Film Review: "The Lego Movie" (2014).

The Lego Movie is "The story of a nobody who saved everybody." This 3D computer-animated adventure comedy film written for the screen and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a story by Lord, Miller, and Dan and Kevin Hageman. Based on the Lego line of construction toys. The film follows Emmet, an ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average LEGO mini figure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world. He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared.

Producer Dan Lin conceived the idea for the film and began discussing it with Roy Lee before leaving Warner Bros. to form his own production company, Lin Pictures, in 2008. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara had recognized the value of the Lego franchise and purchased the video game license of Traveller's Tales. Through the success of the game and other subsequent Lego-based video games convinced Tsujihara that a Lego-based film was a good idea, and thus championed the development of this film. By August 2009, Dan and Kevin Hageman were hired to pen the script, which was described as an "action adventure set in a Lego world." The film would mark the very first animated feature film made by the newly reformed Warner Bros. feature animation studio called Warner Animation Group. In early development, the movie was titled Lego: The Piece of Resistance, with an earlier, different version of the script to the final film. In the earlier script, many of the character's names were different, R2-D2 and Indiana Jones being main characters, Emmet still living with his elderly mother, who turns out to be "the most powerful woman in the universe", had Bad Cop actually swear instead of saying "darn", Larry the Barista having a larger role, and Benny having a co-pilot that's an inanimate mop called Moppy. In June 2010, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were in talks to write and direct the film. By November 2011, Warner Bros. green-lit the film. The Australian studio Animal Logic was contracted to provide the animation. Around the same time, Chris McKay had also joined Lord and Miller to co-direct. In April 2012, Warner Bros. scheduled the film for a February 28, 2014 release date, which was then shifted to February 7 2014 in October 2012. By November 2012, Chris Pratt, Will Arnett, Channing Tatum, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Alison Brie, Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, and Nick Offerman rounded out the film's cast.

The visual aesthetic and style of Brickfilms served as a major influence on the film. Animal Logic tried to make the film's animation replicate a stop motion film even if everything was done through computer graphics, with the animation rigs following the same articulation limits actual Lego figures have. The creators deliberately tried to make the movie feel like stop-motion animation, and avoided making the computer-generated effects look too obvious. This was done, to make the movie look like it contained real Lego. In order to add more realism to the movie, the Lego bricks have scratches, fading, and even fingerprints to make the movie look like someone was manipulating real bricks in a stop-motion fashion. The bricks are also affected by their locations, with the bricks in The Old West realm being more dusty and faded from the sunlight. McKay explained: "We wanted to make the film feel like the way you play, the way I remember playing. We wanted to make it feel as epic and ambitious and self-serious as a kid feels when they play with LEGO. We took something you could claim is the most cynical cash grab in cinematic history, basically a 90 minute LEGO commercial, and turned it into a celebration of creativity, fun and invention, in the spirit of just having a good time and how ridiculous it can look when you make things up. And we had fun doing it.'"

The film features Pratt, Ferrell, Banks, Arnett, Offerman, Brie, Day, Neeson, and Freeman. Where else can you find the varied likes of Pratt, Banks, Ferrell, Arnett, Offerman, Brie, Day and--yes--Neeson and Freeman together and all on their A game? Thanks to the cast, the animation here is certainly up to par. Even if the characterisations were a little bit stretched thin. But it may not have the magic of Pixar, not is the story nearly as creative as that studio's work, it is in a league of its own.

To say that The Lego Movie is among one of the most genuinely surprising achievements in cinematic history, and must be seen, is no overstatement. Warner Bros.' first animated feature has pushed the art form in thrilling new directions, completely redefining a much-loved children's construction toys that previously existed only in a child's imagination. The quirky humor, plucky characters and solid slapstick make this family comedy a frenetically tasty time at the movies. The film is smart, insightful on a host of relationship dynamics, and filled with fast-paced action. The 3D effects are wonderful, full of witty sight gags that play out both center-screen and on the periphery. The film greatly expands on the kids construction toys on which it's based in a clever and engaging adventure. The film is visually inventive and exuberant, and has some neat running gags. But its characterisations can be a tiny bit disappointing. This 3D cartoon based on the popular children's toy is sweet and fun -- not to mention a little trippy. So what could be better than an endless supply of Lego? Only a multiplex permanently stocked with smart, sweetly silly family films like this one. There are many funny moments and some pleasing suspense towards the end, but as a cautionary tale about the dangers of losing your imagination and child-like mind it's more likely to boost sales at Lego stores everywhere. That may be one good reason for watching it at the cinemas.

Simon says The Lego Movie receives:

Also, see my review for 21 Jump Street.