Lego: Hero Factory Rise of the Rookies

i was (and still am) a huge Bionicle fan, but I have to say this is a really great film. It is a perfect introduction into this world - it's very accessible for younger kids and there's definitely enough action and awesome looking animation for older kids. The story is not incredibly complicated, so you don't have to be an expert on the 'mythology' to watch this movie - you can just put it in and go. I'm sure we'll get to learn more about the origin of the Hero Factory and other characters as time goes by and LEGO begins to tell us more backstory, but this is a ton of fun from start to finish. The animation looks fantastic and you can tell there has been a lot of effort put into this movie, it's not just one of those junky DVD movies that other toy companies put out just to sell toys. This is a first class production with a good story, really fun characters that is totally worth watching. Also, it's got a great cast, John Schneider (Bo Duke!), Henry Winkler (the Fonz!), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker!) and Malcolm McDowell!!!! Kudos to LEGO for keeping the quality bar so high in its productions (Bionicle, Clutch Powers and Atlantis - which is included as a bonus on the DVD!).

I am an adult who love science fiction themed animated films and I picked this up on a whim. I own several of the Bionicle movies and while I must say that I do not think this film is as good the style and themes is rather similar. This miniseries is about a future world inhabited by robots, one organization seek to keep the peace and protect the citizens and that is Hero Factory which well build heroes, the main characters are a team of rookie heroes from this organization who is trying to learn the ropes while impressing their older superiors and that the same time put super criminals away.

In a way this show reminds me of silver age comics, the villains are all cackling lunatics, the heroes is good, kind and heroic and none ever get seriously hurt and this is both the show's flaw and and it's strength. The action in the show is good and is sure to please a young boy, or perhaps a young girl, I know I would have loved this when I was 12. There is allot of humor in the show and it made me and my hubby laugh. The characters are charming and the animation, while it do repeat a bit at times is good.

One thing I did not like about the show is that there is no explanation as to why the villains do what they do, there is never an explanation as to the various criminal robots relationship with Von Nebula the main villain, so in the plot department this miniseries is badly lacking, now if you are buying this for a 10 year old kid then that will probably not matter that much, it will be entertaining enough to see the robots fighting, but for an adult animation lover the lack of a proper plot is disappointing. That is what I liked about the Bionicle movies, they had both action and plot, just because something is meant for children do not mean that plot do not matter.

I do not think this will ever gain the kind of popularity that Bionicle has, however all in all it was a entertaining film. I also have to mention that on the DVD there is a neat little bonus feature, a animated short film where a Lego sub marine crew go searching for the lost city of Atlantis, fighting sea monsters as they go, I think this short film was very well done and as it is over 20 minutes long that is a very nice bonus feature which definitely raises the worth of this DVD.

In conclusion, this miniseries is mindless, it is colorful computer graphics robots fighting one another and that is about all it is, but the humor and nice character designs raises that would have been rather boring into something rather good, the inclusion of the Atlantis short film on the DVD makes this movie something worth getting, I am glad I picked it up.

Great movie, my son loves to play with LEGO all day long and every onze in a while he just wants to sit and relax and watch his friends come alive!!