The Lego Movie-2014

Directors Phil Lord, Chris Miller

Starring Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks

Scott’s Review #284

Reviewed October 24, 2015

Grade: D

A child’s movie in every sense of the word, The Lego Movie (2014) is silly and amateurish. It contains a hackneyed plot and a fast pace that makes the viewing experience quite unpleasant.

Computer-animated and driven by imagery, a scene featuring two human beings interspersed among the animations only makes the plot more sappy, overwrought, and predictable.

The film is a complete dud and a waste of energy, save for one lone catchy song that appears throughout. I am perplexed that this film received mostly positive reviews, as I didn’t share the same sentiment.

The premise is too complex for the target audience: in a Lego universe, where all of the characters are Lego pieces, a mysterious wizard- Vitruvius- attempts to protect a superweapon (Kragle) from the evil Lord Business.

While he fails, he prophesies that a person named “The Special” will one day find the Piece of Resistance capable of stopping the Kragle.

Kragle turns out to be superglue in the human world, as a cameo with Will Ferrell reveals he is the human version of Lord Business and refuses to let his young son play with Dad’s Lego set, thereby threatening to keep the set stationary with glue.

Inevitably, this leads to a tender scene with Dad and his son.

I didn’t find The Lego Movie engaging, story-wise or visually, and I was bored for most of the experience.

Admittedly, modern animated films are not my favorite genre- I miss the days of the classic Disney drawing-style films like Bambi or Dumbo both in the 1940s.

The major flaw is the film’s frenetic pacing. Did the powers that be think that all youngsters and parents dragged along have attention deficit disorder?

There was no time to pause and ponder what was going on in the story because it immediately moved on to the next scene.

The action is non-stop, so the film seemed like one long action sequence.

The main character, Emmett, a young Lego piece everyone thinks is dull, is voiced by Chris Pratt.

Emmet stumbles upon a young woman named Wyldstyle looking for something at his construction site- she assumes he is The Special, and they race to save the world from Lord Business.

Emmet, as far as a lead character goes, is likable enough, and predictably, a romance develops between him and Wyldstyle. We meet various creative characters like Batman and Princess Unikitty.

The film contains a sickeningly catchy song called “Everything Is Awesome” that will stick in the viewer’s head whether desired or not, and that is the strongest part.

It is not that the song is lyrically great or anything, but it is fun and easy to hum along to.

Overly high-octane and with an uninteresting plot, The Lego Movie (2014) may appeal to young kids in the seven-to-ten range, but it is a forgettable, tedious experience for this grown-up.

The film’s ending leaves room for the inevitable sequel.

Oscar Nominations: Best Original Song-“Everything Is Awesome”