Reviewed by Mike Belfance

When I first started downloading "August 2004 Film Festival" movies, this was the one I really wanted to see more than the others that were already released. "Mario Saga" is a classic in my opinion, and HMC is becoming one of the most promising relatively new directors this community has. All of the negative buzz this movie has been getting had me a little worried when it actually came time to watch it. After seeing it, I don't agree with Andres that it single handedly bastardizes the "toy movie" sub-genre, but I also don't think it's as great as I originally was hoping it would be. It has some incredible animation, which the director is known for, but the story isn't set up very coherently, and it ends up feeling more like a preview for a longer movie (there's even some music in the background I remember from a few movie trailers).

The story is set up with a simple text box in the movie's opening. The peaceful lego people of "Billy's room" are attacked by the hate mongering "army men". Why the peace-loving lego people have rocket launching cannons isn't really explained but...still...nice setup. Had it been expanded upon, this idea could have made for a really great movie. What we have here, however, is an animation showcase that, while fun to look at, doesn't really have much going for it besides great visuals. The camera never follows one character for more than a few seconds, so viewers really have no medium for really getting into the battle. So, basically, all you have is well animated characters blowing each other to bits until the joke ending.

The animation is so good, however, it's hard to not find it entertaining. The hand made characters are animated extremely well, with great facial expressions (my personal favorite: the look on the lego person's face when the king rips the letter out of his hands). What your watching, though it's not really cohesive in any way, is cool stuff. The camera angles and panning effects are great, HMC has proven himself to be a very good director, I think it's safe to say that the problems in this movie are caused by it being rushed out. With some more emphasis on the plot, and a few characters we viewers can actually care about, this movie could have been the director's second classic. This movie just further goes to prove that you shouldn't make movies especially for film festivals unless your sure you can do everything you want in it and still meet the deadline. This is right up there with "The Operatives 2" in movies that could have achieved greatness if the directors had taken more time with them. Still, it's safe to say, that while this movie isn't anything incredible, you will most likely still have fun watching it- which alone should make it worth the download. Also, maybe I'm easily amused, but I laughed at the stupid ending.

There's not much else to say really. If you want mind blowing animation, and don't mind narrative being tossed aside, "Legoz" is a good movie to grab. I'd like to see this idea really built upon in another longer movie, but until then, this will hold you over pretty well if you like the concept. I give it a 75% out of 100%. Oh yeah, and hurry up and finish "Mario Saga 2" already!

75%