For once, a movie based upon a well-loved toy isn’t an 80-minute commercial or a Michael Bay piece of crap! Pardon my cynicism but the Lego brand isn’t tied to anything decent if you watch the Cartoon Network, see Ninjago and Chima.
The premise begins with the usual everyman going through his day in a Lego-based world filled with numerous jokes poking fun at the real world, here it’s Emmett, a typical yellow guy from a construction set. When he witnesses a mysterious figure poking around in the rubble, Emmett’s life is caught up in a vast adventure that travels across realities (aka, the different Lego lines, e.g. knights, cowboys, DC superheroes, etc.) and the tropes or clichés practically every action-saga film has used for the past 30 years.
What made Lego work was how well the balance between funny and silly was maintained. It avoided falling into the trap of just being plain inane or simplified. I would put it on par with Pixar’s stronger fare, it appeals to adults and children on different levels. Lego also makes uses the voice cast very well, namely Will Ferrell as the villain Lord Business. I quickly recognized Charlie Day since he brings his manic Charlie Kelly-esque character to the Eighties Spaceman (one of the first specialized sets I remember Lego selling before I became a teenager). Liam Neeson as Bad Cop brings surprising giggles because he has played heavies for years now.
Anything further would be spoilers. There are just a slew of surprises which made the movie a joy to see.
Finally, I feel the Lego movie turned out well due to the building blocks’ versatility. They’ve been around for 50 years, over three generations have played with them. Plus they’re not gender specific like Barbie or Transformers.
Again I’m glad the movie’s makers did a great job defeating my cynicism by making a solid comedy worth watching over and not another DVD to play in the minivan to pacify children for the drive to San Antonio.
Now to play the soundtrack to get the title song out of my head!
Alamo Extras: The White Stripes video “Fell in Love with a Girl,” a little history about the Lego company, a fan video of Abba’s “Take a Chance on me,” Spider-Man having an adventure while buying ice cream and a tour of a real house in the UK made exclusively of the plastic bricks.