I went to see “The Lego Movie” for the second time today, I felt I missed a bunch of things the first time around, and I was right. This is one of the best movies I have seen in years, if not the best, and it took me completely by surprise. I don’t usually go to see what I thought was a toy sponsored kid’s movie, but I started reading the most wonderful reviews of this movie and hearing the best buzz about it.
We went to see it a couple of weeks ago. First of all it is a gorgeous movie, the animation is just spectacular, it is especially captivating in 3-D which I am coming to appreciate. The movie is one of the most political animations I can remember seeing. It stars an ordinary LEGO minifigure named Emmett, mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary Master Builder, who is recruited to join a desperate mission to save the world from an evil LEGO tyrant named Lord Business who is intent on gluing the world out of existence.
It is a lot of fun to see this shockingly beautiful animation, truly become a spectacular art form once again, and sort through the voices behind the movie’s Lego figures, from Shaquille O’Neal to Liam Neeson to Will Farrell to James Franco. The movie moves at a breathtaking pace, but it takes awhile before it reveals itself to be a timely, funny, sometimes biting look at how the corporate culture in America is choking creativity to death, turning artists into outcasts and promoting a bland and risk-free kind of conformity that is stifling individuality and ideas.
The movie has a score of riffs that poke fun at everything from Batman to Apple’s Siri. But the big target, ironically for a corporate movie, is corporatism itself. For kids, the movie is just a riotous, delightful and fast-moving blast. For adults, it is much more than that, you will find yourself laughing and shaking your head at it’s piercing representation of modern-day America, it’s many sly references to pop culture, all delivered without a trace of preachiness or heavy-handedness. If you weren’t paying attention, you might miss the message altogether.
Lord Business has taken over the world, turning it’s citizens into cheerful but mindless sheep, following their daily sets of rules, reporting anyone with a shred of individuality to the authorities, so they can be melted down and re-cast.
It is really a film about a band of pop culture creatives – Superman, Batman, The Green Hornet, many others – who are trying to exist in a world that has become suffocatingly, even murderously, corporate. It is a film about greed, conformity and rules, just the sort of movie Hollywood seems afraid to make beyond a cartoon. Emmett busts this world wide open with the help of his many colorful and very funny new friends. A lot of parents have told me the movie also teaches them important lessons about parenting, I could surely see that, it is another message delivered skillfully and gracefully – but powerfully and clearly.
The animation is just spectacular, whose worlds appearing, disappearing, whizzing through space, time and water brick-by-Lego-brick. Emmett is an appealing hero, unassuming and humble until he begins to believe in himself. A good message for any age.
It is surely a great coup for the Lego Corporation, which will sell a lot of building sets this year, the movie is a blockbuster, the number one movie in America now, blowing away all of it’s comparatively anemic competition. I almost missed this terrific movie, dismissed it as another Hollywood marketing ploy. It is, in fact a brilliant marketing ploy but one that deserves every penny it makes. The movie is a wonderful surprise, just about every single thing in it is awesome. I recommend it highly, I bet it ends up being one of the best movies of the year, if not the best. It is also great to see this kind of inventiveness, daring and wit so richly rewarded.