Is everything awesome?
Director: Christopher Miller, Phil Lord
Running time: 100 minutes
Cast: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Will Arnett
When I was growing up i loved Lego more than anything in the world. Sticklebricks were for idiots and toddlers, and Meccano was for those weird nerdy kids. But Lego was for everyone and if you threw me a bag of pieces right now I’d be on the floor, building whatever my tiny brain could dream up.
So I went into The Lego Movie with trepidation. How do you create a film about a toy that has no back story, no characters, no structure other than to be an outlet for your imagination? My big worry was that it would be an annoying, generic story of friendship and believing in yourself with Lego only crammed in as the canvas to write this tale on. I couldn’t have been more wrong (although there’s a bit of the believing in yourself going on but I digress). Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have taken the essence of Lego and poured all of the crazy random pieces onto the big screen.
The story is basically The Matrix but with Lego. That isn’t a criticism and it’s something the film is well aware of with nods to the sci-fi classic occurring throughout. We seen ordinary, boring guy Emmett being sucked into a mission to save the world while meeting all sorts of crazy Lego people, some of which you’ll immediately recognise. However to tell you more of the plot would be to spoil the surprises in it.
The Lego Movie has possibly the greatest voice cast of any animated film ever with fantastic and memorable performances by Chris Pratt as Emmett, Will Arnett as the second best Batman in screen history, Charlie Day as Benny the overenthusiastic spaceman, and Big Liam Neeson as the chair hating Bad Cop (it’s always nice to hear Big Liam use his natural Norn Iron accent onscreen). With so much going on it would be easy to get lost amongst the craziness but the world is created so well it all makes sense in a strange way.
Credit is also due to the animators who have done a supremely amazing job of creating the visuals. The Lego world is presented with animation that looks real and not glossy and perfect dovetailing brilliantly with one of the themes of the film. These imperfections give it a lovely handmade feel which perfectly capture the spirit of Lego.
You’ll notice the words ‘perfect’ and ‘perfectly’ have been used a lot during this review. Sadly I can’t say the whole piece is perfect. This may be due to too much being revealed in the trailers and that the third act over-eggs the metaphysical pudding a bit too much (that line makes sense in my head, OK?). However that doesn’t diminish the achievement of The Lego Movie. It’s charming, touching, thoughtful, inventive and best of all hilarious. In a word it’s awesome. What other movie could turn the word ‘SPACESHIP!!!’ into a classic movie quote?
9/10
The Screenkicker Quality Index (SQI)
Best
Screenkicker! 
a five out of ten?
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Good review Mikey. Fun for just about everyone who sees it. Even those who are usually against fun and happiness.
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Haha I’m the most miserable person ever and it put a smile on my face!
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5/10 for something you call awesome. Wow. You grade even more harshly than me. 🙂
Seriously, though, I quite agree on the film. It is fantastic.
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Shit well spotted! I better change that!
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I’ll be skipping this, but I enjoyed your review nonetheless (especially the quality index, as always! hahaha)
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By the way the score should have been 9 but I made a mistake!
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i see – i was wondering!
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Nice review man. I gotta see this now everyone’s raving about it.
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You really should, there are so many great lines
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Beautiful quality index! Had to smile at it! Agree with your assessment, and about something you said. The Lego Movie might just have the best cast for an animated film ever….
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The voices fit the characters so well and don’t seem out of place
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Lego is for squares.
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Haha clever girl!!!!
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Wow, this is getting seriously good write ups! Gonna have to check it out some when!
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Right on Mickey! Great review and caption here… “Ben Affleck could learn a lot from this” Yes indeed! 😀 I LOVE how expressive these LEGO characters are, way more expressive than Kristen Stewart, ahah.
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My dead dog is more expressive than Stewart. And he has the good manners to stay under the ground
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Ahahahaha!! Right on Mikey!! How that girl ever get a job in performing *arts* is beyond me!
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I WANT TO SEE THIS MOVIE SO BAD!!!!
but I was worried that it would be terrible. Thank you Mikey, for reaffirming my belief in this movie. Can’t wait to see it. Now, if only I could rustle up someone to see it with. Sadly, a lot of my chums have outgrown animated movies.
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I’d come with you but you live in the Arctic or somewhere like that!
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lol, it’s not that bad. It’s only -8 degrees celsius here today. It’s practically balmy.
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That would kill me!
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Sticklebricks were the bomb. I can’t wait til the Sticklebricks film comes out. Long overdue.
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Wow…didn’t think it could be THIS good! Better get down to the multiplex quick!
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Do it!!!
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So much Lego Movie love!! And it’s so deserving of it. Fantastic film. And fantastic review! I’m going to see it again tomorrow. Hop on a plane! You can come with! 😉
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I’ll build a spaceship and come over!
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DEAL. SPACESHIP!!!!
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The Matrix but with Lego??? Now I know I just have to go and see this movie! My kids adored their Lego sets (still got them all up in the loft!) and I have many happy memories of playing right alongside them making some pretty awesome creations – them, not me 😉 Love this review, thanks Mickey 🙂
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I think you’ll love it Sherri. And I think it’ll bring back a lot of memories about the old Lego sets 🙂
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Thanks Mikey, can’t wait 🙂
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I am so excited to see this. Hopefully going to watch it on Wednesday!
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Hope you like it!
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LOVED this film. I was basically Spaceman Benny in the theater, I just couldn’t stop giggling. So well-done and on my list currently for Biggest Surprise of the year. Nice write-up pal!
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I am hearing so many good things about this movie. As a child of the 80’s I loved legos too, I need to see this! The little legos guys look so cute, I bet you do not want to hear that. hahaha.
Battleship had Rhianna in it, how could you not love it? She’s hot, we’ll give her that, but that was the stupidest movie ever, I literally laughed when I saw that. HAHAHAHA
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Haha – SPACESHIP! I loved that part so much. : ) Glad you found a 2D screening & so happy you loved it like I did. Sorry I’m so freaking behind on blog reading again & only just reading this now! Screw it – we’ll always have Twitter. I’m always THERE! ; )
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You only need to read my blog for your movie related goodness 🙂
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