Story by Dan Hageman & Kevin Hageman and Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Screenplay Written and Directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
If this is a sign of good cinematic visions to come in 2014, then bring them on!
Dear readers, I just have to tell you right up front that I initially had absolutely,positively, undeniably no plans whatsoever in seeing "The LEGO Movie," as my knee-jerk responses to all advertisements and trailers were wholly negative. I feared and fretted that this movie would just be one more day-glo colored, self-congratulatory hip, hellzapoppin' and emotionally empty piece of crap for children that typically litters our theaters and the fact that it seemed to be nothing more than a commercial for LEGOs truly ensured that I would stay away. And then, the major film reviews, which were all overwhelmingly positive to flat out raves came out, a collection of endorsement that indeed forced me to head out to my local theater and see this thing for myself.
Now having returned home, I will first openly admit to how extremely wrong i was with my initial fears concerning this film as "The LEGO Movie" is by no means a self congratulatory hip and emotionally empty piece of crap for children. It is actually and precisely the type of animated film, like Directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders' magnificent "How To Train Your Dragon" (2010), that should have the animators and brain trust of Pixar shaking in their boots. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have nearly beaten Pixar at its own game of creating a film that is a virtual feast for the eyes and filled with an audio/visual wonderment that make you often wonder aloud, "How did they do that?" And while "The LEGO Movie" is indeed lusciously day-glo colored and enthusiastically (and almost defiantly) hellzapoppin, the emotional core of the film is a deeply passionate one. When making films that are designed for children, I firmly believe that the world sof art and commerce can, and should , intertwine as greatly as possible as even the smallest of children deserve the highest quality that we are capable of delivering to them. "The LEGO Movie" scales those heights with confidence, skill, hilarity and a big heart.
Chris Pratt voices the unlikely hero of "The LEGO Movie," Emmett Brickowski, a happy-go-lucky yet completely non-descript construction worker LEGO mini-figure, who literally stumbles into a life altering adventure that in which the fate of the entire LEGO universe is held in the balance. As prophesied by the wizard Vitruvius (a very sly Morgan Freeman), a savior known as "The Special" will one day rise to battle the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell), a malevolent figure who wishes to utilize a weapon known as "The Kragle" to immobilize all of the LEGO realms into eternally "perfect" place. To stop Lord Business, "The Special" needs to find the"Piece Of Resistance," which is actually one lone orange LEGO block, and save the universe from destruction.
Emmett, who finds surprisingly finds the "Piece Of Resistance," finds himself joined by Vitruvius, the pirate Metal Beard (Nick Offerman), the unicorn/anime kitten hybrid Uni-Kitty (Alison Brie), the "1980s something space guy" Benny (Charlie Day), Batman (Will Arnett) and his girlfriend, the tech savvy fight girl with the LEGO dyed hair streaks Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks)--also with whom Emmett falls in love--as they all band together to stop the nefarious plans of Lord Business and his henchmen led by Bad Cop (Liam Neeson). But can poor Emmett, who has been bred and raised to be a completely homogenized, obedient and most crucially, a non-thinking member of LEGO society find it within himself to truly be "The Special" and discover the sheer and unabashed ingenuity to save the day?
With regards to filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, discovering a sense of ingenuity is a problem that neither of them lack as "The LEGO Movie" is practically bursting at the celluloid seams with ingenuity that is superbly playful. The film is flat-out dazzling to regard visually and merged with the screenplay plus the film's rocket fueled pacing, Lord and Miller have created an experience that is impossible--I mean, IMPOSSIBLE--to fully digest in one sitting. From all of the one-liners within the dialogue to the resplendent visual panorama, "The LEGO Movie" is so incredibly detailed and designed that it indeed demands to be experienced more than once...and I am quite certain that those of you with children will be doing just that, especially once the film is released on the home video formats. It is a film universe filled with a wonderwall of astonishment and joyful awe that illustrates perfect just how inventive special effects can be in just the right hands. Even if I could fully describe to you the sights of "The LEGO Movie," I would refrain as I just would refuse to do so as I would want for yo to experience the film as freshly as I did. And while I did often wonder aloud to myself "How did they do that?" I also just do not want to know as the imagination presented to me was sincerely golden.
Even the aspect of product placement is entirely subverted as what could have existed as a nearly two hour commercial does, in the hands of Lord and Miller, become an actual movie, filled with characters, story and so much deliriously presented fun that the sharp satire goes down so easily that your little ones won't even notice it and the adults can chuckle with recognition. It truly is quite the masterstroke of an achievement as well as an accomplishment, the likes of which I have not seen since the deeply underrated and just plain terrific satire that was--believe it or not--the live action adaptation of "Josie And The Pussycats" (2001), where Directors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan voluntarily used product placements in nearly every scene of the film to fuel their satire of subliminal advertising and corporate cultural domination. In "The LEGO Movie," as Lord Business makes his address to the LEGO nation and as we have our first full view of Emmett's daily life, in which all businesses and media airwaves (complete with ingratiating and innocuously catchy television shows and pop songs) are owned by one entity and nothing, not even a single thought is accomplished without having an instruction manual at the ready, we can see that Lord and Miller are holding up a somewhat sinister mirror to our real world society for us to pay more attention towards.
And here is where "The LEGO Movie" attains its highest achievements. In many ways, the film, even as meticulously designed as it is, miraculously feels as if it is being made up on the spot, giving us an experience that is kind of like we have purchased a ticket inside the mind of a child armed with every LEGO imaginable and we are witness to this child completely at play and completely at the mercy of every single childlike whim that emerges during unencumbered play. Frankly, this is actually the exact element that makes the actual storyline of "The LEGO Movie" so thoughtful and heartfelt as the film is indeed an ode to the process and gift of imagination and creativity as well as existing as a passionate plea to retain one's purity of spirited imagination and exude creativity, especially when the world around you is doing all that it can to stifle something so beautiful and necessary for human fulfillment and even enlightenment.
Even further, I have to say that I do find it quite odd when a major motion picture studio produces a film that houses highly subversive subject matter, as when Pixar, which is of course owned by Disney, released the wonderful "Wall-E" (2008), a film which presented a grim science fiction future while delivering an undeniably anti-corporate message. "The LEGO Movie" is no exception, and in some ways, even stretches further than "Wall-E," as this film is not only anti-corporate, it is also anti-establishment and anti-conformity while praising individuality and the populist themes of teamwork through a sense of rebellion and uprising. And this arrives to us from the under the corporate monolith that is Warner Brothers, who also gave us equally subversive anti-establishment messages in The Wachowski's 'The Matrix" trilogy (1999/2003) as well as "V For Vendetta" (2005). Who knows? If your children leave the theater singing that aforementioned ingratiating and innocuous pop song of the film entitled "Everything Is Awesome!" but later emerge singing John Lennon's "Power To The People" or Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up," perhaps you will know where those seeds had been planted!
Even with all of my praise, I did not think that "The LEGO Movie" was quite the masterpiece that a number of critics are expressing and that is due to...let's just say...a plot development that occurs late in the film. Now, as always, I will not produce spoilers but I will say that I did not have any issue with the actual development itself. I had an issue with how it was handled. It felt to me that the messages of the film were not only easily digestible but also easily understandable, even to some of the smallest children in the theater. So much so, that I just felt that perhaps Lord and Miller overplayed their hand a bit with expressing and explaining their messages even more explicitly than they needed to do, therefore giving me a bit of a feeling of hard sold overkill. That said, it did not derail the movie at all. t just stopped it from going over the top for me.
But with a film that is as successful as "The LEGO Movie," a film that is indeed swinging for the fences and just nearly gets there by ensuring that we in the audience are just as enormously entertained watching it as the filmmakers were making it, that is a cinematic triumph as far as I am concerned.
If most of the films of 2014 are to be as creative, earnest, inventive, imaginative and as profoundly thoughtful and purposeful in its conception and presentation as "The LEGO Movie" is, then this will be a movie year to cherish. I hope that happens!!!
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