Not many people probably expected the LEGO Corporation to get into the film industry. The famous children’s toy company has a long-running line of LEGO video games, in which big-name hits such as Harry Potter or Indiana Jones are converted into expansive, plasticized worlds, but until recently there was a staunch lack of those tiny minifigures on the silver screen. For many, it even seemed to be some sort of odd joke video when popular website Cracked posted the first trailer for The LEGO Movie on their front page.
But the film, which revels in and even parodies its inherent levels of product placement, is indeed real. And its success has led it to dominate the box office even through the Valentine’s/President’s Day weekend, earning over $69 million on opening weekend and earning shining reviews all across the board. Its cast features a slew of superstars including Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman, and Elizabeth Banks, and already the LEGO Corporation has begun releasing playsets modeled after some of the fictional locations that make up the movie’s setting, as well as The LEGO Movie Video Game on all the major gaming platforms.
LEGO Movie follows the story of Emmet (played by Chris Pratt), a bland and uninteresting construction worker living in the sprawling expanse of Brickopolis. Emmet’s utter lack of any kind of lifestyle, and his strict upholding of any rules he is given, accidentally lead him to discover the Resistance Block – an unusual block which must be used to stop the nefarious Lord Business (Ferrell) from using an artifact known as the Kragle to end the world. Emmet soon teams up with the rebellious Wyldstyle and the blind wizard Vitruvius (Banks and Freeman, respectively), who believe him to be the greatest of an elite league of LEGO builders known as Master Builders. Their assumptions are misplaced, however, and it immediately becomes apparent that Emmet is dreadfully far from qualified for the challenge ahead of him.
The animation in this movie is top-notch. The movement mimics stop-motion film in a deliberately clunky way that is at first a bit off-putting but becomes a part of the experience as the story unfolds. Meanwhile, the amount of detail is tremendous. Not only is every individual LEGO block discernible from its surroundings, but attention is paid even to assets as insignificant as the molding flaw that gives Emmet’s hand a rough texture in the opening scene.
And the humor is heavily slapstick and illogical, from Emmet’s goofy clumsiness to the various gags which would be considered too “risky” to show if the characters were human rather than plastic minifigures. For example, one of the first scenes includes a shot of Emmet nearly leaving home without any of his clothes, while later instances (which will not be described because of spoilers) involve acts which would be far more violent were they acted out on actual people. Even these, though, are infused with their own humor in a way that manages to uphold a fairly light mood even when the movie reaches its dramatic climax.
Perhaps the biggest surprise to come from LEGO Movie, as one might expect, was the ending. An explanation would spoil it, but suffice to say, the final scenes are a total detour from what most unknowing viewers could easily anticipate. The writers managed to successfully resolve the story at a point when no answer seems at all clear and even turned it into a pleasant moral focused on creativity, imagination, and family closeness. All in all, The LEGO Movie is an excellent all-ages movie despite its youthful predisposition, and it is practically a must-see for comedy lovers both big and small.