Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace (2011)

×

Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace (2011)

Close

A routine Jedi Academy field trip is turned into a rip-roaring comic adventure in LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace. Tour guide Master Yoda leads a group of rambunctious Jedi Younglings through Senate chambers when he senses a disturbance in the Force. Summoned to help save the Republic, he discovers that one of the Younglings secretly boarded his ship…and has a taste for adventure! Meanwhile, C-3PO and R2-D2 are put in charge of the boisterous group and find themselves in over their heads. As the evil Sith prepare to wreak havoc, it’s up to Yoda and the Droids to ensure that their young charges aren’t torn to bricks!

Ein Routine-Ausflug der Jedi Akademie entwickelt sich zum tollkühnen Spaßabenteuer in LEGO Star Wars: Die Padawan-Bedrohung. Meister Yoda führt gerade eine Gruppe wilder Jedi-Jünglinge durch die Senatshallen, als er eine Erschütterung im Gleichgewicht der Macht spürt. Er macht sich auf den Weg, die Republik zu retten und entdeckt dabei, dass Jüngling Ian sich heimlich an Bord seines Raumschiffs geschlichen hat … und dieser ist auf Abenteuer aus!

Währenddessen übernehmen C-3PO und R2-D2 die Aufsicht über die ungestüme Gruppe junger Jedis, sind damit aber völlig überfordert. Als sich die bösen Sith mal wieder für einen Angriff in Stellung bringen, liegt es an Yoda und den beiden Droiden, ihre Schützlinge davor zu bewahren, in Stücke … äh … Steine gerissen zu werden!

×

Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace (2011)

Close

The Padawan Menace is only 22-minutes long—it originally aired during a half-hour timeslot on the Cartoon Network in July—but the short, dense-with-comedy film takes us on a breakneck-speed tour of several locations in the Star Wars universe, set roughly around the time of the prequels. (This is strictly non-canon stuff, so continuity goes out the window.) We touch down first on Coruscant as Master Yoda (Tom Kane) leads a field trip of padawan apprentice "younglings"—some of the same kids Anakin strikes down in Episode III, I perversely like to presume —back from the Outer Rim territories, with plans for a guided tour of the Senate Building by C-3PO and R2-D2. When he senses a disturbance in the Force, Yoda leaves the kids in the care of the droids—who will make for completely inept babysitters—and discovers that Sith saboteur Asajj Ventress has stolen secret Republic battle plans, which are now on their way to soon-to-be Emperor Palpatine.

×

Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace (2011)

Close

While 3PO (voiced by the real deal, Anthony Daniels) and his young charges are accidentally blasted to Tatooine, where they're stranded, besieged by Jawas, and eventually captured by Jabba the Hutt, Yoda and a young orphan stow-away who calls himself "Ian" travel to Hoth to hunt down the battle droid carrying the precious intel. For a hint on the not-so-secret identity of "Ian," just turn the "I" in his name sideways. Get it? So, yeah, we're dealing with a pre-teen Han Solo, who acts—and talks—like a mixture of Bart Simpson and Dennis the Menace. (This is no coincidence, The Padawan Menace was written by Michael Price, one of the lead writers on The Simpsons since 2003.)

×

Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace (2011)

Close

The story is simple but it serves its purpose as a loose outline that's filled in with non-stop jokes about Star Wars geekery. From the moment a young Lego figure version of Jar-Jar Binks gets blown to bits—or is it bricks?—with a laser blaster most decidedly not set to stun, I knew I was in good satirical hands. Padawan Menace riffs on just about every complaint fans have leveled against the prequel trilogy, from the endlessly boring political jibberjabbering to the fact that no one seems to notice that Senator Palpatine is an evil Sith overlord bent on galactic domination. There's a great scene here where Palpatine appears in the Senate chamber with his hood up, prompting a gasp from all of the delegates, but then remembers to lower it, eliciting a collective phhheeeeew from the intergalactic officials. (Seriously, though, how could the Jedi Council not sense something was awry?)

×

Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace (2011)

Close

Darth Vader shows up anachronistically on three occasions, and a Lego version of George Lucas—complete with gray hair and plaid shirt—yells cut and walks onto the set to explain, "Darth, Darth, you're not in this scene! You want a donut? Hey guys, can someone get Darth a donut?" Yoda is hilarious here too, a pint-sized badass who says "peace out" and gets called "bro" by storm troopers. Oh, and look out for C-3PO's Tony Montana impersonation. Actually, you'll want to keep your eyes peeled at all times, because there are clever references and jokes all throughout Padawan Menace at a blink-or-you'll-miss-it pace, from bafflement at the purely pictorial instruction booklets of Lego kits to a Cloud City reality show called "Keeping Up with the Calrissians." I was pretty burnt out on Star Wars when I popped in this disc, but it had me laughing from the first scene. I'd be more than happy to see Lego Star Wars turned into an ongoing Cartoon Network series.

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater, blu-ray.com

×

Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace (2011)

Close