With 21 Jump Street / Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller on board, we knew that The Lego Movie would not be your average toy tie-in pic. So the trailer, lurking at the bottom of the page, appeared to prove. Now there are new pics online for the film and some of the cast and crew discussed the characters and concept with USA Today.
"At first we thought, 'Oh, I don't know. A movie based on a plastic brick?'” Miller tells the paper’s site. "But we thought that maybe there is a way to do an interesting story as crazy and random as the toy itself. And we thought, we'll pitch this crazy idea and if they don't want to do it, then fine."
The plot revolves around a very normal mini-fig construction worker named Emmet (and voiced by Chris Pratt) who accidentally finding himself anointed "The Special" by a band of rebels who believe he is the key to saving their world from a controlling dictator. "We like the challenge of a story around the most generic, forgettable man in the universe," Lord says.
"I think they captured my likeness." Pratt says. "I wish I could get a plastic hairpiece to just snap onto my head every day. That would be a lot easier. Emmet's enthusiasm is something we share. I seem to be really enthusiastic about things as well in life. Maybe more so than I should be. It's probably why Chris and Phil had me in mind when they created the character."
Other characters populating the world include car genius Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), Batman (Will Arnett), villain President Business (Will Ferrell), wise Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) and nasty, conflicted henchman Good Cop/Bad (Liam Neeson).
Every new element we see from the movie gives us that much more confidence in it - although this XKCD cartoon did make us wonder if the minifigs can really be trusted. For more from the team, head to USA Today. The Lego Movie arrives on February 14.