The Lego Movie

"Lego" builds a masterpiece. EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!

The story line starts off like this. We follow the exploits of the construction worker Emmet (Chris Pratt) who is just your average everyday citizen of an ordinary town; until he falls down a hole and finds a mysterious object that is part of a big prophecy. The prophecy centers around the resistance thwarting the evil Lord Business/President Business, who's main goal is to make sure everything in the Lego world stays perfectly where it is supposed to be. The resistance's goal is to make whatever they feel like making, and not follow any sort of guidelines. Will Emmett prevail as the essential piece the resistance needs in order to finally put an end to Lord Business' master plan?

I would give you more on the story, but I fear any more would ruin the essential parts that come with watching this movie for the first time. It goes without saying (but I will say it anyways) that the story line in this movie was great, but I don't think that sums it up quite that well. The story line in this movie was one of the most imaginative, inspiring, and emotionally gratifying experiences I have been privileged to go to in some time. I would love to tell you everything about why this story line was so good, but (again) I feel it will take away from you experiencing it yourself. I loved the moral behind the story, embracing individuality. I loved the characters. Most importantly I loved the secret to the movie itself revealed later in the film (you all will probably get it before it is revealed, but it is still a great detail, even if easily figured out). The jokes had a nice, natural feeling to them (making them funnier), especially when they started making fun of the old movie cliche about "the chosen one."

The actors in this are great beyond measure, which I could only expect from so many big names coming together for this project. The bit characters like Jonah Hill as Green Lantern, Channing Tatum as Superman, and Cobie Smulders as Wonder Woman were memorable, adding a nice gag every once in a while. You have to respect them getting Shaquille O' Neal to play a Lego version of himself, Anthony Daniels to play C-3P0 again, and even Billy Dee Williams to play Lando. The bigger characters in the film were placed perfectly in every scene. Will Ferrell as the big, bad Lord Business was hilarious and amazing (par for the course). Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks as Emmet and Wildstyle, will not soon be forgotten; but I have to give it up to my favorite characters throughout the movie Batman and Vitruvious voiced by Will Arnett and Morgan Freeman. Will really sells his role as a pretentious, cocky, brash Batman; and Freeman is lovable as the crazy old, cook of a prophet. There are just too many amazing actors for me to get them all into an article, but just know that they all did superb.

This movie is one of the more visually appealing films I have seen, as well as it being a storyline master piece. Just the effort that the people responsible for making this appeared to have went through should be enough for anyone to realize just how precious the effects in this movie are. You really feel like you are watching a movie that someone has spent years upon years, building and shooting with Lego pieces, and as an experienced Lego builder (if you count my adolescence of getting frustrated trying to build Star Wars sets "experience") I have to appreciate the amount of effort the CGI team went through to not miss one single detail. 

The secret to this movie is that it doesn't take itself too seriously, while giving the audience a nice moralistic story. It doesn't beat you over the head with things like Disney, or Dreamworks, it is sweet and a little more subtle. The moment you think you have the movie figured out it gives a 180, and flips you for a loop. It is nice to see an animated movie not treat the entire audience like children, while still giving children in the audience a couple of laughs.

Final Verdict: Buy it I can't stress how much I want the box office to go up on this one guys. Go see it in theaters, and buy it when it comes out on DVD or BluRay. This is the first great movie of 2014 (if you don't include "Her" hitting major theaters), and it needs to be celebrated.