As of earlier today, fans of several Pixar Animation Studios films can revisit some of their favorite stories and characters in a new way with a batch of new shorts that have arrived on Disney+, LEGO Pixar BrickToons.
The new shorts revisit familiar characters and locations but aren’t simply a retelling of their respective stories, instead taking the characters and settings into the world of LEGO for all new adventures. For example, the characters of Coco head to the Land of the Dead once again, this time to represent the family in a battle of the bands. Another instance sees the Parr family (AKA The Incredibles) take on Syndrome once again (even though we saw the graphic demise of this villain in the original The Incredibles).
Which leads to an interesting point – outside of the characters and stories, Pixar Animation Studios seems largely absent from the series. Atomic Cartoons – who are also responsible for other LEGO projects including Star Wars: Rebuild The Galaxy and other Disney fare like Zombies: The Re-Animated Series – are the masterminds behind these shorts. In fact, outside of branding (peep that LEGO Pixar Logo though. Where’s THAT set at?) Pixar Animation Studios and its leadership and creatives are only mentioned in the “Special Thanks” credits.
That said, and knowing these stories can’t possibly be canon (right?), if you overlook the world building and stories of the original fare (How DID Miguel get back to the Land of the Dead? Why is Lightning McQueen racing and not Cruz Ramirez?, etc etc.), these hold up as fun little stories in their own world that everyone will enjoy. This set includes five:
- Coco: Family Bands Together
- Cars: Trust Yer’ Ol Pal Mater
- The Incredibles: Pizza Night
- Brave: Patience is a Bear
- Finding Nemo: Field Trip
Each is a standalone story in the LEGO version of the world of their film, and they all include very upfront morals and lessons that are perfect for the younger set, yet still entertaining for those adults watching with them. If nothing else, the adults (heck, the kids too) will want some of these as LEGO sets (lookin’ at you Radiator Springs). Each world and character is masterfully created in LEGO, including the Brave characters who seem to be living in a Duplo world. In fact, the only time I was taken out of the idea that these are Pixar worlds and characters in LEGO form was the jarring simplicity of The Incredibles as mini-figs. Considering how stylized each human in that franchise is, seeing them all simplified as a basic mini-fig (especially youngster Jack-Jack) was the only thing that kept me from being fully immersed in that story.
More impressive (and frankly, surprising) though, was that four out of the five shorts had actual cast return for their LEGO version as well. Brave: Patience is a Bear is the only one that didn’t have an actual cast member in the production (based on credits). So in the Cars-based short, Larry the Cable Guy and Owen Wilson reprise their roles as Mater and McQueen, respectively, and the elder Parr family is also included in that list! Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, and Sarah Vowell all return. Even Jason Lee as Syndrome! Dash unfortunately has the same problem as Miguel and Nemo – all these guys keep growing up – so those are new voices. Fans of the Disney Parks might recognize the voices heard in Finding Nemo: Field Trip, though Bob Peterson does reprise his original role as Mr. Ray.
Knowing that these LEGO shorts are geared towards the younger set and not necessarily the adult Pixar fan, the humor and stories are great for the target demo, but I am surprised by the lack of LEGO humor. Part of the fun of these LEGO projects is that they are, in fact LEGO, and aware of it. The Pixar Logo at the opening, with the lamp breaking the “I” into a pile of black bricks sets a bar that the rest of the series doesn’t live up to. Really, only the Finding Nemo short seems to acknowledge that they are LEGOs as they rebuild a pirate ship, and the Cars short features some events that would only happen in a LEGO world but outside of that, these are just fun adventures that happen to be in a LEGO format.
Each short clocks in around 6 minutes in length (including about 2-3 minutes of those lengthy Disney+ credits) and are easily digestible for the whole family – especially since the younger ones will likely have them on repeat. I give the shorts 3.5 LEGO Pizza Planet Boxes out of 5.
You can catch LEGO Pixar BrickToons streaming now on Disney+.