Movie Review: “The Lego Movie”

Rating:The Lego Movie is a 2014 computer animated adventure comedy film directed and co-written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Other-wise known for their work in directing the new  Jump Street films and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The film features voice-acting from Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson, and Morgan Freeman. 

The film received positive reviews from critics and made nearly half of a billion dollars at the box-office. A sequel is already scheduled for 2017.

    When the Lego Movie first came out, I don’t think anybody really knew what to expect from it. The video-games offered decent entertainment, but the idea of them actually going as far as making a film about the characters seemed a little too much like a desperate ploy for more money on the part of Warner Bros. Nevertheless, I wanted to see the film in theaters. If for no other reason, it was a new animated film, and looked like more fun than a lot of other animated movies that have been released of late. I went to the theaters and watched this film on opening-day, and I am still a little surprised at how the film turned out.

    The film follows the story of Emmet, an ordinary Lego-figure. Like others, he seems practically brainwashed by the media and everything that goes on. Everything changes when he is thought to be the prophesied ‘Special’, and welcomed to stop the evil tyrant from completely immobilizing the Lego community.

    The film is absolutely tremendous. 

    I don’t even want to be critical or analytical about anything that happens in this film. From the beginning, the humor definitely hits all the right notes for me. If anybody knows me, they know that my sense of humor is based mostly around the audacity of actions. Something that knows it’s stupid, but since it’s self-aware and confident, it works and it is hilarious. That’s the perfect way to describe this film.The humor is irreverent to a fault, and it keeps you laughing through the vast majority.

    The story is also incredibly creative and inspired. The idea of thinking for yourself and then, what they eventually reveal as the film progresses, there is a lot of heart and charm that definitely makes this film stick out as the cream of the crop in animated movies. There is also a lot of things done that haven’t been seen before. (at least by me)

    The characters are colorful and while, as a long-time Batman fan, it hurts to see him parodied, he was absolutely hilarious. That’s one of the things that this film succeeds in. The film isn’t simply humorous for kids, ah, no, the humor is like a gargantuan amount of memes shoved into a film. Still, it isn’t “adult” humor, it’s just good humor, which is definitely something that some will find fun and refreshing.

    The film never takes itself too seriously, but it is done with heart. It’ll keep you laughing through and through with a variety of familiar faces like Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Not only that, but there’s a ton of familiar voices as well. There is also a child-like whimsy that has been missing from animated films for a while. This brings me the quality that I came to expect from Toy Story, and you know what, I think it might be every bit as enjoyable. Albeit in different ways…

    I would love to keep piling compliment after compliment about this movie, but I really can’t. I mean, I could, if I wanted to talk about every scene that was funny, or every moment that I liked, but then it’d become repetitive very fast. This may not be the most critical review that I have done, and in-fact, it won’t be, but it shouldn’t have to be.

    The Lego Movie is funny, charming, creative, and inventive. I have no idea how they will followup this one in 2017. It is the best animation that I have seen in years…

Thanks for reading…     

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0