Star Wars: Revenge of the Brick

The first thing to strike you about this Star Wars short film is that it looks dated unfortunately. The leaps and bounds in animation and computing since 2005 has done but and it is not the film's fault, but one cannot shake off the impression that it should look better. This is an unfair criticism to make from seven years in the future, so I'll put that to one side and say that ignoring time the film does actually look really good and has a real flow to it and copes well with plenty going on on the screen at any one time.

Spaceships fragment into individual bricks by the power of the Force (and Lego) to avoid rockets, which pass right through, and other similar visual gags are actually pretty funny and work very well. Even though the film recreates scenes from the third prequel (a film that deserves very little affection), I still quite liked it and it made me chuckle more than enough throughout. Simple gags well done with good (if dated) animation – could have done with perhaps an edge more cruelty in the humour because it is a little too kiddie-friendly as it is, but I did find it funny enough to do the job.

Very poor attempt no doubt, but kinda worth it to see the decent end credits scene with Darth Vader.

To make 'Lego Star Wars: Revenge of The Brick' with no dialogue was an interesting choice, one I actually didn't mind - helped by the ultra short 5 minute run time. The animation style, though, is horrific.

Made as part of the promotion for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith, this short film is more of a parody in the way it recreates the first scene of the film, but with a humorous tone. It is a very entertaining short film that also has good animation and the end credits sequence is even a marvel for having Darth Vader's theme music in the background. The interesting thing is that this short film had the participation of Mark Hamill in the development. At the end Revenge Of The Brick is nice short film that anyone who likes Lego or Star Wars can enjoy. My final rating for this short film is 8/10.

So I decided to re-watch this Lego animation for the first time in years, and what did I find? It's pretty damn great.

Now, don't go into this thinking it's going to be a shot for shot recreation of Revenge of the Sith but with Lego bricks and figures, because it only follows the film in the broadest of strokes. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Mace Windu and Yoda, and Chewbacca are in it, and it features the battles of Coruscant and Kashyyyk, but that's it for similarities. The two battles depicted have little to nothing to do with the film, and go off on their own comedic strokes.

The animation has certainly dated, but still looks rather good by 2005 standards. Most of the ships depicted are clearly made from Lego, unlike in some other Lego animations, like the Ninjago cartoon. The figures also don't look very much like their real Lego counterparts, and General Grievous doesn't even appear to be made from Lego.

It has the typical Lego style humour, focusing on slapstick gags and sight jokes, which is apt because it features no voice acting. You hear Yoda's grunts, Wookiee growls and Battle Droid "roger roger's", but their are no words spoken, which makes it ideal viewing for younger children.

So don't ask me why I decided to review a short Lego animation from 2005, but do know that I recommend it with the utmost importance (as far as Lego animations go).