The Lego Movie (2014)
Certified: U
Duration: 100 minutes
Directed by: Phil Lord, Chris Miller
Voicing of: Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Morgan Freeman, Nick Offerman, Liam Neeson, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Cobie Smulders
KRS release

Chris Pratt provides the voice to Emmet, a Lego figure who leads a happy but uneventful life. He works as a builder, watches the sitcom Where are my Pants? and listens to the song Everything is Awesome. He lives in accordance with the rules and believes that everything should be just right.

What he is unaware of is that President Business (Will Ferrell) has devised a weapon known as Kragle that will end all life as Lego world knows it. He is also unaware of the fact that he is the one that has long been professed to be The Special – the minifigure meant to save the world.

Enter Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) who works as a Masterbuilder and so far had believed she was The Special one. She is not all that happy with Emmet but ends up saving him from Bad Cop (Liam Neeson), one of President Business’s men.

Together they go to find Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), a prophet who should know it all. The three face it off with Bad Cop and get saved by Batman (Will Arnett), who is a bit dark and also Wildstyle’s boyfriend.

This leads to them meeting Benny (Charlie Day), a spaceman from the 1980s, and the positive Unikitty (Alison Brie). However, it will be up to Emmet and his unusual ways to stop President Business.

The Lego Movie is surely a huge selling point for the house of building bricks, but it’s also a combination of a truckload of ideas, possibilities and inspiration. Colourful, cartoony and snappy like its source material, the film treads the often walked path of a ‘chosen’ hero plot but it handles it in such style and panache that it’s very difficult not to get carried away. With its playful attitude and its ability to be so wild and over the top, the film goes beyond being just an exercise to sell construction toys.

The children will love it. I can simply imagine my youngest kid going gaga over this one. The movie also comes packed with pop culture references that will have the adults giggling. It’s also a hoot watching such figures as Batman, who is usually such a dark and grim hero, here playing the opposite in a humoristic mode. It’s all silly and manic but that is the essence of the film: it’s not meant to be takenseriously but to be insanely entertaining and fun. The Lego Movie is first and foremost a visual exercise. The environment portrayed on screen is intricate and incredibly detailed. Toy fans will have a field gazing with wonder into a world made up of their favourite toys.

There are also many cameos and the voicing comes packaged with a good sense of humour.

With excellent direction, Lego Movie is quite a surprising and fresh movie, and a couple of sequels are surely on the cards.