Who isn’t familiar with the world famous, multi-coloured plastic bricks and minifigures that have been inspiring young imaginations for decades? Who doesn’t remember the infinite constructions we made and made again as children, the fantastical places we designed and visited with our little yellow-headed friends? And if you are a parent, without a doubt you still do so. The Lego Movie brings back all of that and more.
Emmet is a generic Lego City builder who lives contentedly under the rule of President Business. He builds only what belongs in the City and only by following the instructions. Everything is in order, nothing is out of place and Emmet is happy, just like he is told to be. Until one day he finds himself entangled in a secret group of master builders – outlandish Lego figures from other Lego worlds who disregard the rules and build using their imagination. The master builders know that President Business has and evil plan to use a special weapon, the Kragle, to permanently fix all Lego worlds in place and stop master builders from ruining his vision of perfect order. Emmet is revealed to be ‘the one’ destined to stop President Business and although unwilling, he ventures with them into chaos and disorder, in the process learning to embrace thinking outside the box.
Forget the Lego animated films you may have caught on TV or DVD (again, if you have kids you will have come across these). The producers have taken the clever approach of sticking as close to the physical limitations of the toys as possible. Despite being entirely computer generated, the animation reproduces a stop-motion style with small, almost imperceptible deviations. Adding the right textures and lighting to the characters and sets gives the impression that you are watching a movie built and animated entirely by actual Lego pieces.
You’d be forgiven if you expected The Lego Movie to mainly ride on the success of a multi-million brand and the potential for merchandise. Granted, that is inevitable (and the irony of movie merchandise from a movie based on said merchandise is not lost on anyone) but the pleasant surprise is that it is actually a well-planned and thought out story. The film offers plenty of slapstick humour and jokes for the younger audience but is also full of references that appeal to more adult sensibilities. It awakens that inner child, the one who used to build implausible Lego structures regardless of brick colour or category, the one that has over years been replaced by the instruction-bound adult, the collector and appreciator, who finds joy in building and not playing. This is ultimately the heart of the film, a step back into a forgotten state of mind where imagination and creativity rule and the experience of pure delight can come from something as simple as a plastic brick. At the end of the film, you’ll be itching to get back home, dive into the kids’ stash of Lego and play to your heart’s delight.
