The Lego Movie

The stand out feature of the Lego Movie for me would be the way the Lego Universe was created. The movie paid great attention to detail making everything appear as it would made from Lego, including the water and clouds, and the surfaces people walked on all had the circles sticking upwards a Lego piece would have. Combined with all the yellow faces, and Lego part during building, I was convinced action took place in the Lego Universe.

A combination of adult and child friendly humour should entertain all, the movie has done well to ensure audiences of all ages are catered to.

The voice cast were excellent, especially Liam Neeson's split personality police officer, making the 2 personalities sound distinctive, and giving his Bad Cop the usual Liam Neeson tough guy.

The plot is about resisting an over-controlling ruler, highlighted by the name of the hero's "resistance piece". It is well thought through, well written, and revealing at the right times. Full of surprises, The Lego Movie won't let You see what's coming. Best animated film since Wreck it Ralph! Please let there be sequels.

I went into The Lego Movie expecting drivel, I thought it'd be alike the DC ones but without the DC element to appease me. Thankfully I was wrong, way wrong.

This HUGELY acclaimed multi award winning Oscar nominated feature length animated lego movie is an entertaining roller coaster ride for all ages.

With a vast cast of overpaid Hollywood stars led by Chris Pratt we see original Lego characters team with the likes of Batman, Gandalf, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and more to foil an evil plot.

The first thing that struck me is how good it all looks, considerably better than every other Lego movie I've seen from the flow of the animation to the stunning lighting effects.

Okay it is pretty dumb, but it's dumb fun and thats okay by me.

Silly but with enough to keep parents entertained this is a roaring accomplishment. I'm not sure I'd consider it Oscar-worthy, but then again most Oscar winners I don't consider deserving.

The Lego Movie is a lot of fun and has reaffirmed my faith in them.

The Good:

Looks incredible

Lot of fun

The Bad:

Still pretty silly in places

More than a slight sprinkle of Hollywood excess and stupidity

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The double decker couch actually sounds quite neat

Wiping your bum with a hook for a hand is really hard

It's not expected for a person to marry a marshmallow

To be honest – when I first heard of 'The Lego Movie' I thought it to be a ridiculous idea and automatically dismissed it as something bad. However, when I gave it a second thought, I realized I kind of liked the idea. I mean, why not create a big budget movie that takes place inside the Lego universe? At least it's somewhat original (there have been previous Lego movies, but they were all direct-to-video, and from what I realize – they are much different from this one). And in this age of spin-offs, remakes, prequels, etc. originality is more valuable than ever. Add to that the amazing cast in the movie, and I, for one, needed no more reasons to see this movie – and I ultimately enjoyed it. The movie opens with the movie's villain, Lord Business (voiced by Will Ferrell), stealing a mysterious artifact called the 'Kragle' (I hope I've written it correctly) from a wizard named Vitruvius (voiced by Morgan Freeman), in order to destroy the Universe. During their encounter, Vitruvius tells of a prophecy about a Chosen one, who will find another mystical artifact, called 'The Resistance Piece' and will put an end to Business's mettle. 8 and a half years later, Lord Business's alter ego – President Business – is ruling the whole world in a sort of totalitarian way. We then meet the movie's protagonist, Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt), who one day accidentally stumbles upon 'The Resistance Piece' and is thought to be the Chosen one by a group of Lego characters called the MasterBuilders. Despite the fact that The Lego Movie's plot summary may seem a bit complicated (and despite the fact that I hailed the movie's originality a moment ago), the movie is actually pretty predictable and formulaic. That isn't necessarily a bad thing – actually, the movie has an explanation of some sort for why it is so predictable – but the movie does get slightly tedious from time to time. The only other possible downsides to the movie besides that, are the movie's third act, which gets clingy in some parts, and some of the action scenes. I like how the animation is a combination of both stop motion and CGI, but this unusual style of animation may be hard to follow during a few action scenes – and I fear this scenes might be even harder to follow if you decide to watch the movie in 3D. Nonetheless, all this downsides to the movie are easily overshadowed by its qualities. The movie's biggest quality is definitely that it is fun. The Lego Movie is a nostalgic look back at childhood and it helps to realize that our child games were often very silly, ridiculous, over the top and funny – and in that way The Lego Movie could be better appreciated by adults than by children. Virtually almost every scene contains a silly joke or gag and I was constantly giggling throughout the whole movie. The Lego Movie easily succeeds in being a feel good, ridiculously entertaining movie that is worth your time. Moreover, another The Lego Movie's quality is that it has quite an impressive cast (Pratt, Ferrell, Banks, Day, Brie, Freeman, Hill, Neeson, Offerman, O'Neil, etc.), that portrays a bunch of very colorful and memorable characters. In short, if you are interested in watching a nostalgic throwback to your childhood or just want to watch a fun, feel-good movie, you mustn't skip The Lego Movie. Rating: 8/10

Boasting a killer sense of humor and a surprising amount of heart, The Lego Movie is a film that is not just made for kids. It's made with the those small, colored building blocks in mind, easily bringing memories to life for the adult who played with Legos growing up.

It's the underdog tale of Emit Brickowski (Chris Pratt), a standard mini-figure construction worker. Emit, like everyone in his city, lives his life based on instructions drawn up by Lord Business's (Will Ferrell) all encompassing corporation in the sky. When it's discovered that Emit is a prophesied savior of the world, called "The Special," he must prepare to become a "Master Builder" to defeat Lord Business before he freezes the whole world. Along the way, Emit gets help from a tough as nails female mini figure, WyldStyle (Elizabeth Banks), a wise but blind wizard named Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), and Batman (Will Arnett), along with scores of other familiar characters and faces.

The film has a super fast pace, with many layers of humor that will keep you laughing and engaged the whole time. Pratt (Her) breathes life into Emit as a manic "Everyman" character that you root for, as well as relate to. Arnett's Batman is an uber Alfa male, and every line he utters is quotable and hilarious. As the villain, Ferrell is fun, and with a surprising twist in the story, his performance becomes the heart and soul of the film.

Unfortunately, there's a lack of female influences in the characters of The Lego Movie. Banks (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) does a fine job bringing WyldStyle to life, and she represents everything a strong independent woman should be. Alison Brie (Community) plays a My Little Pony hybrid creature named Unikitty who is sugar and spice and everything nice, but she does not truly represent another female character, as ultimately she is more of an abstract idea of a character. There are a few brief moments with Wonder Woman (Cobie Smulders), however she is overshadowed by the machismo and gruff of Batman. It would have been lovely to see Wonder Woman work side by side with the male heroes to save the world, but she is regulated to cameo status.

A combination of stop motion and CGI animation, the film is visually brilliant. The detail that has been taken to create this universe is astounding. You watch as entire worlds are destroyed in a flash with red, orange, and white Lego brick flames, only to see them built up again. The film is worth the 3D ticket as it enhances the experience and gives the visuals more depth.

The Lego Movie is a pure delight. It's everything a humorous movie should be- visual, funny, and touching. It's been made for all audiences to enjoy. Bring the kids,but don't be surprised if you end up loving it more.

-stina@mediumraretv.org www.mediumraretv.org

I'd be surprised if anyone saw this coming. The Lego Movie is quite simply unlike anything seen in a long while: rip-roaringly hilarious, gorgeous to look at, imaginative beyond belief, a great parody of worn out "chose one" clichés and also rather poignant and touching.

The first thing one has to mention is the animation. Not only does it look like an amateur stop-motion film with a $500 million budget, but the amount of detail and creativity put into the visuals is just staggering. At times there's so much going on the screen it's almost overwhelming, yet if you look closely you can see that every single thing is comprised of recognizable Lego parts. The various ways the world shifts, breaks, is constructed again, falls apart and moves around is simply a joy to watch. The implementation of real-world objects into the otherwise plastic world is certain to get huge laughs out of anyone, especially the revelation about the ominous superweapon "Kragle". The result is a film that looks unlike anything we've seen before.

The script is a roller-coaster ride of hilarious gag after another. The jokes come at you so fast you can't catch them all in one viewing, and blink-and-you'll-miss-it side gags clutter the screen. No running gag wears out its welcome, no joke is overplayed or overemphasised. The characters are all funny and likable with enough personality to them to fill up multiple movies on their own. Batman especially is a riotous parody of the grim, dark versions of the Caped Crusader we've been stuck with for nearly a decade. And due to Lego having rights for nearly every IP imaginable, you won't be able to guess which mega-franchise is going to turn up next.

Despite all this high praise, there are a couple of minor issues. During its third act the tone of the film starts moving to a more serious and emotional direction, which to me didn't work as well as the rapid fire comedy of the rest of the film. The voicework is great for the most part, but amidst all the others it becomes rather apparent that Morgan Freeman and Liam Neeson are live, not voice actors. It's not that their performances are bad, they just seem rather flat and lifeless in comparison to the rest of the cast.

The Lego movie is a downright masterpiece, there's no two ways about it. Incredible visuals and animation combined with a hilarious script, dazzling creativity and good characters make it one of the best and most original animated films in a long time. Some minor hindrances can do very little to drag it down, and the end result is fantastic.