The Lego Movie (2014)

Fun movie, lots of great moments, but the part that sticks with me is the core message, "There's no wrong way to play with LEGO... unless you glue them together, then you're evil and bad."

This movie is really enjoyable. I must say that "Everything is awesome" in this movie .

I have always hated the term "Hollywood has run out of ideas". Whenever I hear it, it's usually regarding to a movie clearly based off a property that shouldn't be turned into a movie, particularly ones based on games and toys. Movies based on them (with the exception of "Toy Story" of course) have barely worked with one notable example being the 2012 film "Battleship". So when I first saw the trailer for "The Lego Movie", I rolled my eyes and thought that this movie would never work. And you'll be very surprised when I say that I was proved completely wrong. "The Lego Movie" really surprised me with its clever humor, heartwarming story, memorable characters, and some fantastic animation. Yes, you read that right. "I was actually surprised by The Lego Movie" and I'll explain why.The film takes places in a world made out of Lego filled with many mini figures. In the big city, a normal construction worker named Emmet (Chris Pratt) lives in an average every day normal life following the instructions to a good life. One day though, he accidentally stumbles across the legendary Piece of Resistance, one of the elements of a prophecy that would be used to take down the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell). He then is thrown into a giant war after he is rescued from custody by Wildstyle (Elizabeth Banks) who he accidentally believes to be the prophecy's chosen one. Traveling through many worlds in the Lego universe, its up to Emmet, Wildstyle, the prophesier Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), and even Batman (Will Arnett) to defeat Lord Business and his lieutenant Bad Cop (Liam Neeson) before they unleash the ultimate weapon to destroy the world, the Kragle (which is really krazy glue with a worn out label). I can't say anymore, you just have to see it.The strength in this film is definitely the writing. Both Phil Lord and Chris Miller clearly understood the fun of Legos and were able to craft up a world with original characters and comedy that even pokes fun of clichés seen in the past. One notable example is the villain telling his minions to cue his dramatic entrance using smoke and a door slamming open. Writing like this is what makes "The Lego Movie" stand out. The animation is fantastic. What really surprised me about it was the fact that it was actually not stop motion like I initially thought, but computer animation. The film was animated by Animal Logic, the company that crafted the realistic movies like "Happy Feet" and "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole". The fact that they went from making animals looking very lifelike to simple toys is a pretty big leap and an impressive leap at that. The characters were a whole bunch of fun. Each had at least one to funny line to say, and had at least one unique trait to make them stand out. They also were perfectly cast as well. Chris Pratt brought a real lovable presence to Emmet while Will Arnett cracked me up with his cocky and s egotistical performance as Batman. Will Ferrell even channeled his early performance of "Megamind" in his performance of Lord Business. If I had one problem with the movie and it's pretty much a nitpick is some of the humor was a little off. Most of it hit the mark, but some I just didn't catch or it was funny. However, it's really a nitpick."The Lego Movie" is probably one of the most surprising movies I have seen. With a funny story, fantastic animation and memorable characters, I was left in a very happy mood, something I never thought I would say about "The Lego Movie". I hope that movie studios will take notes on how to make movies based on properties really good, because this movie set the bar very high which can be seen as either a good thing or a bad thing. I think that it's a good thing.

The story involves the search for an object that can stop the 'Kragle'; a dangerous weapon threatening all of lego-mankind.With its mechanical meta awareness, franchise jokes, and a daring third act that shatters (not just breaks) the fourth wall, there is no question that the Lego Movie is clever. The problem is that the self mockery is too heavy. That and a jumbled story line, visually incoherent action scenes, and shallow emotional content make for a mediocre movie.Our protagonist is a modern version of the construction worker character from Lego's first packages. He is as amusingly mundane as the movie tells us he is, but remains mundane in those few moments when he is supposed to amount to something more. He goes from being a spoof on the hapless hero to being just another version of one.The most memorable piece of the movie is the ear worm song 'Everything is Awesome' which is as cheesy as it is addicting. Other highlights are Liam Neeson's Good Cop/Bad Cop, and a happy go lucky unicorn with a demonic alter ego lurking just under the happy face. Lego Batman has enough moments to have made him easily worthy of his own movie (which he now has). We also have all the other DC and Marvel heroes who are there just so the makers can check their names off the list.The ending takes us out of Legoland and into the three dimensional world. Here we get the punchline, the revelation of what exactly the 'Kragle' is. They has a cute idea, but it comes with notes of forced sentiment that fall rather flat.By focusing to much on mocking the gimmick of the toy, as well all the franchise characters, the movie itself ends up feeling like a gimmick. There is no heart, soul or narrative shape, and the scattered laughs don't make it worth the time.