‘THE LEGO MOVIE’ – Some Heroes Are Born, This One Was Built!

Do you remember those small yellow faces of the mini figures and towns you could build? Leaving it out in the carpet and having your mother squeal as a piece she stood on seared through her slippers into her bare flesh. “Ooouccchhhh, Marrrk come and tidy your LEGO!” She would yell or complain with a few swear words that I couldn’t possibly repeat/type, as the Hoover would make a noise with LEGO pieces caught in the belt. We have all had an acquaintance with those multi counted bricks at some point in our lives. Well that’s set to happen all over again!
 

Being a huge fan of LEGO as a kid and being what is known as an Adult Fan of LEGO (AFoL), I just couldn’t wait to see this movie. LEGO released the sets for the movie on 1st January 2014 and this meant that you got used to the main characters, but not how things were to be in the movie.

 

 
The story itself had hints of ‘STAR WARS‘, with a prophecy that a chosen one will come and save the day.
 

Emmet is our unlikely hero in this movie – he lives in a world made of LEGO where everything is controlled by a set of instructions by the evil Lord Business. He wakes up and has to read instructions to have breakfast, exercise, say hello to his neighbours and what music and tv shows he can watch and listen too. If I use the word awesome a lot, it’s the animator and story tellers fault for having that catchy “Everything is awesome!” song (the only one they can listen to) or “Where’s my pants?” as the only TV show.
 

Emmet meets Wildstyle who tells him all about the piece of resistance that he is wearing that can stop the Kruggle machine and that he is the special one.
 

Throughout the movie you will meet various different LEGO mini figures from the 11 series so far and also the 16 new movie ones that are available at all good toy stores.

 

 
So Abraham Lincoln, Shaq, Superman, Batman, the Statue of Liberty, Wonder Woman, Gator Man, Panda Man and Larry the Barista all feature in this movie. Some as master builders or workers in the city.
 

LEGO and Warner Bros. Animation have a huge hit on their hands here! I love the LEGO games from the popular franchises like ‘Star Wars‘ and DC and Marvel Superheroes – if you have played them you will know that they take the originals to a different level and poke a little fun at the movies and themselves. ‘The Empire Strikes Back‘ gave Darth Vader winning a medal with a huge ceremony similar to that of Han and Luke’s at the end of ‘Star Wars IV: A New Hope‘ – or Darth trying to get in movies to which the Lego George Lukas reminds him that he didn’t even feature in that movie.
 

If you think the ‘LEGO Movie‘ would be any different you’re wrong. There’s the usual one liners and innuendos for the adults who have been dragged along by their kids, and there is actually a story to it all too. I know right! A toy which is the Danish word for “Play” makes a movie with a story.
 

This movie is pure escapism from the corporate world that we are growing up in. A world where difference isn’t always celebrated and where we should all conform to one set of rules. Sounds bloody deep for a kids movie, but it’s true. Oh and the movie should start or end with watching the new Haribo Star mix advert with the adults around the board table. Pure genius and magic!

 

 
The mini figures were voiced superbly by some amazing new, old and future talents.
 

Liam Neeson it had to be said steals the show with his good cop / bad cop routine and as Pa Bad Cop. Emmet voiced by fresh new talent Chris Pratt is brilliant. I love how happy he sound all the time, then the doom and gloom, and then to happy real quickly – especially when he sees a pretty rainbow.
 

Elizabeth Banks plays it cool as Lucy/ Wildstyle. The delightful Morgan Freeman is well just awesome as Vitruvious. Batman is voiced by Will Arnett – who plays him real cool for school type and even makes jokes about George Clooneys portrayal in Batman and Robin. Oh and the lovely Channing Tatum as Superman.
 

The one person that I am not a huge fan off is Will Ferrell. He was The Man Upstairs and the evil Lord Business. When I heard he would be in it, both in person and  supplying his voice, I doubted that the movie would be any good. How wrong was I. He had toned down the goofyness that no longer gets him laughs. All in all, a brilliant performance by Mr Ferrell.

 

 
Hollywood has a long history of taking beloved relics from our childhood and adapting them into big-screen entertainment, with the unfortunate truth being that the final product often bears little resemblance to the source material that our younger counterparts loved so much.
 

Typically we’re left with something that feels like a hollow cash-in (‘The Smurfs‘, ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks‘), or a bloated, special effects-laden, full of explosions and some poor acting (‘Battleship‘ and ‘G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra‘).
 

I know that most people will be thinking it’s just going to be little more than a two- hour commercial designed to drive traffic into the nearest toy store, coaxing money out of the wallets of parents and into the pockets of the Danish toy company. Instead you will be treated with one of the most original, creative and entertaining movies I’ve seen in years, which has quickly cemented itself as a must-see movie of 2014!
 

It takes all genres from action and adventure to animation to drama and piles it all into one cinematic movie experience.

 

I give it ten stars out of five I do. 10/5. It was just awesome.

 

The movie is official released nationwide, alongside an all-platform TT games version of the movie. I already have it on pre-order!
 

If you want some light-hearted fun then this is definitely something to go and see, especially after watching the harrowing scenes of ‘12 Years a Slave‘. 
 

This movie reminds you of when you were a kid and you could let your imagination go, and build what ever you liked. I do build a lot of the current city, buildings and ‘Star Wars‘ sets and keep them on display because of the sheer amount of time that goes into building them. The LEGO Tower Bridge took about 12 hours a couple of years back and that was with both of us building the sides simultaneously. My partner built a technic crane at Christmas which took over 25 hours to assemble and has fully working motorised parts.
 

You’re never too old to play with LEGO! Just don’t try and glue it together, because that’s just silly. Very much like this movie, it holds very firmly on it’s own.

 

Review by Mark LEGOBEAR MacKenzie