THE LEGO MOVIE is So Much Better Than it Should've Been

Rating: 9/10 (27 September 2014)

When THE LEGO MOVIE first busts out the mind-melting tune of "Everything is Awesome" in the beginning, it's not just a means of displaying how brainwashed the Lego culture is in the movie, it's a warning of what's to come over the next 100 minutes. Because THE LEGO MOVIE is, in fact, awesome. Knowing my daughter would inevitably drag me to this movie, I was dreading its release. A kids' movie; strike one. Based on a toy property with no inherent plot; strike two. Released in the month of February, the notorious dumping ground for subpar films that would bomb any other time of year; strike three. Then the reviews started trickling out and, to my surprise, they were positive. Not just positive, but a certified fresh 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. A moviebased on basic colorful building brickswas getting better reviews than many, many others. The premise is simple (which one would expect with a movie revolving around, you know, Legos). Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt) is your average, run-of-the-mill construction worker in Bricksburg, living his life according to the proper instructions and enjoying all government-approved forms of entertainment. One night, he stumbles across the legendary "piece of resistance"a magical artifact prophesized to identify the "Special" chosen one and the only thing capable of saving the world. Now a fugitive from the law, he's drawn into a world of Master-Builders with Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) and Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) where he will lead a team against the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell) before he can end the world with his secret weapon: the Kra'gle.
My first clue that THE LEGO MOVIE was going to be more than a corporate cash grab aimed at vulnerable children and their weak-willed minds was that it was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. These men brought us the funniest movie of 2012 with 21 JUMP STREET and have shown they can handle themselves in comedy with a wicked sense of humor. This is one of those movies that's got plenty of goofball humor to get the kids laughing with some more subtle stuff that adults (especially those who were raised with the toys) will find fun in. Still, even the kids stuff is amusing enough that most adults (with the exception of the coldest hearts) will laugh along. There's some smart stuff here but it never sacrifices the chance for some slapstick. And the best part is the obvious love and respect for the toy itself present in every scene. Lord and Miller either major Lego fans or they're real good at faking it. This isn't a movie bent on selling toys but it'll sure make you itch for a set once it's over. It wasn't long after this came out that my daughter and I made our first visit to Legoland and I bought a few sets (as much for me as it was for her). THE LEGO MOVIE isn't here to sell a product, it's here to remind you why you loved it in the first place. And it all culminates in what is probably the only chink in the movie's armor, the climactic sequence where Emmet comes face-to-face with the "Man Upstairs". The message is a little heavy-handed but it's not overkill and it gets the point across.
Everyone's going to walk away with a favorite character from this one. Will Arnett is a treat as Batman. He's one of the central characters as Wyldstyle's angst-ridden, arrogant boyfriend and a part of Emmet's Master-Builder team. He's essentially an 80's high school movie jock and one-third of the movie's love triangle. Liam Neeson's one of the best with his Bad Cop/Good Cop, Lord Business's main enforcer with a split personality and a penchant for roughing up chairs when he gets agitated. His action film persona where he grumbles threats and opens generous cans of whooperm, buttonly make his high-pitched, super-friend cop that much funnier. Personally, I loved Benny the "1980's-something spaceman". He's voiced by Charlie Day and he's just as spastic as you'd expect, and all the poor guy wants is to build a spaceship. There are Lego cameos everywhere in THE LEGO MOVIE, bringing together characters from countless properties (both original Lego and licensed). Some of the funniest bits in the movie stem from random cameos and there's one about halfway into the movie that I refuse to spoil here but, just know, it's pretty cool. And the voice cast is almost as extensive. You could miss entire chunks of the movie just trying to pinpoint the voice actors, many of which only make the briefest of appearances. One I would've missed was Nick Offerman as Metal Beard; I never would've figured that one out until I paid closer attention to the end credits.
With so many easter eggs and blink-and-you-miss-them gags, I've found that THE LEGO MOVIE has some staying power. Every time I watch it, I'm finding something fun I'd missed before. As one of the few family movies that isn't downright painful for parents, this is an easy recommendation from me. With so much a movie like this had working against it from the start, THE LEGO MOVIE is definitely what I'd consider the surprise hit of 2014.