Film Review: The LEGO Movie

Director: Phil Lord and Chris Miller

The latest LEGO movie (there have been many previous that went straight to DVD) goes all out with a bigger budget, a renowned cast and a far reaching marketing campaign. The LEGO brand is experiencing a bit of a renaissance at the moment as young kids are introduced to it and adults are becoming re-acquainted with one of their favourite childhood toys. Phil Lord and Chris Miller are mostly known for writing and directing Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs.

The Wizard Vitruvius attempts to protect the "Kragle", a superweapon, from the evil Lord Business. He fails to do so, but warns Lord Business of a prophecy where a person called the "Special" will find the Piece of Resistance capable of stopping the Kragle. Meanwhile, Emmet is an ordinary construction worker who happens to come across a woman named Wyldstyle and whilst following her falls down a hole and finds the piece of resistance, so its down to him and Wyldstyle to stop the world from being destroyed.

Emmet with Batman

The opening scenes showing a far too enthusiastic Emmet in his world preparing for work is arguably the funniest part of the movie, the trailer really does show most of the best jokes unfortunately. Batman also swoops into make some decent jokes and some arguably terrible bat puns, whilst the film does have a laugh at its on expense on many an occasion.

All of the animated CGI effects are grand in scale and in impressive whilst keeping the slightly flawed features of LEGO itself. Its a film that entirely embraces its retro look and combines it seamlessly with the latest animated technology. The film itself is presumably not really aimed at me so its not really worth going into much depth on that but one thing that stood out for me is that I want to make a double decker sofa for my living room.

2.5/4 Oddly funny and likeable