“The Lego Movie” is a funny and heart-warming film that will make anyone feel nostalgic. The movie has an excellent cast of voice actors and the animation is brightly colored and brilliantly executed.
This movie gets eight stars out of 10 due to the fantastic voice casting, accurate CGI of the Legos, and the continuous humor.
The voice actors are spot on with Chris Pratt from “Parks and Recreation” playing the generic construction worker Emmet, Will Arnett as a snarky Batman, Morgan Freeman as the wise soothsayer Vitruvius, Will Farrell as the control freak Lord Business and Liam Neeson as Bad Cop/Good Cop.
There are also some minor Master Builders with stars speaking for them such as Channing Tatum as Superman, Jonah Hill as Green Lantern and Shaquille O’Neal as himself.
The plot is that the evil Lord Business is going to destroy the Lego world by using the Kragle, a bottle of Krazy glue with some of the words rubbed off. However, Vitruvius speaks of a prophecy where someone will find the Piece of Resistance, the cap to the glue.
The opening scene with the main character Emmet Brickowski is satirical for the way the world sometimes seems extremely homogenized with everyone watching the same hit show, listening to the same pop song and everyone following the rules with no questions asked.
While the catchy song “Everything is Awesome” is sure to get trapped in your head after the movie, it also leaves deeper thoughts as well. Questions of what makes you different from the rest of the world and why do you celebrate in purchasing overpriced coffee are just a few that might enter your mind.
Things pick up when Emmet is discovered with the Piece of Resistance and is saved by a Master Builder named Wyldstyle. She explains how Lord Business arrived and outlawed the Master Builders from being creative and building things without any instructions.
Cute and witty, the story cracks along at a breakneck speed with little down time. The plentiful pop culture references allow anyone or anything to show up.
It makes a mockery of every cowboy-fantasy-pirate stereotype possible and leaves the audience waiting for the next roast subject. The majority of the jokes are actually targeted at adults, and the ones that aren’t that humorous are probably the ones intended for the kiddies.
Directors and co-writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are known for their comedy having directed “21 Jump Street,” “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” and its sequel.
When the plot suddenly takes a twist to the real world it provokes more thoughts on creativity and imagination. While following the instructions can create something interesting and functional, it never hurts to think for yourself. As the main character, Emmet develops as he travels from not thinking at all to leading his group of Master Builders.
The animators make a point to keep the physical limitations of a Lego mini-figure in mind and actually utilize it at certain times in the movie. The amount of detail that went into making the Lego figures and surroundings is mind boggling because it isn’t real life stop motion animation, but is actually computer generated.
Fans of all ages will love this movie because of the satire and the simple love of all the different Lego worlds explored and brought to life.
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