After a trip to the shooting range, Abby and I had time to squeeze one movie before we headed home. It was a toss up between Winter’s Tale and this one, but we weren’t really in the mood for anything heavy and romantic.

So here’s my round up of comedic duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (21 Jumpstreet, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs )’s Lego Movie.

Please note that there may be spoilers. Read at your own risk.

THE STORY:

Emmet Brickowoski (Chris Pratt- Disgusting Donald in What’s Your Number?) is as average as you can get – a stickler for instructions, he likes the popular music, he buys overpriced coffee, he watches the most popular television show. In fact, he makes an extra effort to fit in by liking everything that everybody’s ever wanted.

One day, he chances upon Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks – Pitch Perfect, The Hunger Games), a Master Builder, after hours on the construction site he’s working in and he stumbles upon, quite literally, a rebellion against their ruling Mayor, President Business. President Business apparently has a diabolical plan to freeze all citizens “in their right place” so as to not “create chaos”. A piece of the resistance gets literally stuck on Emmet’s body and very quickly he becomes the rebellion’s most important asset.

Wyldstyle and Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman – Se7en, Yes Man), the rebellion’s wise sage, mistake him for The Chosen One and he gets dragged across all Lego Worlds and is looked upon by all Master Builders – Princess Unkitty (Alison Brie – Community, Mad Men), Abraham Lincoln (Will Forte – Nebraska, Saturday Night Live), Wally (Dave Franco – Now You See Me), Green Lantern (Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street), Superman (Channing Tatum – 21 Jumpstreet), Wonder Woman (Cobie Smulsers – The Avengers), Shaq (as himself), Metal Beard (Nick Offerman) and Benny (Charlie Day), among others – to lead their rebellion.

It also doesn’t help that he has a huge crush in Wyldstyle but she has Batman (Will Arnett – Arrested Development) for a boyfriend and that President’s Business has set Bad Cop/Good Cop (Liam Neeson – Taken, Chronicles of Narnia) chasing after their heels.

THE GOOD:

1. The theme song. It’s stupid but it’s catchy as hell. I’ve been LSS-ing (last song syndrome) since I’ve seen it but I don’t mind. I might even get it as a ring tone.
2. The fast pacing. It’s the type of movie that won’t let you think about and chew on the jokes they throw at you on your seat. They just keep on flying at you one after another, which makes for great escapism.
3. Morgan Freeman and Liam Neeson. The whole cast is great but these two are the most noteworthy for me, because man, the shit that their characters did in the movie were so un-Morgan Freeman-y and un-Liam Neeson-y as possible. I couldn’t believe that they agreed to half of it but to me it did sound like they had a lot of fun. Also, Liam Neeson’s native Scottish accent was a most welcome surprise.
   

THE BAD:

1. The Finn plot arc. Don’t get me wrong, I think the kid (Jadon Sand) is cute as hell and the whole thing was heart warming as fuck, but to me, that particular story arc didn’t quite fit in to the movie’s theme. Up until the point they showed up, I thought the movie was preaching about making your own choices and not just being another regular Joe out there, which was fine. This additional storyline sort of muddled it up for me.

THE UGLY:
None.

All in all I found the Lego Movie to be enjoyable. It was a fast, witty and smart movie with an emotional hook that, however unfitting with the story as a whole, will draw the audience in. The plot is fairly straightforward enough so I don’t imagine kids will not like watching it but there were a lot of things thrown in for the benefits of the adults as well.

THE VERDICT: 7.3/10. See it, it’s funny.

*All photos are lifted from the film’s IMDB page.