If there`s a person who never had their creativity sparked by toy bricks, I`ve never met him, and I don`t intend to. Lego bricks (or Mega Bloks, if you have no taste in toys) have been a great toy going on for quite a while (my dad had some when he was a kid) and entered practically all aspects of our lives: they appear in video games, TV shows, stores, food (Lego brick fruit snacks are a thing), clothing and pretty much everything else.
But what about the big screen? Influential toys or genres can make it into theaters sometimes (the Yu-Gi-Oh movie got a theatrical release), or at least make appearances here and there (Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story), but a toy normally doesn't get a full-length hour and a half film entirely dedicated to it. And any films based on toys certainly don`t normally get big-name actors like Morgan Freeman and Will Ferrell in on the project. So with an all-star cast, an interesting visual style, and a coherent plot, can Lego prove it`s worth to the film industry?
The film centers around Emmett, a construction worker who is just like everybody else: he wakes up, eats, does his work, cherishes "Everything Is Awesome" as his favorite song, and watches sitcoms with no really funny humor ("Honey, where are my pants?"). But when he decides to stay after work, he finds a stranger and falls into a pit trying to chase her. There he discovers a mysterious artifact, the Piece Of Resistance (clever wordplay here) which is also the key to stopping the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell, an actor I love from Anchorman and Zoolander) from destroying all creation with his secret weapon: The Kraggle. The power and reality of the Kraggle is interesting, and I wouldn't dare spoil it for you.
Emmett is told he is not special by Lord Business, who wants to remove the Piece so he can use the Kraggle without fear of resistance. Before Emmett is melted, however, he is rescued by the stranger he saw earlier. This is Wyldstyle, a girl with ties to the order of Master Builders. She believes that Emmett is one too, because the piece atatched to him. She also introduces him to Virtruvius (the voice of the gods Morgan Freeman), who then tells him of their quest to place the Piece on the Kraggle to stop it. They also meet up with Batman, Benny the 1980-something spaceman, and Unikitty (a cat with a horn and tail, much to the delight of bronies everywhere) in their quest to defeat Business.
Lord Business has an assistant played by Liam Neeson named Good Cop/Bad Cop, who plays off of the interchangable faces on some Lego figures. Each side has a different personality, and that clashes with his duties in humorous ways.
While Business transforms The Kraggle into a powerful new weapon, the group travels through different Lego areas based on the toy lines and encounters many of Lord Business's minions. Eventually they reach the tower of the villains where the truth of the universe is revealed....
But I`m not discussing that yet, because it`s actually really cool. So what do I think?
OVERALL RATING: 7/10
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For a movie based on a toy, this is actually really, really good. With a talented comedic cast, a fun story and great in-jokes to the product, it`s a decent film.
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