The Lego Movie
Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), “The Lego Movie,” is purely awesome.
Introducing the main character, the camera sweeps over the 3-D computer animated Lego cityscape finally zooming in to meet Emmet (Chris Pratt), a very plain construction worker just trying to follow the rules so much so that he no longer thinks for himself. After accidentally meandering around the construction site after hours he discovers a secret underworld filled with Lego characters from past and present and Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), an old wizard-type mentor—Freeman is good at that sort of stuff, you know—who tells Emmet that he is the Special, the prophesied one to throw over evil President Business (Will Ferrell), the maniacal dictator determined to keep everything in place, literally with glue.
With a band of “Star Wars”, superheroes, “Lord of the Rings”, and even historical and sports Lego characters voiced by several prominent actors like Liam Neeson, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, Emmet is able to overcome his drab way of life and cause a raucous and while telling you the ending would be unfair, just know it will not be a disappointment.
“The Lego Movie,” is all about the classic, tired, and overly familiar plot; Ordinary man suddenly becomes extraordinary, saves the world, and may or may not get the girl. But it works. The movie goes above and beyond to hit and use every single cliché about films, scripts, fantasy, toys, relationships, even taking a leap outside the original story frame. Every cliché that has ever existed works in this silly movie. And I didn’t mind one bit.
A solid 8 stars out of 10.
