Crim at the movies: The Lego Movie
Published by Crimson Lionheart in the blog CWorld (Over Heaven). Views: 881
Ah Lego, those little blocks and yellow minifigures have come a long way since they were originally created way back 65 years ago. It’s only really been since the 1980’s that it has really taken an enormous rise in popularity that has allowed it to be mainstream media. I’ve seen the rise of special minifigures and even the beginnings of Lego video games. However, this really did not affect me as a child until Lego: Star Wars was released on the PS2 back in 2005. And boy, did it really take off from there. It was everywhere around primary school at that point. I never really had any of those minifigures, I was always more interested in the games. So when they announced that they were making a Lego Movie, my younger brother was quite happy. I hoped that this movie satisfied my inner twelve year old. Because let’s face it, I’m a child at heart.
The Lego Movie was created by the writer-director duo, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, where the two fof them gave the world Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and surprisingly, 21 Jump Street. This movie could easily be this generation's Toy Story, but we still have about six years left of this decade so I still have my hopes up to see what comes out sooner or later. This fun animated story takes us into a hyper-happy world where everything is apparently so awesome, there's even a pop styled anthem called Everything is Awesome. The adventure involves Emmet (Chris Pratt), a lowly construction worker who answers the call of a mystic prophecy to bring down the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell), with the help of a wizard (Morgan Freeman), the sassy yet badass Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), the god damn Batman (Will Arnett), and a whole bunch of other characters licensed by Lego. Now, to state the obvious, this movie is just one of many upon many examples of the entertainment industry colliding with standard day to day product placement. But seriously, who cares when a funny and fresh experience such as this can be done. This is really product placement done very well . Alongside the main cast of Hollywood royalty, with very notable actors being Morgan Freeman and Will Ferrell, Good Cop/Bad Cop was my favorite character in the entire movie, with Uni-Kitty being a very close second.
This is Liam Neeson. He will look for you, He will find you, and he will kill you.
One thing that I wish to talk about is the world that we find our protagonist ‘Emmet Brickowski’ lives in. When you get past the cheery and simple-looking environment, the world of The LEGO Movie falls right into George Orwell’s ‘1984’ territory. Let’s think about this for a second. People are forcibly made to follow rules that include the suppression of creativity, free thought, and even free will. Breaking these rules would risk being ‘put to sleep’ or being caught by the Secret Police and glued? Surveillance cameras on every street corner? Posters that essentially emphasize that Big Brother Is Watching? An corrupt corporate president of the world who is hell-bent on gluing the world together (including his own citizens) in order to save it? A chief of police who swings from a sweet, lovable guy to an absolute power freak without a moment’s notice? Despite that this is obviously a kid’s movie, it hides a disturbing dystopian theme.
“ Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.”
The story here is pretty simple, but it’s a kids’ movie, so there is no point to really have any form of complex story-line. Besides that, it still provides a lot of entertainment and laughs along the way despite it being your basic children’s flick that children, and plenty of adults, would enjoy. The main reason I went to see this movie was for the astonishing animation of the entire world, all of which was built with a computer. Detail in this world is ridiculous, with many pieces that usually go into vehicles were used to for water. Even Emmet, our protagonist and average everyday Lego figure with a job in construction lived his life according to the instructions and made absolutely no impression whatsoever on anyone around him. He was also totally committed to following the rules (always return a compliment; support the local sports team; drink overpriced coffee). Even the character development in this movie is quite impressive, adding to the detail of what is one to an entire world of detail. This movie was clearly inspired by the Toy Story series, but that is not a bad thing. The film itself is very funny and entertaining, if a little bit silly in most cases, but the animation is wonderful and inspired. I found myself just looking at all the excellent Lego animations several times. I understand why this was such a big hit now.
All of that amounts to a crazy amount of lunacy, and yet, the filmmakers still manage to sneak in one of the most surprising plot-twists of recent movie history (Not going to spoil it), and do it well. Amongst the main characters of this movie, there are other ‘Master Builders’, who are incredibly powerful individuals who could well...build anything with insane speed, and many of these builders are cameos of other famous characters. Abraham Lincoln, Han Solo, Wonder Woman, Superman, and,um... Shaq. Oh, and Batman who uses the Batmobile mostly as a speaker-system for his terrible, self-penned songs about darkness
My parents are dead!
With an A-list voice cast and brilliant ideas with action and dialogue, and maybe even romance, happening almost masterfully. It teaches you to Believe in yourself and don't forget the value of teamwork: these are the film's two main positive messages, and are ones that will resonate with kids of all ages. Lord and Miller took the idea of Lego and turned it into something immensely fun to watch. Even if most people eventually age out of Lego, the same fate would likely not touch this movie. This movie might be talked about again within a few decades, but as a classic.
This is a film for simply everyone. It's awesome.
This movie has scored Four and a Half out of Five Lionhearts
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