Review: The Lego Movie

BY JACOB FERREIRA

The Lego Movie had been in development since 2008, and while many had originally shrugged it off as “just another kid’s movie,” the film turned out to be one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. The story follows the journey of Emmett (Chris Pratt), an incredibly average Lego figure living an incredibly average Lego life in the disturbingly 1984 style Lego city of Bricksburg, which is ruled by the evil tyrant, President Business (Will Ferrell). The people of Bricksburg, including Emmett, are completely oblivious to the totalitarian world in which they live, following instructions that tell them exactly how to spend their day, and singing their anthem, and favorite song “Everything is Awesome,” which while catchy, will sadly remain in your head for hours after leaving the theater. Emmett’s world is changed forever, when he stumbles upon the “Piece of Resistance”, which ends up stuck to his back, marking him as “The Special,” a master Lego builder foretold to save the Lego world from President Business’ plan to use the Kragle (an old tube of Krazy Glue with part of its name scratched off) to freeze the world in place. Unfortunately for Emmett and his friends though, he hardly matches the description of the fabled hero. In order to find his true potential, Emmett travels across multiple Lego worlds with his friends WyldStyle (Elizabeth Banks), Batman (Will Arnett), and Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), while avoiding President Business’ soldiers, and Bad Cop (Liam Neeson).

The Lego Movie is beautifully animated, and while being computer generated, is made to look like a stop motion film, as homage to Brickfilms, a genre of short films made with only Lego bricks, and usually with stop motion animation. Brickfilms spawned a community of filmmakers, which peaked in popularity in the late ‘90s and 2000’s, though the very first Brickfilm was made in 1973. In addition to this, nearly every single form of Lego is given a cameo, from Bionicle to Star Wars, and plenty of Lego characters make their own appearances as well, providing both nostalgia, and comedy. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill (the stars of 21 Jump Street) play Lego Superman and Green Lantern respectively, which leads to endlessly hilarious banter, while Alison Brie and Charlie Day play the slightly insane characters of Unikitty, a bipolar unicorn-cat hybrid, and Benny, a “1980-something space guy” who’s obsessed with building a spaceship. The cast of comedic characters is rounded out by a Lego version Shaquille O’Neal, voiced by himself, and Metalbeard, a cyborg pirate who built his entire body from scratch after losing his original one, voiced by the intensely manly Nick Offerman, who is known by most as Ron Swanson from the T.V. show Parks and Recreation.

Besides its stunning visuals, and memorable characters, The Lego Movie delivers a very clear message to its audience. Many people who purchase Lego sets in real life simply build them “the way they’re supposed to,” and leave them on display forever, never to be touched again. These people are reminded that the instructions don’t always have to be followed, and they are encouraged to think creatively and build whatever they can imagine using the pieces given to them. The Lego Movie is a perfect celebration of Lego’s 65 year life and is on par with masterpieces like Toy Story, Up, and Shrek. It sends a creative and heartwarming message to both the children in the theater and the parents sitting next to them, and is something that will undoubtedly be remembered and re-watched for years to come.