By Staff Writer: Kate Bauer
Everything in The Lego Movie is, indeed, awesome. From the silly yet wily kid-appropriate PG-rated performance by Will Ferrell to geeking out over seeing my favorite characters in LEGO form, directors/co-writers Phil Lord and Chris Miller created a 3D masterpiece that comically rejected conformity and spread the positive message of individualism.
From past experiences with plaything-based movies such as Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Battleship, I was expecting The Lego Movie to be a 100-minute commercial advertising LEGO play sets. However, the film manages to smartly argue the drawbacks to conformity and following the rules while celebrating individuality and the power of imagination.
Our unlikely hero is Emmett (voiced by Chris Pratt), an unremarkable construction worker who is completely happy with his standard life as a common citizen of Bricksburg. Likewise to the rest of the population of the metropolis, he avoids over thinking to the point where he barely thinks at all.
But after dawdling around a construction site after hours, Emmett finds himself falling into a mysterious underworld where he discovers the “piece of resistance” and the wise wizard Vitruvious (Morgan Freeman) declares him to be the Special, the greatest Master Builder of them all. The wizard’s prophecy states that the Special will be “the most important, most interesting, greatest person of all time” and will be the one to defeat the evil foe at hand, President Business (Will Ferrell). Unfortunately, special is exactly what Emmett isn’t.
Knowing about the prophecy, President Business sends his swivel-headed henchman, Good Cop/Bad Cop (Liam Neeson), to stop the Special from foiling his plans of permanently gluing all of the pieces of the city in place.
From there, Emmett and kid-friendly love interest Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) travel to a jumbled universe with Harry Potter and Star Wars characters, Lord of the Rings-style warriors, superheroes, Abraham Lincoln and 2003 NBA stars team up to defeat President Business’ plan.
It would be unfair for me to reveal what happens, but a twist of events about three-quarters in brings the message of the film to life.
It’s extremely clear in the very beginning of the movie that Emmett is an ordinary guy and is happy with fitting in and following the crowd. However, once he is singled out as the special, he steps up in a big way.
“When you told me I was important and special, that was the first time anybody had ever told me that,” said Emmett. “And I wanted to do everything I could to live up to that.”
The attitude of embracing what is special about you is repeated throughout the movie and eventually Emmett’s decisions motivate the master builders to work together as a team. I believe Lord and Miller did a fantastic job at weaving in the values of uniqueness and following the rules.
One of my favorite parts about the movie were the “relics” that held special powers, which with a closer look I realized they were real-life objects such as Krazy Glue, Q-tips, and Band Aids. I think it adds to the whole theme of imagination and creativity. Again, I can’t spoil what happens, but the relics reveal their true purpose later in the film.
Overall, I found The Lego Movie to be a bright, silly, and creative way to encourage kids to be themselves, work together, and not limit their imaginations. It’s awesome to use your imagination, but using it together is even better.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_JOBCLF-I&w=560&h=315])
