The Lego Movie

Spoilers free!

I think this is going to be a rather short review. Why? Well, because the only way I can think to describe anything in this movie is, "awesome."

Cue the music.

...Everything is awesome!...

Acting -- awesome. Chris Pratt makes the perfect unassuming-normal-Lego-figurine-who-turns-out-to-be-the-hero-and-really-awesome as Emmett. Not that that's something for which we see lots of failed attempts. But he is funny and charming and silly, and while not often serious, good on that side as well. The supporting cast in the form of Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett and Liam Neeson were also... well, you know... with names like those, how could they possibly be anything else? And all the cameos (of actors and characters) were brilliant. I liked Billy Dee Williams' cameo... as Lando Calrissian.

...Everything is cool when you're part of a team!...

Plot -- awesome. The beginning was absolutely packed to the brim with laugh-out-loud moments and one-liners, and once the plot got going it just kept slowly adding on a surprising amount of substance and heart -- more than I was expecting even after hearing there was more than you'd expect, but of course it never got too complicated for the crumb-crunching target audience. It also had an adorable ADHD kind of flow -- chasing random rabbit trails until satisfied, and then remembering the main pathway. It all made me feel as if I were the one controlling the direction and didn't know it; it was very often reminiscent of the way I played with Legos. And it's probably the same case with anyone else who has ever laid hands on a single brick.

...Everything is awesome!...

Animation -- you guessed it -- awesome. It looked seriously like there were real, tangible Legos up there on the screen, and it helped with the illusion of mixed reality and imagination to give the animation a stop-motion feel. They also gave the Legos realistic details like dirt, scratches, dints, and even breaks, like on Benny the spaceman's helmet. At times everything moved so fast though, the "stop-motion" made it a bit difficult to tell what was going on, but still, very much worth it for the perfect playful atmosphere it gave the movie.

...When we're livin' our dream!...

So yeah, I thought it was pretty awesome, (the word insinuated itself into my head effortlessly) but it's an interesting case, because I currently have no desire to see it again, and usually if I give a movie 4 stars, I would by now. It was clever and intricate enough to hold my adult attention, but simple enough so that I didn't miss anything, and that requires no future viewings (for now anyway -- never say never) and that's perfectly fine with me. In fact, it's awesome.

The End.

Good luck getting that song out of your head.

You're welcome.

Bye.