Thursday, February 6, 2014

The LEGO Movie 3D Review

Rated PG (Mild Action and Rude Humor)

Running Time: 1 Hour & 40 Minutes

Cast (voice)-
Chris Pratt-Emmet Brickowoski
Elizabeth Banks-Lucy/Wyldstyle
Will Arnett-Bruce Wayne/Batman
Morgan Freeman-Vitruvius
Alison Brie-Unikitty
Nick Offerman-Metal Beard
Charlie Day-Benny
Will Ferrell-Lord Business/President Business/The Man Upstairs
Liam Neeson-Bad Cop/Good Cop/Pa Cop
Channing Tatum-Clark Kent/Superman
Cobie Smulders-Princess Diana of Themyscira/Wonder Woman
Jonah Hill-Hal Jordan/Green Lantern
Will Forte-Abraham Lincoln
Todd Hansen-Gandalf the Grey/Additional Voices
Jorma Taccone-William Shakespeare/Additional Voices
Shaquille O'Neal-Shaq
Keith Ferguson-Han Solo
Anthony Daniels-C-3PO
Billy Dee Williams-Lando Calrissian

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Can anyone say "sequel"?
Note: Screened on Saturday, February 1, 2014 at AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13. 

On January 28, 1958 at 1:58 PM, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen made a visit to the Danish Patent and Trademark Office in Copenhagen in order to file a patent for a little plastic brick with a stud-and-hole design. This seemingly innocuous event not only transformed the concept of toys as we know it but would even revolutionize childhood itself. For over fifty years, the LEGO brick has been a ubiquitous part of our childhoods yet the popular construction toy had rather humble origins. Born in Filskov, Denmark in 1891 to an impoverished family, Ole Kirk Christiansen grew up to become a carpenter and purchased a modest woodworking shop in Billund in 1916. Initially helping to construct houses and furniture, Ole decided to expand his business and built a bigger workshop after the old one burned down in a fire in 1924. However, the Great Depression left Ole with few customers and to keep himself busy, he constructed miniature versions of his products as design aids. It was these models that inspired him to produce toys. In 1934, Ole christened his up-and-coming company with the name 'LEGO' (a self-made contraction of the Danish phrase 'leg godt,' which meant 'play well'; coincidentally, the term can also be loosely translated to 'I assemble' in Latin) and began making an early version of their now famous interlocking bricks in 1949, dubbed 'Automatic Binding Bricks.' Based in part on the Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks and manufactured from cellulose acetate, the product was initially not well-received due to customers preferring wooden or metal toys over plastic ones. Ole's son Godtfred, who had become the company's junior managing director in 1954, saw the potential for creative play in their LEGO bricks and worked to perfect its design. Four years later, the modern LEGO brick that we know and love today was developed and while it would take until 1963 for the company to switch to an ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) polymer when mass producing them, Godtfred had already filed a patent during a lunchtime visit to the Danish Patent and Trademark Office. The rest, as they say, is history.

Toy trends rise and fall but the little LEGO brick has proven itself to be surprisingly resilient, with the company that Ole built currently residing as the third largest toy manufacturer in the world in terms of revenue, behind Mattel and Hasbro. Approximately 560 billion LEGO parts have been produced as of 2013, a number that is eighty times greater than the population of the Earth and will only continue to grow. What initially began as a simple construction toy for children now encompasses theme parks, educational tools, video games, and by this Friday, a full-length feature film. There have been LEGO films before but they've often been based on licensed properties such as Batman and Star Wars. "The LEGO Movie," as it came to be called, does not revolve around any particular toy line or license yet the idea of a film based entirely on a branded property still felt like an excuse to hock even more expensive play-sets when Warner Brothers green-lit the project in 2008. Although cynical audiences probably won't be changing from that mindset, they'll unfortunately be missing out on a truly wonderful film. With "The LEGO Movie," directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have crafted a hilarious and endearing picture that not only celebrates the eponymous construction toy's long history but also the creativity it continues to inspire in both children and adults all around the world. Everything may be awesome but "The LEGO Movie" is even more awesome and is the first truly great film of 2014.

In the LEGO universe, the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell) steals a magical artifact called the 'Kragle' in order to remake everything in his own image but the great wizard Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) warns him that one day a citizen would be revealed as the 'Special'—the one person that is interesting and important enough to wield the mythical 'Piece of Resistance' and put a stop to the mad tyrant's plans. Lord Business, however, dismisses Vitruvius' ridiculous prophecy, believing the wizard is making it up. Reinventing himself as the benevolent 'President Business,' the power-hungry micro-manager tightly confines the citizens of the LEGO universe to their respective realms while enforcing a strict set of instructions to maintain control. He distracts the populace with a line of products from his massive company, the Octan Corporation, and keeps them docile using the catchy song Everything is Awesome. Emmet Brickowoski (Chris Pratt) is an ordinary construction worker who is happy to follow the instructions but his life is turned upside down when he stumbles upon the fabled Piece of Resistance. Mistaken as the 'Special,' Emmet is joined by tough-as-nails freedom fighter Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), the crime-fighter Batman (Will Arnett), the adorable Unikitty (Alison Brie), 1980-Something Space Guy Benny (Charlie Day), robotic pirate Metal Beard (Nick Offerman), and the now-blind Vitruvius on a quest to save the LEGO universe from being destroyed by Lord Business.

There's never a dull moment in "The LEGO Movie" as directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, along with the incredibly talented animators at Sydney-based studio Animal Logic, have created a film that's bursting at the seams with eye-popping color and silly, irreverent humor. Following a prologue where the comically tall Lord Business steals the magical artifact known as the 'Kragle' (I'll leave it up to you to discover what that really is), we are introduced to construction worker Emmet, an utter nobody who is happy to wake up every morning and follow 'the instructions,' which is literally a LEGO instruction manual. He watches the same television show that everyone watches, drinks the same expensive coffee that everyone drinks, and listens to the same song that everyone listens to but in spite of his jovial personality, no one wants anything to do with him. As he prepares to go home after a hard day's work, Emmet runs into Wyldstyle and immediately becomes smitten with her. However, he clumsily trips and falls down a freshly excavated pit, where he accidentally stumbles upon the long-lost Piece of Resistance. Touching it causes him to lose consciousness and witness a strange vision. When Emmet wakes up, he finds himself in an interrogation room with the Piece of Resistance now glued to his back. What follows is a thrilling adventure that's equal-parts bizarre and hilarious. With the help of the animators, Lord and Miller utilize the famous LEGO bricks in clever ways, such as having the characters frantically build complex vehicles or special items in their fight against Lord Business. The 3D itself feels rather perfunctory but the way Animal Logic has brought the LEGO universe to life is unlike anything you've ever seen in an animated film before. The movement of the various figures is intentionally jerky and stilted, as if the entire experience had been painstakingly created by repositioning the plastic toys and photographing them one frame at a time, like stop-motion. Elements like smoke and water swirl around as a mass of solid bricks, with the rough animation giving the film a lovingly handmade quality that will surely conjure up nostalgic childhood memories of our own experiences with LEGO.

Written by Lord and Miller with the help of Dan and Kevin Hageman, the overall plot in "The LEGO Movie" is the same-old hero's journey that we've seen dozens of times before. It's basically a riff on the Wachowski siblings' first "Matrix" film with a dash of "Star Wars" thrown in but what elevates the story is the humor as the directors poke fun at the construction toy's history by positioning popular LEGO play-sets like the 'Wild West' and the Tolkien-esque 'Middle Zealand' as one of many infinite realms. Cameos abound as DC characters like Superman (Channing Tatum) and Wonder Woman (Cobie Smulders) make an appearance, with Jonah Hill's Green Lantern depicted as a needy crime-fighter who wants to be friends with the cool heroes on the block. Not surprisingly, Batman is given the most screen-time as Will Arnett hilariously parodies Christian Bale's infamous 'Bat-growl.' It's a shame that Warner Brothers couldn't work something out with Disney and include some Marvel characters. Lord and Miller could've took the lazy route by cramming their film with celebrity voices and post-modern humor but fortunately, they go one step further and inject their story with a heartwarming third act that perfectly encapsulates the enduring appeal of LEGO. While it's easy to follow the instructions and build whatever is on the box, the reason that LEGO has continued to flourish for almost sixty years is that you literally can create anything with them. The joy of playing with LEGOs, regardless of whether you're a child or adult, is the creativity it inspires and what's great about that sentiment is that it can be applied to life in general. "The LEGO Movie" celebrates an idea that is distinctly American, that each and every one of us has the ability to create something unique if given the chance. Creativity fosters innovation and to stifle that like Lord Business does is not only detrimental but destructive to a society. Sometimes, you have to break a rule and just think outside the box but that's okay; it's what makes everyone and everything special, and yes, even awesome too.

The ensemble voice cast is absolutely wonderful in their individual roles. Chris Pratt, whose career has been steadily on the rise thanks to his starring role on the NBC mockumentary "Parks and Recreation" and a number of memorable supporting turns in various films, proves to be the perfect choice as the lovably dim-witted construction worker Emmet. The likable actor maintains a wide-eyed enthusiasm and sincerity to the character despite being thrust in an extraordinary situation where the entire fate of the LEGO universe is in his hands. Pratt will be appearing as Star-Lord in Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" (set to come out this August) and I can't wait to see him finally tackle a big-budget blockbuster of his own. Elizabeth Banks is excellent as the tough-as-nails yet insecure Wyldstyle (and no, she's not a DJ) while Will Arnett is clearly having a ball lampooning Christian Bale's performance as Batman in "The Dark Knight" trilogy. Morgan Freeman is equally hilarious as the blind wizard Vitruvius, where he uses the character to mock the gravitas of his own voice and of course there's Liam Neeson, who plays a schizophrenic police officer that just can't decide whether he's good or bad. Nick Offerman completely disappears into his role as the transforming robot pirate Metal Beard and rounding out the main supporting cast is the always-adorable Alison Brie and the eternally-hyperactive Charlie Day. However, the real surprise is Will Ferrell, whose turn as the evil Lord Business stands as one of his funniest roles to date but he also ends up being part of the film's overall message, which is something I did not see coming. I won't spoil how and why but Ferrell's performance is the catalyst that re-contextualizes "The LEGO Movie" in a new light. Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, and Cobie Smulders make up a few of the cameos that audiences will encounter, which also includes a familiar duo from a galaxy far, far away.

To be released on February 7, 2014, "The LEGO Movie" has received overwhelmingly positive reviews so far with a whopping 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised it as 'colorful fun for all ages' thanks to its 'beautiful animation, a charming voice cast, laugh-a-minute gags, and a surprisingly thoughtful story.' Despite the advance screening being held at 10 AM on a Saturday morning, the film still drew a huge crowd and was met with a universally enthusiastic response, especially from kids. Box office success is all but assured yet I can't help feeling that Warner Brothers made a mistake in releasing the film in February. Given all the praise it's already received, "The LEGO Movie" could've easily grossed at least $300 million if it came out during the summer or fall. Regardless, the studio should be happy all the same. "The LEGO Movie" may be based on a familiar brand but in the hands of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, it's a hilarious and touching reminder of every person's potential to be 'special.'

Final Rating: 5 out of 5

Emmet: I'm not the Special. I'm just a regular, normal guy.
Wyldstyle: You have the ability to be the Special because I believe in you.