Finding Lego Land

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2014)

The initial suggestion is that this film will be no more than a comical fest of well-timed quips and slapstick aimed at younger audiences. Based on this alone, The Lego Movie scores high. But the creators clearly understood the universal affection these toy building blocks, born out of a Danish carpenter's workshop in 1932 to become a global brand, has garnered.
Centered around Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt), a Lego minifigure, writer and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have worked a masterpiece of storytelling sensitive to generations of Legoists. Emmet, a construction worker who lives in Bricksburg where "everything is awesome", has his life disrupted when he falls upon a mysterious object called the "Piece of Resistance". All of a sudden, he becomes part of prophesy as the "Special" who will stop the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrel) from using a mysterious weapon called the Kragle to destroy the universe.
It smacks of childlike imagination, which is this film's brilliant embrace. We've all been there, creating our own worlds with toys and household objects. This story turns us right and clicks us back into that happy place.