The Lego Movie
Movie Review

I got the first impression that this movie, assuming "Business" as the name of the bad guy, was going to be an anti-business stereotype, something pervasive in cinema today.  After giving it some thought, I concludied that I may be making a rash juedgment, and that I should give the movie a chance.

I want to lead by telling everyone that I was wrong.  Not only that, there was a great message about individuality.  Lord/ President Business was not really a businessman, but an administrator, ruthlessly obsessed with control and conformity (Think Putin/Obama/Morsi).  The micromanagers were his bureaucrats who kept everything and everyone in line.  The Lego Movie, as an archetype, was a clash between libertarian values of being free to pursu eone's own creativity (or in Emmet's case, even a lack of it), and a statist world of rules for their own sake, and a rigid order under which all are subjected to living.  This was icing on the cake; everything else about this movie was excellent.  Boy, am I glad I am wrong and gave this movie a chance.

The humor wasn't childish, something else I expected.  Since the 1990s, animated and family films tried to appeal to adults, so they wouldn't be bored.  During the Golden Age of animation, writers di this by actually writing at an adult level.  These days, they do it by using pop culture references and humor.  Think about how the genie in "Aladdin" does Jack Nickelson impersonations.  And, while there are many pop culture icons who have been rleased in Lego form are represented as Lego characters, the humor doesn't really do this.  When characters from pop culture, like Batman, are used, it's presented a lot smarter than that, and often in a Lego context.

I move on to the live action segment before going chronologically, beause this parallels everything that goes on in Bricksburg and the rest of the Lego multiverse.  The movie would not be nearly the same without it.  Emmet takes on a symbolism that he didn't have before, and also, the story becomes a hero's journey, a topic that came out of decades of research by sci-fi publisher John W. Campbell.

Campbell asserts that heroes of al cultures follow similar journeys.  Essentially, they're all have parallels to the life of Jesus.  For instance, Jesus was asked by his mother to perform his first miracle, and he refused, stating that it's not his time.  Heroes throughout fiction all refuse the call to adventure in the same way: Luke Skywalker said he couldn't join Obi-Wan, Frodo didn't want to set out to destroy the One Ring, etc.  At one point of the hero's journey, the character is cut off from his world completely.  This is called "Belly of the whale".  For Emmet, this moment comes when he falls off his world into the basement floor.  The hero always conquers two worlds, his own and a higher realm.  In Emmet's case, it's both his world and the live action world that is freed from the strict order.

Notice that the boy, who, like the spaceman, is also named Benny, returns Emmet to Bricksburg, the colorful jewel-encrusted tube Benny slides him through is labelled, "Magic Portal".  I don't have to tell you it's a tribute to what's considered the first Lego brickfilm.

I absolutely love the live action part and its symbolism.  It had a touching ending and a great lesson for adults.

The pace is very rapid, right from the beginning.  Within a few seconds, we're in the middle of a conflict between Virtruvius and Lord Business, and the entire plot is set up.  Virtruvius is blinded immediately, we learn Lord Business' ingtents, and about the piece of resistance.  The entire plot is set up within 30 seconds.  Dialogue is kept at a brisk pace, with charcters' lines frequently overlapping each other, but it's not non-stop and the movie has has the comedic timing that is lacking in Disney/Pixar's non-stop dialogue movie,  "A Bug's Life".

Before seing the plot unfold, all I knew about the song, "Everything Is Awesome", was that it was in the movie.  I didnt know why, but I just had the feeling that it was a propaganda song.  I was right!

When Emmet first meets Wyldstyle, I love how her hair moves.  When I animated the character Melissa in my own series, I try to make her hair flow the same way when her head stops moving.  It's good for any Brickfilmer who animates girls with flowing hair to study this moment in the film.

Because of the live action sequence, there is a whole new perspective, as we now know that the events in Bricksburg and the adventures of Emmet and WyldStyle are actually the expression of Benny the child's imagination.  This makes the Lego Movie something worth viewing more than once, as you can see everything from this new perspective the second time.  For instance, it now makes sense that Batman is dating Wyldstyle, something we just accept the first time around because it's funny!

While the Lego world is a commentary on a statist/communist/socialist society, Cloud Cuukoo land, at least without the symbolism of the live action sequence, satirizes an anarchist society.  It's represented by the bricks Benny the human is allowed to use for play.  With his Lego collection there are no rules. 

I feel bad for Unikitty for losing her home. 

This reviews many plot details about The Lego Movie, and so I'm going to mark the entire review as a spoiler.

Firstly, I prejudged the movie based on things TLG released about President Business, the story's antagonist.  I'm mature enough to admit when I was wrong.  I WAS WRONG.  I expected a cliched anti-business message, which has been trending in family movies.  It was just the opposite.  Aside everything else, The Lego movie was an anti-conformist, anti-statist movie.  Lord/President Business wasn't really presented as a businessman although he did run a business, an oil business to boot; he was actually an administrator.  The theme was the triumph of libertarian thought over the tyranny of statism (think Putin/ Obama/ Morsi).  No stereotypes either in the message, or just about anything about the movie, existed.

This was icing on the cake.  In most children's movies from the 90s on, I tend to groan because the "adult" humor has been really lame.  Think about the Genie in "Alladdin", and how he impersonates Jack Nicholson.  Today's movies are loaded with references to things like this that are less timeless and date movies to future audiences.  The Lego Movie makes plenty of pop culture references, but they are actually done "funnily" (funny (adv.)= so as to be funny).  The Lego Movie also pays homage to its own history.  Good Cop/Bad Cop's parents' home is constructed like something out of the 1979 Lego Idea Book, since they are older.  The best use of this is Benny, the Spaceman, an endearing character.  His inability to cope with modern technology is one thing, but the label on him is faded, as most early printed figures tend to be, and his helmet is cracked in the spot where it really had a weakness.  (the earliest space helmets also were nearly impossible to remove.)

Everything was strictly ordered in the universe of the movie.  The builders were "conformists" or popularly called "sheep", unable to look outside their world and see the bigger picture, that their order was being controlled by President Business.  He ran an oil company, but it wasn't about that.  He ran a media outlet too, a construction company, everything!  It was all organized to prevent disruption of the conformist order.  The "Where Are My Pants" segment kept our hero, Emmet, and all the other generic builders, from focusing on President Business' business (like putting deviants to sleep!)  Emmet is the ultimate conformist, going along with anybody, following all the rules, and never having an original thought.

The plot is set up immediately with the "prophecy", the Kragle, and the way to defeat Lord Business.  It was action packed even in the first moments.  But there was still so much to be discovered along the way as the movie unfolded.  Finding out what the Kragle is was a funny revelation.  I like the way Lord Business mispronounces all the artifacts.

Lord Business' instructions are never to be deviated from.  Anything "weird looking" is destroyed.  Anything fishy is to be reported (the U.S. President once had a web site for citizens to report any civilian saying anything "fishy" about national health care.  That was quickly criticized and removed.)  Well, Emmet loses his instructions and soon gets entangled in the world, which is where plot stories tend to begin.  (You don't have to know all of the hero's back story; it all begins when he gets involved in the order.)

We all know the plot, so I'll just go on to my thoughts before I tie in the above to my underlying point later.  Emmet is in the classic "plot" type story (author Orson Scott Card calls the type an "Event" story), where there the world is under a repressive order and the hero changes it (or fails).  Emmet's adventure pretty closely follows th Hero's journey, although not in the traditional order.  his long fall is the Belly of the whale, and his transcendence into a new world is the live action sequence.  He conquers both worlds in the end.

There are may things to watch for throughout.  For instance, watch what happens when Lord Business throws the Band-Aid.  Look at the tube in the live-action sequence.  It is marked "MAGIC PORTAL", an homage to the godfather of all Brickfilms.  There's so much to see.  JohnD Thunder mentioned that he watched the entire movie frame-by-frame.  I'd love to see his Easter Egg report.

The humor isn't dummbed down.  Watching it with my brother, he says, "There is a lot of "Robot Chicken" humor.  I never looked at it that way, but he is right.  I love the Invisible Jet joke.  Notice that when the Batmobile is blown up, then the jet, the music is th exacg same chord both times with the exact same inflection.  The music was awesome, but as expected, since Mark Mothersbaugh, lead singer & Keyboardist from Devo, composed it.

When I heard Everything Is Awesome, I hadn't seen the movie but speculated that it was a propaganda song.  I was right.  Reminds me of the Twilight Episode "It's a Good Life", written by Damon Knight.  The song keeps the Lego masses in line, happy with all being done while their leader is using them to spell their own doom!

The best six seconds in the movie: "All units, attack that spaceship!"  BENNY: "SAPECSHIP!!!!!"

Another joke I like: Emmet sees Virtruvius' home, and he says, "What a weirdly decorated place you have here."  Virtruvius: "Thank you!"  And the way he says it.  I also like "infinityeth floor", sounds like something I'd say in one of my many surreal moments.

Now to the live action sequence.  I absolutely loved it and everything about it!  It took a great movie and turned it into an epic allegory.  Emmet represents the young boy, Finn, and President Business is his father.  It becomes more emotional from that point on as you understand that Finn's internal conflict is seen in the Lego story.  The ending is a very touching moment.  This scene reveals that everything that happens in the movie is really Finn's imagination.  Wild!  It gives the movie a lot of rewatchability.  The next time around, everything from the first 75% of the movie can be seen in a new context.  It's like going back and watching The Sixth Sense again after knowing the surprise.  Especially the things President Business says, like "Everyone keeps messing with my stuff!", his confusion with disorder, etc.  The movie also becomes more touching agt this point, especially the happy ending!  Also, when Emmet first comes into contact with the Piece of Resistance, and there's the surreal imagery with the cat poster and stuff, you hear (and vaguely see) Finn saying, "it's your turn to be the hero."  Lots of subtlety throughout, and just about every word advances the plot AND symbolism.  It's like Samurai Jack, except it's the sparsity of the dialogue in that series that makes it have such impact.  As such, the writers of Samurai Jack arfe careful to make every word count, further enhancing its dramatic value.  The Lego movie does that while maintaining very thick dialogue.  Sometimes the banter is non-stop, even characters' lines overlapping each other (see Emmet as a table in the Old West)  The fast pace is blended perfectly with comedic timing.  The movie "A Bugs Life" tried the non-stop pace but it fails because it lacked comedic timing.

Where President Business' order is a spoof of statism, Cloud Cuukoo Palace is an observation of anarchy.  Very funny as well.  "and No negativity of any kind."  WyldStyle: "You said no, like, a thousand times."  Everyone loves Abe Lincoln and his chair.  When the live action segment is introduced it symbolism turns from an anarchy into Finn's imagination.  The bricks that make up Cloud Cuukooland are his to use, and so he can do whatever he wants with those.  In the live action sequence, the father says, "You have your own bricks", and you see them in a box with CLOUD printed on it.  Look for that!  His collection also has an unusually high proportion of colors mainly seen in Friends sets, so it makes me wonder.

There was almost nothing to be critical about.  Something I thought in a foolish assumption I wouldn't enjoy is now one of my all-time favorite movies, and that of my children, and wife, and brother, and millions of others.  The message of individuality, questioning authority for authority's sake, and an allegory of libertarinism vs socialism was only one of many positive aspects of this film.  Everything else was top notch and of highest production values.  On an 11 point scale of 0 to 10, I give it a 10, along with "2001: A Space Odyssey", "The Prince Of Egypt", and "Strange Brew" (you read right: "Strange Brew").  And not just because I'm a Lego fan.  I'm not big on CGI movies, but it doesn't even feel like it is.  Most of the time, you feel like you're watching 10 billion Lego bricks.  It belongs in the libraries of any fan of animation.

The massive chase at the beginning and end(highlight to read)