You may think a movie made entirely about Lego would be too commercial, boring or gimmicky. And rather surprisingly, you’d be wrong. Whilst the premise of the film might seem bizarre and a little ‘out there’, The Lego Movie reassures audiences with a double dose of creativity and sharp animation.
Chris Pratt stars in the leading role as Emmet, a conformist, who can’t seem to get by in life without specific instructions. No, really. This is until Emmet gets mistaken for the ‘special’, a person who is prophesized to stop Lord Business (Will Ferrell) from using a super-weapon called the ‘Kragle’. Ordinary Lego construction worker Emmet is now thrust into a world where he meets new friends in the form of WyldStyle (Banks), a creative master builder, Uni-Kitty (Brie), Benny (Charlie Day) and a wizard named Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), who possesses the creepiest glowing eyes you’ve ever seen. Also along for the adventure are a whole heap of Lego superheroes, including Batman (Arnett), Superman (Channing Tatum), Green Lantern (Jonah Hill) and Wonder Woman (Cobie Smulders). The cast is everything you’d want and expect from a ‘Lego’ movie and Pratt doesn’t disappoint with his spot-on portrayal, whilst Banks shines.
Considering how many feature animated films can fall short in the script department due to heavy reliance on special visual effects, The Lego Movie is a whirlwind of vibrant colours and slick computer animation which rivals even the Toy Story saga. In a movie where creativity thrives and flourishes through the master builders, it would appear that the ‘master builders’ in this case are indeed the creators of this piece. The film contains an abundance of laughs, quirks and cheeky moments (everything about the quirky Vitruvius to Emmet’s easily fixable hair, and of course, Good Cop/Bad Cop) which fuel the film and will appeal to the adults watching the flick. Fear not – the amount of pop culture references will particularly resonate with any viewers watching who may have written this movie off as an unfunny commercial for toys.
The plot is fairly thought-provoking for a movie essentially about construction toys. The overall social commentary on conformity is an engaging one. But this does not detract away from the anarchic, chaotic fun that sets the film alive at its core and ignites in it an imagination amongst all ages. Visually electrifying and suitably smart, The Lego Movie does what so many movies fail to do – dazzle and engage its audience.
4 stars
This review has also been published online via Concrete, which you can check out at the following link:
http://www.concrete-online.co.uk/lego-movie-review/
Check out the trailer for this Lego-Tastic adventure below!
