The time has come: LEGO has released its first full-length theatrical film, The Lego Movie, and it is doing fantastically across the board. It has been the top-grossing movie in North America for the past three weeks, has an 82 metascore, an average rating of 8.4 on IMDb.com—and I personally have yet to hear a negative review since its release. It is a movie that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a laugh.
The story follows a young LEGO man named Emmet (Chris Pratt) and his journey with a old mystic named Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), a colourful rebel girl named Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) and, of course, Batman (Will Arnett). Vitruvius prophesies that a special LEGO character will stop the villainous Lord Business (Will Ferrell) from destroying the LEGO world with an evil weapon called the Kragle by using the wondrous piece of resistance. According to the prophecy, the person who will find the piece of resistance will be a Master Builder—someone who can create anything out of LEGO with no instructions. Everyone in the party is a Master Builder except for Emmet, who finds the piece of resistance.
Lord Business is obsessed with order and instruction and wants to impose his views on the rest of the LEGO universe. He separates different LEGO worlds from each other, arrests Master Builders because they don’t follow instructions, and brainwashes his townspeople into following instruction manuals on how to live daily life. In his world, there is no place for creativity or imagination.
The party gathers all the other Master Builders (iconic LEGO characters we all know and love like Superman, Abraham Lincoln, and 1980-something Space Guy). They ask for help in their quest to stop Lord Business, but when the Master Builders find out that Emmet, the special, is not a Master Builder, most of them lose faith in the enterprise and leave. But the meeting is invaded by Lord Business’ police force, led by Bad Cop (Liam Neeson), and the party must flee to survive. During the chaos, the Master Builders build a submarine and Vitruvius tells Emmet to build what he feels the need to and ignore what the others are doing.
(Side note: When I first saw the character Vitruvius, I thought he was going to be the “God character.” He is old and wise—but I found out rather quickly that although Vitruvius has plenty of knowledge, he is in no way God. In a scene where he and Wyldstyle are exploring Emmet’s mind, Vitruvius mentions “the man upstairs,” whom he says created all the LEGO characters. This leads the audience to think that there is a God in this LEGO universe. (I won’t give it away—let me just say it is a very clever play on words that had me smacking my head with the palm of my hand. Very, very clever, Warner Bros.)
So Emmet ends up building a double-decker couch in the submarine—and everyone in the party loses faith in his abilities. Will Emmet be able to regain their trust in him, or will he become completely useless in the overall mission? Will Lord Business triumph over the LEGO universe? Will Emmet ever become a Master Builder? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out.
Overall, I was excited to see this movie going in—and it did not disappoint. The animation is phenomenal and every few minutes there are puns and jokes that keep you laughing. Despite the light tone and at times too frequent positive messages (“Believe in yourself!”), the story is deeper than you might think. The final twist is completely unexpected and changes the story—and what you thought it was about—in just a few moments. If you’re ready for some laughs and a great adventure, go see The Lego Movie as soon as you can.