Nostalgic, funny with a little bit of heart, would be the perfect, albeit simple, way to sum up The Lego Movie. With truly amazing animation and top-notch voice acting, this film shouldn't be stereotyped as a film that only children will love - adults will certainly enjoy it too! For a toy that has been around for over 60 years, it inevitably had a vastly varying age group to try and impress, and it's safe to say The Lego Movie will disappoint only a [very picky] few.
Sarcastically playing on the idea that every Lego figurine looks the exact same, the film starts with introducing Emmet (Parks & Recreation's Chris Pratt) , a guy ironically trying to fit in to a world where everyone is essentially, the same. He's not got anything noticeably special about him, that is until he becomes a part of an age-old prophecy that he never even knew existed.
President Business (voiced by Will Ferrell) spends his time ruling over Bricksburg, a fictional Lego town where people go to work, abide by the rules… and watch Where's My Pants? on loop. But when he's not doing his usual presidential activities, his alter-ego Lord Business is plotting to make the perfect Bricksburg by using his secret weapon, the "Kragle", which is really just some Krazy Glue but with a few letters crossed out.
When Emmet is mistaken for a Master Builder by a team of kooky rebels trying to stop his villainous plans, he has to learn to stop sticking to rules and instructions and start using both his brain and his heart to beat Lord Business.
Yes, the story sounds basic, right? But there are so many more layers to this movie, brick after brick of them in fact, that will appeal to all different kinds of viewers and that's what makes this film so enjoyable. The film is incredibly tongue-in-cheek, so obviously over-exaggerating classic hero story tropes such as every character repeating the prophecy in every scene and the constant reminders that to be a successful good guy, all you have to do is "belieeeeve". The writers, which include 21 Jump Street's Christopher Miller and Phil Lord were undoubtedly onto a winning recipe with this as not only does it amuse the adults, it makes it nice and simple for the little ones to understand!
The Lego Movie hasn't just made up it's own characters within the film, it also features faces you'd recognise such as Batman, Abraham Lincoln and even Dumbledore, which makes for a lot of the jokes throughout the film. Having characters that you can play with in real-life Lego definitely adds a sense of connection to the toys, whilst also providing a few laughs at other franchise nods. (There are some very funny Batman ones in particular).
The movie's only downfall is it does go a little too overboard with the sentiment towards the finish with it's slightly cliched, happy ending. But then we do have to remember that for all it's nods to older audience members, this IS a kid's film, so some cheese is to be expected, and accepted in this case! For everything it gets right, luckily these moments are few and far between towards the end and are nowhere near bad enough to ruin the rest of it.
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