The Lego Movie (2014)

“Everything is awesome!” is the one thing you will surely remember after leaving the cinema having seen The Lego Movie. That is what you might think of the movie, but those words are actually the lyrics of the main theme of the movie. If you are honest it sounds like a J-Pop song and despite that knowledge it is very catchy. Two weeks after having seen this movie myself I still hum it from time to time. So the music of the movie is solid, but what about the rest of it?

The story is about an ordinary lego minifigure who works in construction. He is as average as can be, does not stand out and a typical example of someone who embraces cosumerism (one example is him happily buying a very overpriced cup of coffee). When he meets Wyldstyle (who isn’t a DJ, but is voice by Elizabeth Banks) his world changes in about the same way it did for Neo in The Matrix or Ralph in Wreck-it-Ralph. He discovers there are other worlds besides his own and everyone believes that he is the one who can bring them all together. Everyone believes that he is a masterbuilder, someone who does not follow instructions, but can build anything out of pieces of Lego. Oh yeah and of course there is a bad guy who has some evil plan which he has to stop.

I have to admit that I was not planning on watching this movie anytime soon, until all the glowing reviews started pouring in. See I did not grow up playing with Lego and although I played a couple of the Lego games on the Xbox where I enjoyed the humor, my heart does not start to beat faster when something has to do with Lego. So this movie had to work hard to win me over, at least that is what I thought in advance.

It did not take long though for me to realize it did not need to win me over because straight from the start you get pulled into its world, which is a very crazy one. I don’t think you can name a movie where Batman, one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Shaquille O’Neal and Gandalf are all in the same scene. Even if you could I bet it would not make as much sense as it does in this film. The only limit to Lego is imagination and I’ve seen an actual house being built from it. Here that imagination shows in every scene, not only that but it is combined with humour which results in a movie that entertains throughout. The story goes everywhere, just like it would when someone is playing with the colored blocks. Visually it is striking as really everything has been made out of (CGI) Lego, even things like fire and water.

Some (ok, me too) were surprised by all the positive reviews of the movie, but if you look at the directors it is less of a surprise. They directed the also very entertaining Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street, which both surprised people in a positive way. Are there any negative things to say about The Lego Movie? Personally I was not a fan of the direction the movie took in the final act which took me out of the movie (if you have seen it you know what I mean). It was not necessary to go into that direction and I thought it was a weak moment in the film. Still this will probably turn out to be one of the best family movies out this year as there is something in there for everyone.