The Lego Movie

Going to the movies with one's children is almost always a good idea.  Saturday, my wife and daughter had an outing with some friends, so I took my two sons to see this movie.  My boys (like so many others) love Legos, and this movie not only offered the draw of seeing moving Legos on screen, but also a fun gimmick.  There were times in the movie where I felt it was trying to be a little too smug and culturally relevant for its own good (sort of how I feel about some of Pixar's work), but it still was a smart, funny piece of work.  Further, the resolution of the movie showed that it had more going on than I originally thought, as a plot twist of sorts which broke down the fourth wall provided a fresh idea that more than made up for some of what I felt were dull pyrotechnics earlier in the movie.

Emmett is a normal Lego construction worker.  However, a Lego wizard (Morgan Freeman) has declared him to be special, and he will bring Lord Business (Will Ferrell) and his "Kragle" weapon down with a special "piece of resistance".  Lord Business ends up blinding the prophet/wizard, but his prophecy lives.  Years later, Emmett lives a dull but tranquil life as a construction worker.  As the time of Lord Business' use of the Kragle to destroy the world draws near, the wizard brings together a group of "master builders" together in an attempt to stop Lord Business.  Emmett's talent pales in comparison to the rest of the builders, and it becomes clear to him that he isn't that special.  From there, the story kicks into gear as Emmett discovers what he can bring to the team along side Batman, Wild Style, and a host of other familiar Lego characters.

The story rises above the norm by its ending, which I will not give away here.  One of the things that a lot of modern animated stories struggle with is how much they try to appeal to both adults and kids.  Simply good storytelling should appeal to any adult, but many of these movies tack on bells and whistles that, while definitely entertaining, make the movies less universal.  A good example is a hilarious Star Wars joke.  It certainly got the biggest laugh from the adults during the movie (and my boys also loved it), but how will that joke play in 30 years?  Only time will tell, since Star Wars has also become such a well known story that many people will get the joke.  In any case, this style of inside and allusion laden jokes is a point of difficulty for me.  The jokes are very funny and work (and I suppose that's all that should matter), but I find the story to be less engaging.  The best of the Pixar and Dreamworks movies are able to walk the line between gimmick and storytelling very well.  This movie doesn't walk it as well, but still does a great job of giving the crowd a great story in the end.  The story is not what we think it is, and only in the end do we see how good this story is.  It is a story that both children and adults can appreciate, because it speaks to both.

In the end, my critical thoughts can be overlooked.  This may not be prove to be the classic that some movies are, but does it need to be?  It has wonderful animation, lots of familiar voices, and a lot of great gags.  My boys loved it, and I loved going to see it with them.