Movie Review: The Lego Movie

When I first heard about The Lego movie I thought really when will this trend of turning games into movies end.  And unlike Transformers or G.I. Joe there is no story to Legos just little blocks so how were they going to make a movie about Legos?  The answer was a surprising entertaining movie that doesn't take itself too seriously but somehow at the end brings home a great message.

The movie is about an Emmet (Chris Pratt) an ordinary Lego who lives in Bricksburgh.  One day while at the construction site he falls down a hole and finds the Piece of Resistance and fulfills a prophecy that says he is the special. Although he has not had an original thought in his life and follows every rule he must join the Master Builders including Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) and Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) to fight Lord Business' (Will Ferrell)  attempt to destroy the world. To do this he must journey out of his comfort zone into the many worlds of the Lego universe where he will encounter a lot of strange people. The whole time he is being chased by Lord Business' henchman Bad Cop/Good Cop (Liam Neeson).  

One of the great things about this movie is the voice cast. Will Arnett as Batman was probably my favorite character.  That was like perfect casting.  And even though Morgan Freeman has done narration in films this is his first time doing a voice for an animated movie and of course he was great.  And Liam Neeson as Bad Cop/Good Cop brought the perfect gravitas to that character. There are tons of other actors that make cameos and it is just fun to see who will pop up next. 

There are many reasons this movie shouldn't have worked. But Somehow the writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller managed to make a completely silly movie but because they played it over the top and really didn't take it real serious.  They made this Lego Universe and hooked you into it.  Everything is a Lego even explosions or water.    When they start moving the action into different worlds it is fun to see other Lego characters pop up.  Like Harry Potter, Superman, and even some Star Wars characters make an appearance.  It just fun to see all these characters from completely different worlds interact.  The other thing that helped was Lord and Miller are apparently comedic geniuses.  There are so many great one liners and sight gags in the movie that it just keeps you laughing the whole way through.  For example the line at the end of the prophecy “all this is true because it rhymes” cracks me up every time.  The last thing Lord and Miller were able to do was get all sentimental with the ending.  I don’t want to get into any spoilers but I do have to say that the end ending was what made the whole movie worth it and raised it above just a funny silly movie. At the end everything makes sense and even has a nice message to it.   

Overall: 5/5 stars.

I am not one that usually likes animated movies but this one cracked me up and pulled at the heart strings a little at the end.  So it is a must see.