Everything is Awesome (With This Movie)

"As if I were a kid again." If I had to summarize the experience of watching The Lego Movie, this would be it.

Moving on to the technical stuff first, the animation itself isn't the smooth, detailed movement we're used to seeing in big-budget films (or even Lego videogames on previous generation consoles). Rest assured that it's intentional, and once you get to the heart of the story, you'll understand why the directors did it that way. It's amazing what they did with the effects, to be honest, opting to keep using bricks and Lego parts instead of putting some snazzy CGI effects.
The design team did a great job of creating new locales, vehicles, and whole sets. A lazier team would've just put existing sets together and be done with it. Instead, they showed creativity with the world they created, but keeping within what bricks are available in real life. At least with the single viewing I did, I didn't notice any particular cheat brick/part that was created specifically for the movie.

And to make things a bit more realistic, the 3D artists made it so that the minifigs weren't super perfect, and you can see seam lines on arms and hair pieces, as well as slightly imperfect paint jobs on their clothes. This helps sell the notion that these are, essentially, the same toys you might have played/are playing with. It gives off the idea that the movie is a fantasy that you can create yourself, with the toys you have, which makes the film a bit more accessible.

Credit: We Got This Covered

The story itself is also accessible in it's simplicity. It's one of those save-the-world deals with an unassuming hero. It's been done before, numerous times, in fact, but there's a particularly nice twist down the line. Don't worry, I don't intend to put spoilers here. When you get to that part, though, you realize that there's some real depth to the proceedings, and it has tons of heart. I found myself with slightly damp eyes towards the end. Not Pixar-level overflowing with tears, just slightly damp, which is good, because it's hell to fiddle around with 3D glasses while crying. Aside from that, there are plenty of laughs to be had, and some very witty jokes snuck in.

Credit: GameInformer

Of course, the story would be all for naught if the voice actors were bums. The cast in this movie is excellent, and they all nail their characters nicely. I didn't feel that anyone among them mailed in their performance, and their deliveries and comedic timings were spot-on. The characters themselves are a lovable, memorable lot, and I will definitely be remembering them still years from now. Chris Pratt's Emmet with his everyman charm, Will Arnett's Batman spoof off of Bale's version of it, Morgan Freeman's kooky Vitruvius, Elizabeth Banks' spunky and chic Wildstyle, Charlie Day's eager Spaceman Benny, Alison Brie's adorable Unikitty, Liam Neeson's split-personality Good Cop/Bad Cop, even Will Ferrell's Lord Business, the main villain, they're all lovable.

Credit: LEGO

To the writers' credit, aside from building an easily-accessible story that appeals to a wide variety of audiences, they had a huge opportunity to market the thousands of sets Lego has made over the years (captive audience and all that), but declines to do so, and instead presents the vastness of the Lego catalog in such a way that it's more of a quick run-through of some (not even all) of the themes that Lego has done/is doing (Milhouse makes a cameo) over the years. I never got the feeling that they're pushing me to buy set after set (though the company is certainly happy to offer you sets based on the movie). Instead, I got the urge to bring out the years-old bricks sitting in my closet and play as if I were six again.

Credit: LEGO

And speaking of playing Lego, as with any good film adapted from/inspired by existing source material, the film has a lot of winks, nods, and inside jokes for people who are fans of the toys, and some jokes are even self-deprecating of the toys themselves, like the age of some sets and the homogeneity of some minifigs. Seeing seemingly random numbers pop up alongside certain parts will be instantly recognizable to long-time builders, and for Lego videogame players, seeing the movie's protagonists build contraptions quickly should be familiar territory. Like I said, there's a whole lot of these for the fans. To be clear, though, it's not necessary to know these to appreciate the film (it's nice enough on its own). Think of it more like bonus material.

If, at any point in your life, you played and/or liked Lego, this movie is a well-crafted love letter to you. Heck, even if you've never dabbled in Lego, it's still wicked awesome. Watch it, you won't be disappointed.

Now, that said, Lego playdate, anyone?

P.S. Added bonus is seeing trailers for Days of Future Past, Amazing Spider-man 2, and Captain America: Winter Soldier, IN SUCCESSION. I mean, yeah, you can YouTube that, but it's a different feeling seeing it in a theater. That's why you sit in 15 minutes before the movie starts... FOR TRAILERS!

 

Okay I'm cheating here. What I saw was the older trailer, but I figured I'd share the newer trailer.

Also cheating here. I think it takes time for SM Cinemas to be given updated trailers, since these are pretty new. Either that, or the 3D versions of this and the Winter Solider trailer above aren't available, so the cinema was forced to show the 3D trailer of what they have.