The LEGO Movie

## The LEGO Movie Franchise

*"One day a talented lass or fellow, a Special one with face of yellow, will make the Piece of Resistance found from its hiding refuge underground. And with a noble army at the helm, this Master Builder will thwart the Kragle and save the realm, and be the greatest, most interesting, most important person of all times. All this is true, because it rhymes."*
―Vitruvius
***The LEGO Movie*** is a 2014 computer-animated adventure action comedy film, based on the toy line of the same name. It is the first film and installment in the *The LEGO Movie* film series. The film was released on February 7, 2014 in the United States.

The film is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and stars Chris Pratt as Emmet Brickowski, Elizabeth Banks as Lucy/Wyldstyle, Will Arnett as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Nick Offerman as MetalBeard, Alison Brie as Unikitty, Charlie Day as Benny, Liam Neeson as Bad Cop/Good Cop/Scribble Cop, Morgan Freeman as Vitruvius, and Will Ferrell as President Business / The Man Upstairs.

A sequel, *The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part*, was released on February 8, 2019.

## Synopsis

The first-ever full-length theatrical LEGO movie follows Emmet an ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average LEGO minifigure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person (the MasterBuilder) and the key to saving his LEGO world. He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers -- including an old mystic (voiced by Morgan Freeman) and LEGO Batman (voiced by Will Arnett) -- on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the universe together -- a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared. Now the fate of the world is in his tiny yellow hands.

## Plot

In Vitruvius' lair, the evil Lord Business confronts Vitruvius for the powerful Kragle. Once acquired, the blinded wizard tells a prophecy of a Special One who shall obtain the Piece of Resistance and save the realm, despite Business' disbeliefs. However, 8 and a half years later, everyman Emmet Brickowski awakens to commence his daily routine, until he stumbles upon a mysterious woman. Freaking her out, Emmet trips into a hole and looks upon the fabled Piece of Resistance, touching it. Gaining strange visions of the future, Emmet blacks out and awakens in an interrogation room, where he is met by Bad Cop/Good Cop of the Super Secret Police. The police force aim to remove the Piece of Resistance that is strapped onto Emmet's back, but is saved by the woman from earlier, named Wyldstyle. Escaping Emmet's city Bricksburg, the two make their way to the Old West.

While Bad Cop's parents have been glued as an example of "President" Business' plan, and Bad Cop is stripped of his positive personality, Emmet and Wyldstyle find Vitruvius and hide upstairs in a saloon. After all being informed that Emmet has seen "The Man Upstairs", and with Vitruvius deciding to assemble the Master Builders, the police force teams up with the Old West's sheriff department to chase down the three. They thus flee with Emmet developing his Master Builder abilities, and are saved by Batman.

With Batman on their team, Emmet and the rest travel to Cloud Cuckoo Land to have a gathering in the Dog. Emmet, the supposed special, disappoints the other Master Builders however, and must run from the Super Secret Police's forces along with Princess Unikitty and astronaut Benny. While the police take the Master Builders prisoner, Cloud Cuckoo Land is in ruins as the team gets saved by MetalBeard. With everyone trusting on Emmet's ideas after saving them with his grand Double-Decker Couch, Emmet creates a plan to stop Business.

With everyone engaging on the mission, Emmet nearly reaches the Kragle with the shields off. However, Wyldstyle is attacked by the police force, as well as everyone else. The only survivor left, Vitruvius, attempts to defeat the robots, but is killed by Business, and tells Emmet that the prophecy was made up. Facing defeat as everyone is imprisoned, with all realms soon to be Kragled, Vitruvius' spirit tells Emmet to believe in himself to truly be the Special. Emmet does so, and scarifies himself into the abyss to save everyone from electrocution. Upon rescue, Wyldstyle teams up with the others to create whatever they can to thwart Business' plan, sending out a message to every realm. Because Bad Cop, now Scribble Cop, fended off robots as a change of heart, he and the rest ride a spaceship to Bricksburg while Emmet gains consciousness in the real world. Seeing The Man Upstairs fixing everything that his son, Finn, has created, due to his father's wishes to keep everything "perfect", Emmet is now determined to help out his friends, given back the Piece of Resistance by Finn and returning into his own world.

While Emmet has built a mechanism to surge through Business' Micro Managers, his friends help defeat them, and enters the top of the Octan Tower. Glued on the floor, Business aims to finish off Emmet by Kragling him, but Emmet unleashes his special power that is his hand that Business must take, for people have been recreating things out of inspiration of Business. Meanwhile, Finn's father turns impressed of Finn's creations, and asks what Emmet would say to Business. Emmet thus says that Business no longer has to be the "bad guy", because he is the Special. Following a hug of both Finn and his dad and Business and Emmet, Business interlocks the Kragle with the Piece of Resistance, exploding the top of the tower.

As Emmet reunites with his friends and Wyldstyle, holding each others hands, Finn's father announces that his sister may come and play with LEGOs as well, much to Finn's surprise. Unknown figures from planet Duplon, who have come to destroy their planet. The team groups together in shock.

## Cast

* Chris Pratt as Emmet Brickowski (voice)
* Will Ferrell as Lord Business/President Business (voice) / The Man Upstairs
* Elizabeth Banks as Lucy/Wyldstyle (voice)
* Will Arnett as Bruce Wayne/Batman (voice)
* Nick Offerman as MetalBeard (voice)
* Alison Brie as Princess Unikitty (voice)
* Charlie Day as Benny (voice)
* Liam Neeson as Bad Cop/Good Cop/Scribble Cop (voice) / Pa Cop (voice)
* Morgan Freeman as Vitruvius (voice)
* Channing Tatum as Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman (voice)
* Jonah Hill as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern (voice)
* Cobie Smulders as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (voice)
* Jadon Sand as Finn

## Appearances

### Locations

* Finn's House
	+ Finn's Basement
		- LEGO Universe
			* Vitruvius' Secret Lair
			* Bricksburg
				+ Emmet's Apartment
				+ The Coffee Chain
				+ Bricksburg Construction Site
			* Octan Tower
			* Old West
			* Cloud Cuckoo Land
				+ Dog
			* Middle Zealand

### Events

* Battle of Vitruvius' Secret Lair
* Escape from Bricksburg
* Chase of the Old West
* Destruction of Cloud Cuckoo Land
* Infiltration into Octan Tower
* Freedom Friday
* Invasion of Bricksburg

### Vehicles

* Batwing
* Batmobile
* MetalBeard's Sea Cow

### Sentient Species

* Humans
* Minifigures
* DUPLO Aliens

## Production

*The LEGO Movie* entered development in 2008 when Dan Lin and Roy Lee discussed it before Lin left Warner Bros. Pictures to form his own production company, Lin Pictures. Lin visited Denmark's The Lego Group headquarters to pitch his film, although sensing uncertainty amongst executives, stating “They weren’t rude or anything (…) but they didn’t feel they needed a movie. They were already a very successful brand. Why take the risk?" Jill Wilfert (LEGO's vice president of licensing and entertainment) however responded positively to the pitch.

Writers Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman started writing the script around 2009 and described as an "action adventure set in a LEGO world." in August of that year.

In June 2010, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were in talks to write and direct the film.

In November 2011, Warner Bros. greenlit the film with a 2014 release date, and Animal Logic was contracted to provide the animation. Chris McKay was also going to co-direct the film along with Lord and Miller.

In March 2012, Lord and Miller revealed the film's working title, *Lego: The Piece of Resistance*, and a storyline.

In June 2012, Chris Pratt was cast as Emmet and Will Arnett as Batman, with Channing Tatum being offered the role of Superman.

In August 2012, Elizabeth Banks was cast as Wyldstyle and Morgan Freeman as Vitruvius.

In October 2012, the film was moved up it's release date from February 28, 2014 to February 7, 2014.

In November 2012, Alison Brie was cast as Unikitty, Will Ferrell as President Business and The Man Upstairs, Liam Neeson as Bad Cop and Nick Offerman as MetalBeard.

## References

The LEGO Movie Franchise Wiki has a collection of images and media related to **The LEGO Movie**.

1. ↑ ‘The Lego Movie’ Snaps a Bright, Colorful Franchise Into Place for Warner Bros. Animation
2. ↑ Warner’s C.E.O. Is Bullish on the Big Screen
3. ↑ Making of ‘Lego Movie’: 7 Years, a Trip to Denmark and a Race Against the Disney-Lucasfilm Deal Clock
4. ↑ Warner builds pic with Lego
5. ↑ ‘Cloudy’ directors toy with ‘Lego’
6. ↑ Warners greenlights ‘Lego’ feature
7. ↑ Phil Lord And Chris Miller Offer New Title, Plot Details For Warner Bros.' Lego Movie
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Super voices in play for WB’s Lego movie
9. ↑ 'The Lego Movie' hopes to cement a built-in fan base
10. ↑ Casting and Plot Details Confirmed for LEGO
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Warner Bros Shifts ‘Lego’ Release Date
12. ↑ Nick Offerman Talks THE LEGO MOVIE; Says He Plays a Pirate Named Metalbeard and Compares Film to THE WIZARD OF OZ or WILLY WONKA

## External Links

* *The LEGO Movie* on Wikipedia
* The LEGO Movie on Twitter
* The LEGO Movie on Facebook