Out of the ordinary, but ultimately premoulded

Rating: 7/10 (26 July 2014)

Drawing a lot from other films - Matrix, LOTR, Batman, Star Wars, etc - the story lines of the film are like using the Lego blocks themselves; seemingly driven by imagination and creativity, the producers have a whole bucket of possibilities to play with. They can go two ways; use their skills to replicate the world around them in miniature, or let their imaginations run wild and build things that would be impractical to create using anything else. The most notable thing about the film is the animation. It is so cleverly done to replicate the Lego feel there are times it could be stop motion animation. The way the blocks fit together, the way they move and other idiosyncrasies. There's no hair swishing here or head nodding. It's just like you're playing with your Lego at home, only without having to take the roof off to move the figures inside.
The voice acting is top notch. Morgan Freeman is once again - as always - helping to solve white (yellow) mans problems, this time as Vitruvius, a sort of Gandalf meets Dumbledore sage. Liam Neeson steals the show as Bad Cop, a great portrayal of both his normal, angry, gruff action persona, but also a happier, smilier character who resembles Wayne Knight's "Officer Don" from Third Rock From The Sun. Even Will Ferrell keeps the crazy in check to play the megalomaniac Lord Business at the right tempo, so he becomes a pastiche of evil, rather than parody all the traits you would expect. It's funny, but I don't know whether the producers intentionally used Jonah Hill in the way they did, but the way his character is treated does sum up the way I think about him in every movie he's in!
Yes, it's an animation, but it's actually quite dark and violent in places. My toddler son plays with Lego, but there are a few scenes he wouldn't get. It is rated a PG after all. There are also lots more references to the older sets (I did have to pause one scene and go through how many of the characters I'd had as a kid) and the use of individual blocks, compared to the modern sets with there premoulded pieces, which would seem to appeal more to the older audience. And this is the greatest irony of the film - though not surprising - in that Lego has actually released sets to make the creations from the film using premoulded pieces. It's not good enough just to use your own imagination to try and recreate what you've seen in a similar form, you can remake their vision. And this, sadly lets the film down; it's too formulaic. With all the freedom Lego allows, they do stick to the usual film tropes like glue. It's a good film, with a very catchy song, but it could have been built slightly differently.