, Marla and Charlie somehow get sucked into a lighthouse and spit out as toys in a land made of the German playthings. Strangely, the teenage girl, Marla’s toy avatar looks like a middle age soccer mom. Almost identically to ‘The LEGO Movie’, ‘Playmobil the Movie’ follows its main characters as they leap from one “world” to another. And just like in ‘The LEGO Movie’, there’s even a wild west cowboy scenario!
Here is the film’s synopsis:
When her younger brother Charlie (Gabriel Bateman) unexpectedly disappears into the magical, animated universe of PLAYMOBIL®, unprepared Marla (Anya Taylor-Joy) must go on a quest of a lifetime to bring him home. As she sets off on a fantastic journey across stunning new worlds, Marla teams up with some unlikely and heroic new friends – the smooth-talking food truck driver Del (Jim Gaffigan), the dashing and charismatic secret agent Rex Dasher (Daniel Radcliffe), a wholehearted misfit robot, an extravagant fairy-godmother (Meghan Trainor) and many more. Through their vibrant adventure, Marla and Charlie realize that no matter how life plays out, you can achieve anything when you believe in yourself!
And here is the trailer:
I have never owned Playmobil toys, nor did anyone I knew. I know they’re hella expensive and although I now see them at Target and Walmart, when I was growing up they only sold them at educational toy stores. While they’re kind of like LEGOs, they’re not made up of such intricate pieces, and I don’t think you’re really able to freestyle them the way kids do with LEGO. I also always kind of got the impression that these were more popular in Europe.
Presumably this is a musical, as Adam Lambert voices Emperor Maximus, while Meghan Trainor voices the Fairy Godmother. ‘Glass’ star Anya Taylor-Joy voices Marla, while Gabriel Bateman (from the new ‘Child’s Play’) and Ryan S. Hill voice Charlie at different ages. Daniel Radcliffe and Jim Gaffigan are also part of the cast. Lino DiSalvo, who previously worked on ‘Tangled’ and ‘Frozen’ is making his directorial debut. DiSalvo also came up with the story, with Greg Erb & Jason Oremland, who wrote ‘The Princess and the Frog’, and Blaise Hemingway handled the actual scripting duties.
‘Playmobil the Movie’ arrives on August 7, 2019.
Source: /Film
