An Ever-Expanding Universe with Humor and Heart

Rating: 9/10 (22 February 2014)

As a kid who grew up in the 90s playing with Lego, I was impressed that the very toy I played (almost on a daily basis) with in grade school and junior high converted into a full-length feature. Though initially skeptic, after witnessing Lego characters old and new - including a few familiar sets of the past - incorporated into one film just blew my mind away. When I arrived on opening day, it was certainly a packed crowd of people looking like they're in their twenties and thirties, along with younger kids of the current generation.
The plot, which involves an ordinary Lego construction figure called Emmet (voiced by 'Parks and Recreation' star Chris Pratt) - who lives his life by his own set of instructions - finds a new purpose when coming across the female rebel WyldStyle and a group of others fulfilling a prophecy of finding the new Master Builder to stop the evil Lord Business. Emmet must learn that not everything requires a set of instructions, but a little creativity and imagination can't hurt either, or can it?
It had its share of laughs (notably Liam Neeson's split-personality character Good Cop/Bad Cop and Morgan Freeman's Vitruvius tending to steal the humor spotlight), well-crafted settings and animation that seemingly defines the realistic, endless, ever-expanding Lego Universe, and an elaborate set of voice talent greats that have worked with versatile directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller once before. To avoid spoilers, there's a very surprising twist near the end I did not see coming and it definitely doesn't deviate it completely from the movie's main story, but actually supplements it further with an intriguing moral lesson that sounds essentially true in real-life. My only nitpick was that some scenes can turn too frantic that it might need to be observed carefully. Nevertheless, like 'Wreck-It Ralph' and 'Toy Story' before it, this is a movie that sent me on both a nostalgia trip and run of sympathy that it will intrigue many kids and adults young at heart. Even Lego characters have a story to tell, too, even when you least expect it.