The Lego Movie: PG

Running Time: 100 minutes

Directors:  Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

Main Actors: Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Alison Brie | See full cast and crew

Rating: 8.4 out of 10

After going to see the hyped up and talked about movie of the month, The Lego Movie, I had to say I was pleasantly surprised. Overall, it was a very sweet, nostalgic and funny family feature. At first, I had my doubts considering that one; I never really enjoyed Legos as a child and two; the theater was full of little kids. But, needless to say, I would give this brick building movie four out of five bricks.

The movie starts out with a typical Lego man named Emmett who sings about how great it is to follow the rules and how ‘Everything is Awesome’ (which is an incredibly annoying song that can’t help but worm it’s way into your head and never leave). Emmett goes through his day, doing exactly what every other Lego man or woman does in Lego City and the monotonous too perfect feeling starts to set in. But when Emmett falls down a hole and finds “the piece of resistance” that could save the world from President Business, he becomes the most special Lego in the world and has to save all of the Legos with the help of Wild Style (actress name), Batman (actor name), a Robot Pirate (actor name, and some bizarre cat-unicorn thing (actress name).

The enjoyable parts of the movie included a lot of good laughs, a nostalgic ambience and a surprisingly meaningful theme. It’s obviously a children’s comedy, but everyone from every age was laughing at some point. What I did really like though was the sentimental feel to it all. The movie was mostly stop action with a bit of animation, but for the most part they used every single Lego set known to man and built everything themselves. I might not have played with Legos, but I can remember my little brother had every one of those sets from the police station to the pirate ship. I think everyone in the audience, young and old, could appreciate seeing the toys they played with as kids come to life on screen.

The other part that really made the movie a worth seeing one was the ending moral. Throughout the movie, I started to get a feel of what the screenwriters were getting at, but it wasn’t until the last 30 minutes that the movie really pulls you in and leaves you smiling. The two themes were:  the idea that everyone is special in their own way as long as the believe it and the concept that creativity is not something that can be uniformed and confined; it needs to be set free and expressed. In the end, Emmett realizes that he did important things and was special because he believed it. And that everyone, big and small, was an important part of the bigger picture that mattered as long as they trusted in themselves. The transfer from animation and stop action to actual real life footage to express the second theme of letting creativity roam free was really interesting. It brought the whole movie together, showing that the whole point of Legos, toys and childhood was to express, imagine and have the ability to create whatever you want without restraints.

The reason I gave this movie a four out of five bricks  was due to the fact of that EXTREMELY annoying song played throughout the whole movie. There are only two lines in it, “Everything is awesome! Everything is perfect when you’re part of a team!” It’s the kind of song that makes you want to bang your head against a wall repeatedly. I mean, I get the point that it’s supposed to express the monotony of the world when it’s constrained and perfected by President Business, but come on. By the third verse, everything is definitely not that awesome. The other part that annoyed my movie going experience was Uni-kitty, the over peppy and happy and positive freak of a unicorn cat. She was basically the character equivalence of the annoying song.

But overall, The Lego Movie, is truly a must see. It left me laughing and smiling, and almost a bit teary eyed towards the end. Despite the annoying song, it definitely was a film that was not only different, but worth the money.