This review contains little to no spoilers.
To anyone feeling even the slightly bit skeptical about seeing a movie about Legos, I will be the first to admit that I walked into the theater with absolutely no idea what this movie was about. All I knew was that it had Legos (duh), Batman, and Morgan Freeman. But really, that’s all you need.
The Lego Movie follows an ordinary Lego construction worker named Emmett (Chris Pratt) who is the quintessential everyman (so ordinary that people don’t actually notice him all that much). All he wants in life is to be considered important, and he gets that wish when he accidentally finds the Piece of Resistance. This causes an awesome builder, Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) to introduce him to an old wizard named Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) and begin their quest to stop the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell) from his tyrannical quest to destroy the world on Taco Tuesday.
After being chased through a multitude of recognizable worlds for anyone who has played with Legos, such as a land with castles, a Wild Wild West Land, and others (I’d give you the names, but that would ruin the joke) by the half-evil, half-kind and generous henchman of Lord Business, Bad Cop/Good Cop (Liam Neeson), our heroes need some assistance. This assistance is found in the other cast of characters such as Batman (Will Arnett), Metalbeard (Nick Offerman), UniKitty (Allison Brie), and Benny (Charlie Day) working hand in hand in order to save the world from Lord Business and his maniacal plans.
If that large and impressive cast of names didn’t already excite you, then fear not. This movie is still awesome. Although the film is being marketed as a children’s movie, it felt more like it was aimed at everyone. While children can obviously get laughs from this movie due to the large amount of visual jokes and just the sheer joy of watching Legos move around, this movie has so many references to things that children may not understand, such as older Lego sets and recognizable Lego characters we may have played with. If you have never played with Legos, the characters themselves still bring joy (Superman, anyone?).
But what is most exciting about this movie isn’t the recognizable sets or the characters (though that does really help). This movie understands its audience. Whether there’s a play on words for a Castle World (think Lord of the Rings), or tapping into the audiences mind as to how we think of any Morgan Freeman character is in a movie (yes, we all think of him as the movie God), or even using visual or auditory puns that will leave you rolling when you finally understand what they’re referencing, this movie leaves you laughing from start to finish.
And that’s not even talking about the visuals in this movie, which are astounding. They really worked hard at making you feel completely immersed in a Lego world. When buildings explode, you can see the Lego pieces flying away. When the characters go into water, you can see the bricks splashing between the boat.
Overall, The Lego Movie is the most amount of fun you’ll have at a movie theater in a long time. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll walk out of the theater singing “Everything Is Awesome” for a long, long time.
