The LEGO Movie (2014)

Kudos to the minds behind The Lego Movie because it is unlike any animated movie I have seen before and it is due to remixing so to speak. For one thing their story satirizes the ever popular action-adventure trope complete with an evil mastermind who is bent on controlling the world and an every man who ultimately becomes the chosen one to save the...Lego race.

The world they created is filled with annoyingly popular music, a superficial television program, over priced coffee, and of course cities full of Lego people living in Lego places. They've taken the pieces and people that every little boy knows and spliced it into their own little unique universe.

In their world Emmett (Chris Pratt) is a simpleton construction worker who is suspected to be the chosen one by the fugitive master builder Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks). They track down the prophetic Vitruvious (Morgan Freeman) and after gathering support they enact a plan to take down the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell) who wants to subject the world to the Kragle super weapon. I might as well stop the synopsis here because for one I do not want to spoil the film and for another it probably sounds like I am speaking complete gibberish.

That is the beauty of this film because it takes a previous concept like Legos and builds on it. After all that is what you are supposed to do with Legos. Build things! In many ways I could easily see a version of myself making a movie like this when I was younger. In the Lego world everything collides into a wonderfully beautiful collage. You have cities, Cowboys, Pirates, Superheroes, Basketball players and  Star Wars all tossed together in a giant pot. Thus, the Lego movie I would have made would have been a lot different than this one but that is absolutely okay. Legos are meant to stimulate the mind and allow the bricklayer to build and tell any story they want to. The minds behind this film certainly did that to great affect with a story that is clever, witty, and even touching.

Furthermore, it is necessary to give a shout out to the voice actors. The two leads in Christ Pratt and Elizabeth Banks did well with their roles. However, they were also surrounded by the likes of Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Nick Offerman, and Alison Brie. Parks and Rec, Arrested Development, and Community were all represented here.

You cannot leave out cameos by Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, and Shaq. There are undoubtedly others that I left out. Hopefully they forgive me.

By the end of the film you will probably be convinced that everything is AWESOME and each one of us is in fact a chosen one, we just have to truly believe it.

4/5 Stars