THE LEGO MOVIE – The Review

Everyone’s favorite interlocking plastic building toy has finally been transformed into a big 3D animated feature—and the result is a popcorn-devouring, nostalgia-sparking crowd-pleaser that should be a mega-hit for Warner Bros. THE LEGO MOVIE centers on Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt), a nice but undistinguished construction worker/LEGO figure who’s happy following instruction manuals for his job and spending his off hours buying comically expensive coffee, watching his favorite TV show ‘Where’s My Pants’, and singing along to “Everything Is Awesome”, the oddly catchy tune that keeps his fellow citizens of Bricksburg in line. The city is run by the tyrannical President Business (Will Ferrell), who wants to freeze the Lego universe by releasing the ‘Kraggel’ (a tube of superglue).When Emmet stumbles across a plastic block known as the ‘Piece of Resistance’, he’s designated as ‘The Special’ – the one chosen to reunite the great Master Builders and remove President Business from power (the plot sounds more complicated than it is). Joining Emmet on his adventure is the brassy girl-power vixen Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), her boyfriend Batman (a side-splitting Will Arnett), the cloying Unikitty (a kitten with a horn voiced by Alison Brie) and Vitruvius, a blind, all-knowing guru (Morgan Freeman). Their trek takes them to the best-selling Lego lands of the wild West, ‘middle Zealand’, Cloud Cuckoo Land and the high seas, teaming up with decked-out super-pirate Metal Beard (Nick Offerman), Abe Lincoln (Will Forte), Superman (Channing Tatum), the Green Lantern (Jonah Hill), Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Wiliams), and just about every other character that Lego has licensed over the years.

While I wouldn’t quite say everything is awesome about THE LEGO MOVIE, it is wildly creative and often hilarious. While the animation is made to appear like stop-motion, the makers of THE LEGO MOVE had a unique challenge on their hands; Lego figures don’t move much. They’re not jointed, their hands are scoops, and they’re facial expressions don’t change. Their heads and torsos swivel and that’s about it. The great thing about THE LEGO MOVIE is that it not only strictly adheres to the inherent physical limitation of these toys but lets those limitations work logically and in its favor (okay, it cheats a little with the faces). This is true not only with the characters but with their surroundings as well. When there’s an explosion (and there are lots) even the flames are made of small plastic blocks and a wavy ocean is represented with millions of tiny, translucent blue Lego pieces. See it in 3D !

The action is whiz-bang dense, the references and jokes fly by, sometimes too quickly (repeat viewings will be essential) and there were times when I wished it would all slow down, and surprisingly, my wish came true. In a development that I think they’re trying to keep secret, the movie, after 80 minutes of hyperactive Transformers-style action, comes to a halt, steps back and reveals the human, live-action world in which all the previous action has been located. It’s live-action Will Ferrell’s basement Lego collection, where he and his son bond over the toys the boy has been playing with against his dad’s wishes. It’s a bold twist that emphasizes that this movie is a huge commercial for a toy but it’s a sentimental and rewarding gimmick nonetheless. My favorite scene, and the only quiet one in the film, is when Will Ferrell is super-gluing Lego pieces while Emmet is shaking his little body, trying to discreetly work his way off the table. Subversive and fun, THE LEGO MOVIE is far better than a toy tie-in movie has any right to be. Now when are they going to make a Strange Change Machine movie?!?

4 of 5 Stars