Benny the Astronaut’s Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP! is one sweet ride
Like many others, I saw The Lego Movie and thought it was thoroughly entertaining and enchanting, and even a bit emotional. The movie is filled to the brim, and then some, with gags upon gags, and to the movie’s credit, they’re all hilarious. (I’m hard-pressed to think of a single joke that truly fell flat.)
One of my favorite running gags involved Benny, a “Blue Classic Spaceman” who spends most of the movie wanting to desperately build a spaceship (and operate computer technology from the 1980s). I won’t spoil anything for the nine of you who haven’t seen the movie yet, but suffice to say, Benny gets his time to shine and it’s one of the best moments in a movie filled with great ones.
Benny’s moment was particularly fun for me because the craft he builds is a reference/homage to the one Lego set I wanted more than any other as a kid: the Galaxy Explorer. Benny’s own spaceship, a.k.a., “The LEGO Movie Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP!” may be a bit more complex and modern looking, but it definitely evokes the classic’s shape and lines.
The 940-piece set arrives in stores in August and will cost $99.99. I think it would make for a nice weekend project with my boys. If I don’t decide to keep it all to myself, that is. (Which, I know, complete goes against the movie’s theme.)