The LEGO Movie turned out to be what I wanted it to be, which is good. The problem is, how to I begin to explain what my hopes for this film were? Well first, I certainly wanted something that felt definitive, something that wasn't just a LEGO movie but The LEGO Movie. It fit the part by having a good story that expertly mixed together a dramatic narrative with plenty of comic relief. And trust me, there was plenty of comic relief. There were so many jokes in this movie I would have to watch it twice in order to catch them all. The dramatic element, meanwhile, intimately incorporated the nature of LEGOs into its character. This isn't a movie with a bunch of LEGO jokes and gimmicks but an overarching plot that could have otherwise been unrelated to LEGOs. This is a movie with LEGOs that's about LEGOs. There is simply no other way that this film could have been made.
The beginning of the movie, meanwhile, was a strong note. The villain gains control of a mysterious device from Wizard Freeman. Whatever it is, it's powerful and could only possibly be used for evil, and it's called the Kragle. You know I smiled at that.
But that's not the strong note, even though I personally loved the name of the doomsday device. What I loved was that the opening of the movie made use of giant LEGO sets and made a complex LEGO city filled with movement. Not only was it visually splendid, but it had a great way of establishing the feel of the universe and the way things worked. There were countless things going on, enough to make me think that this was indeed the LEGO Movie, the one where they pulled out all their guns and did everything that could ever possibly be done with LEGOs. The smartest thing about all this, though, was that it was also all put to a theme song.
Having an establishing sequence set to a song that defines the theme of the movie is a staple of classic movie making, which shows that the makers at LEGO decided to use all their tricks. The great thing about this song is that it also works as a great description of what LEGO is all about, without necessarily being about LEGOs, sort of like how "When You Wish Upon a Star" works as the official theme for Disney. It's also catchy enough that I think I could play it for five hours straight.
As I said before, this movie is visually amazing, incredibly clever at every turn, uses every single LEGO-related joke and story element you can imagine, and also includes a pretty great reference to BIONICLE to keep us at BZPower happy. Even the references to things non-LEGO are pretty good and done to far better effect than in movies like Shrek. I genuinely think that they put everything they could into this movie, and made LEGOs a strong enough theme for a story, that it works well on the big screen. In fact, I think that this was made for the big screen, and seeing it later on VHS DVD/Blue-Ray would be a cause for regret. The end credits suggest as much when some of their credits feature LEGO versions of those popcorn bags that you get at the theatres and poor butter on. So take my advice and see this before it goes onto the small screen. Especially since you're reading this on BZPower and that obviously makes you a fan of LEGOs.
To put it another way, everything in this movie is awesome.
Signing out from the movies!
In need of a new signature because of this,
The KRAGGHLE!
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