[REVIEW] ‘The LEGO Movie’ Everything is Awesome!

I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into with The LEGO Movie, but almost everything about the film won me over. Writers/Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs again exhibit their whimsical, childlike imaginations with this hysterical film about a “nobody who saved everybody.”

Chris Pratt is great as Emmet Brickowoski, an ordinary construction worker LEGO-man who finds himself thrust into a “prophecy” that is apparently about him (Pratt’s wife, Anna Faris, plays Sam Sparks in the Cloudy films so maybe Miller and Lord wanted to keep it in the family—either way, both were excellent castings). Emmet is very likable right off the bat—he has somewhat of a Homer Simpson-ish charm about him. The world of Emmet and the other “ordinary” LEGOs consists of following their instructions and building what they’re “supposed” to build.

Emmet’s life gets turned upside down (he literally falls through a huge hole and bounces around a lot—kids were laughing hysterically) and he wakes up to a whole new life. Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) is one of the “master builders” and she also happens to be “so pretty” according to Emmet. The bad guy, Lord Business (Will Ferrel) or President Business as the ordinary LEGOs know him, is planning to kill everyone with the Kragl (krazy glue) and it’s up to Emmet, Wyldstyle, Batman, Vitruvius, Unikitty (unicorn and kitty! Yay!), and a lot more super funny, cool Legos to stop him.

The animation style is enticing and fresh. It’s a blend of stop motion and CG that really places these characters in a believable, yet fanciful universe. Even the water droplets and fire are LEGO-like. The attention to detail is actually quite remarkable and that goes for a lot of the classic LEGO cameo characters in the film.

Why I say almost everything in the movie is awesome is because some of the scenes were a little much to handle. There’s a LOT going on in the action sequences and it was in those moments that the excessive adherence to the LEGO-style animation was somewhat exhausting. I’m sure the little ADD minds out there will absolutely eat the craziness up, but (just as in Cloudy) there were a few moments when I wanted to get off the ride.

Overall, however, The LEGO Movie was AWESOME and I have been singing “Everything is Awesome!” with a huge grin on my face since I walked out of the theater.