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The Lego Movie (2014), PG, 4 stars

All of the Lego characters in one movie.
LEGOs. One of the world's, if not the world's, leading lines in the toy industry. Many people will remember how enjoyable and entertaining the experience was to build an object with those little pieces of colored bricks. I first played with those toys as a little child and at first, there was no right or wrong way to build something. Legos are basically tools of imagination and creativity. Anybody can construct something vivid or bizarre. When a product is advertised on television, any kid would want to get their hands on a LEGO box and experience building a ship, boat, building or a character. The filmmakers worked effortlessly to construct their own movie with all these Legos. As a result, it sure paid off.

The movie starts with Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), a wizard protecting a super weapon from Lord Business (Will Ferrell), what a name for a villain, a company president of the Octan Corporation. Vitruvius sort of goes into this philosophical, "Matrix-like" dialogue where sometime in the future a prophecy will find the Piece of Resistance and that would stop that super weapon called the Kragle.

Years later, Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt) is starting the day off following his daily routine by breathing, exercising, showering, etc. His routine follows with everybody else's routine from listening to the same song ("Everything is Awesome!") and buying probably the most expensive coffee at a price of $37. Emmet has a job at a construction company where he is unnoticed. When some instructions fly away from his hands, Emmet sees a hooded figure which reveals a woman. Then, comedic hijinks take over as Emmet falls a big hole and sees a crystal.

At the next moment, Emmet sees Good Cop/Bad Cop (Liam Neeson) as he changes his face every time he masks a different emotion to interrogate the innocent victim. He asks Emmet about the Piece of Resistance which is attached to Emmet's back. Emmet is shown some videos with the people he interacted with and he replies that he is an ordinary construction worker. Suddenly, a woman rescues him and introduces herself as Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), one of the many Master Builders. And, so, the journey begins as Emmet is NOT the Special.

Eh. Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) loves Batman (Will Arnett).
I must confess that I had low expectations going into the movie. As I watched the trailer before watching the movie, I rolled my eyes as I thought that it was going to waste of time and money and Warner Bros. should be ashamed of themselves of wasting precious commodities and time. However, this was a wonderful surprise. I cannot even imagine how wrong I was after initially being neglectful towards the marketing of this movie. After the movie was over, I admitted that I was wrong and selfish. This movie is fantastic and keen for throwing two different sides onto the screen: LEGOS and colors for the children, and humor about business for the adults. I have to applaud the filmmakers' efforts.

The cast is pretty surprising and is having a lot of fun with the material: Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day, etc. I cannot even picture how that would look like in terms of a live-action film, but, here, they work because the material works. And, I liked that they make fun of the characters such as Batman with his voice and ego.

Again, this movie was surprisingly fun, humorous, and charming. The animation is bright and at times, magical. I think that this movie would delight adults more than kids because of the way that the funny dialogue about business and corporate management is being shown. I mean, the bodyguards are micromanagers. This would be a film for CEOs or Presidents of a company to enjoy. Plus, for the kids, there are other characters in the LEGO world that attracts children that are being marketed and advertised as toys on television. There will be a huge increase in that market because of this movie.

It has been a while since I have enjoyed an animated movie this much because the directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, worked hard into display this entertaining product. This movie is not being displayed as a commercial. It is an actual movie with a great story, funny dialogue and characters and some emotional moments. This is a great animated movie and I hope that the Academy remembers this movie next year because their attention-span is not that wide. You take your children, siblings, or little cousins because you, as a parent or older adult, will have the pleasure of witnessing a delightful movie.

****

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