The Lego Movie

My first Lego set was called “Legoland” that my uncle had picked up as a present way back in the late 80s.  I cannot think of a more addictive exercise in my pre-teens.  The simplicity and the world of possibilities that a Lego set offers a young child is simply mind blowing.

It is this simplicity that is the basic premise of The Lego Movie.  It is the simple philosophy of that constant fight between process and creativity.  The process / fixed aspect of Lego life is personified by Lord Business or President Business (Will Ferrell) that he becomes eventually.  Lord Business likes things to be done in a particular manner and will go to all extents to keep it that way.

On the other team are The Master Builders led by Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman).  Master Builders are those who can build almost anything from the least possible resources available to them.  Like Wyldstyle aka Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) builds a Bat mobile looking mean motorcycle from elements in a normal street in Lego Land.

The Master Builders represent the creative side of life.  One that knows no boundaries.  One that challenges you to look further and once you have got there, look beyond.  Their members include Wyldstyle, Batman, Superman, Abraham Lincoln, Gandalf, Wonder Woman, Shakespeare, The 2002 NBA All Star Team, Dumbledore and The Green Lantern amongst others.  Now how is that for a force to reckon with!!!

In between these stalwarts is an average ordinary everyday Joe called Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt).  Emmett is so ordinary that no one ever notices him.  In fact, President Business’ right hand man – Bad Cop / Good Cop (Liam Neeson) feels that it is this cover that is ideal for him and therefore he is the chosen one who will free the Master Builders from President Business’ reign of terror and ultimate aim of ending the world or should we say – KRAGGLE it!!!!

At its heart, The Lego Movie is a simple story of the fight between good and evil.  But the narration is so creative that you are glued (or should we say KRAGGLED) to the screen in a matter of seconds.  The characters have been so brilliantly thought of that one cannot but shed a small tear of joy at the brilliant work from Phil Lord & Christopher Miller – Directors, Story Writers (along with Dan & Kevin Hageman) and Screenplay credits.

Characters like TAKOS – Tentacle Arm Kraggle Outside Spray (the S is silent) or parallel universes like Cloud Cuckoo Land or Middle Zealand will stay in your minds for ages to come.  The dialogues will leave you in splits like when Vitruvius tells Emmett, “Your mind is so prodigiously empty that it didn’t take you long to unlearn and therefore see the vision sooner”!!!

The attention to detail is stunning.  When Lord Business tells Bad Cop on the phone that he will meet him in 23 seconds, at the 24^th second he gets a call that Bad Cop is waiting in his office unlike one that I had seen just 24 hours before Lego movie where 30 seconds took as much as 2 minutes.  And this is just one teeny weeny minor detail.  Watch it to see more.  Don’t miss it.  8 on 10!!! And once you are done with it… see it again!!!

The sad part is that the Academy may never see the merit to nominate Lego movie in the Animation Category because it is Stop Motion combined with CGI.  But if it were to me, I would have already called this out as one of the nominations for animation.  For organisations out there who want to know how to make best use of a $60 million marketing budget – Look no further!!!

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2178131993/?ref_=tt_ov_vi