The Lego Movie builds a world of fun and friendship

Image courtesy of Flckr

Fun and creativity abound in the warm and inventive new film The Lego Movie, which is currently playing at Tower Theaters.  The co-directors and co-writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller embrace the tactile interlocking aesthetic of their film’s namesake and thrust viewers into a world of, yes, legos, replete with oceans of undulating blue pieces, cloud kingdoms made from multi-colored building blocks and a legion of funny, plastic action heroes.

The most humble and unassuming of these tiny figures is Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt), a lonely construction worker who blindly follows the instructions that an evil corporation called Octan supplies to the citizens. The filmmakers take some jabs at big business in the opening scenes, as Octan is guilty of controlling every aspect of Emmet and his fellow citizens’ lives, from making their television shows to writing all the history books. Lording over Octan is President Business (voiced by Will Ferrell), who seeks to control every element of the lego world, and enlists his flying “micromanagers” in his quest to be the biggest control freak in the                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               universe.

President Business hates the idea of anyone messing with his stuff, so he concocts a plan to literally solidify his vision of the world once and for all with the help of a substance called “Kragle.” The only ones standing in his way are the MasterBuilders, led by the silver-bearded wizard, Vitruvius. The questionably clairvoyant wizard foresees the coming of a savior called “The Special” who will find “the piece of resistance” and use it to destroy President Business. When Emmet accidentally stumbles on the magic piece, he is swept away by Wyldstyle, a spunky resistance fighter, to join the rest of the MasterBuilders in combat.

The only problem is that Emmet is exceedingly ordinary, loves following the rules and, as Wyldstyle observes, he hasn’t “ever had an original thought.” Or so it seems. Once in the rebel bastion, Cloud Cuckoo Land, Emmet meets the other MasterBuilders, who are big personalities like Batman, Abraham Lincoln and the gruff, world-weary pirate Metal Beard. When the city is besieged by President Business’s right hand man, Bad Cop, the MasterBuilders struggle to build an escape submarine, none of them wanting to compromise their own personal style. Only Emmet’s off-the-wall invention, a double-decker couch, survives the crashing waves, proving the film’s main lesson. When creating in the lego world, as in the real world, you have to strike a balance between following the directions and allowing your own creativity to flourish, but most importantly, you should never undervalue other people’s ideas, even if they don’t sound that great at first.

This message is the sweet, candy-coated center that the film proudly wears like a badge of honor. There are also plenty of energetic action sequences where lego pieces whip across the screen and ricochet into the audience courtesy of the not unpleasant use of 3D. Despite being action heavy, The Lego Movie never feels weighed down and thankfully, the writing doesn’t fall into the Shrek pitfall of trying to be hip, so the film is funny without being preening. The performances also have a loose, relaxed quality that makes the characters loveable without being annoying. Notably, Will Arnett lends his gravelly baritone to Batman and Liam Neeson plays up his Irish brogue as Bad Cop.

The Lego Movie owes the most to its animated predecessor Toy Story, especially towards the end, when a third act reveal pulls the film’s message back into the real world, but to say any more would be to spoil a really lovely surprise. Instead, go see The Lego Movie for yourself and allow yourself to be transported into a magical world of play.