Everything is not quite awesome but it was okay

Rating: 6/10 (19 June 2014)

I suppose it was inevitable I would be waiting for something astronomically mind blowing in animation and fun when it came to The Lego Movie. The hype around this has been unfathomable. Full blown adults told me "the best movie they've ever seen." I heard nothing but how hilarious and it was and the cheeky nods to other films so I was eager to watch it. I don't think I was "hyped" but I certainly had expectations. Now don't get me wrong, The Lego Movie is fun and cute but I had some definitive issues with it and I am completely convinced now that this one of those movies that sort of mass-hypnotizes audiences and everyone sheep life jumps on to the bandwagon. I'm sure I've been guilty of it too but not for this one. I just didn't see the glorious animated feat that everyone else did. I honestly think the film has a distinctive dark, sarcastic undertone and I felt like they were often actually making fun of naivety and the pure quality of childhood toys. It felt a little jaded in that way and maybe that's what adults liked so much about it in some weird way? I guess I like my animation to be cuddly cute with sweet morals and this wasn't it. It has a moral but is it showing it in a sarcastic way? The humour is okay...couple of good chuckles but roll in the aisles? Far from it. I thought the script felt a little generic and nothing really fresh in the idea.
The cast is a whose who of Hollywood comedians led by Chris Pratt as our unexpected hero Emmett. Pratt is very good and absolutely captures the right tone for Emmett. If they did one thing right it was creating Emmett to be the focus of the story because he feels like an iconic animated hero. Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Alison Brie, Will Ferrell and Morgan Freeman all stood out for me in their vocal performances of various sizes throughout the film. There are a host of other Hollywood stars doing voices and they all do very good. There are a ton of characters in the movie, this is both a pro and a con for the film. It often feels too packed and because there are so many characters you get flashes of real iconic characters for only a moment and they're hardly used or used poorly (Superman and Green Lantern for instance.) How many ambiguous gay jokes can you pack into a couple of short scenes. The film is a mish-mash of characters that most people absolutely love. I found it just a tad too mish mashed for my liking. Still its very well casted and clear that everyone had a good time doing it. Its also nice to see studios put aside their differences to feature characters from Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter, DC Universe, Star Wars and so on.
Co-Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have a decent history in animation having worked on Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. You will also notice though that most of their experience is in adult features including their animation having worked on Clone High. So their style of direction would be definitely geared more towards adults. I don't mean to say The Lego Movie isn't appropriate for the young generation because it is!! Its an incredibly fast paced, visual thrill ride but without a ton of substance which is fine. The best scene in the film to me was actually when they leave the animated Lego world and turn to the real human world in order to save their people. Even though I had to see Will Ferrell's face (I'm not a fan) it was easily the best, unique and most well developed turn in the story. Kids will and do love the insanely frantic action and the nods to Lego building (which I honestly was sort of tired of early on in the film.) Its a decent story, a fun movie but I don't really feel like most do that it is some sort of amazing, best film of the year material. As much I despise the gimmick of 3D I would have liked to have seen this in 3D because visually it is a masterpiece!! Unfortunately for me the story lacked development, felt a little dark and jaded and didn't truly floor me the way I expected from others' reaction. However, all this being said I assure you that "Everything is Awesome" song will be rolling around in your head...for weeks. 6.5/10