LEGO: As Peças de Uma História

A Lego Brickumentary (2014)

*** (out of 4)

Jason Bateman narrates this somewhat long-winded by highly informative documentary about the history of LEGOs and why everyone loves them so much. The documentary covers how the company got started, the early troubles with fire and then goes into detail about how the company evolved over the decades to become a global phenomenon. We get interviews with fans, master builders as well as people who have a dream job of creating new models.

If you're a fan of LEGOs then you'll certainly love this film as it really does tell you everything you need to know about the company and its fans. The documentary does a very good job with the history but it also gives you a good idea of what they plan on doing in the future including how they got fans involved with what they come up with . We get to see some of the amazing large creations that superfans have come up with as well as some of the fan-made movies.

Greetings again from the darkness. Toys can be fun, educational, relaxing, challenging, and yes, even profitable. No toy exemplifies all of these characteristics better than LEGO. Co-directors Kief Davidson and Daniel Junge go "Beyond the Brick" (the film's original title) as they explore the history and community of these fascinating plastic pieces.

Founder Ole Kirk Christiansen (of Denmark) began as a maker of wooden toys, but in 1947 he discovered a plastic molding machine which, within a couple of years, revolutionized his company and the toy industry. The company is still family-owned and is now a $4 billion company and the second largest in the industry despite competing in only one category of toys. It's a remarkable business case study, and an equally remarkable study in social impact. If you own LEGO pieces from 1955, they will still work with the bricks and pieces being produced today … planned obsolescence is not part of the LEGO business strategy. The film introduces us to the designers, the master builders, and the community of LEGO aficionados known as AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO). We also learn of a LEGO language filled with acronyms that permeate the competitions, fairs, and conferences.

In the early 2000's, the company posted its first ever loss, but quickly rebounded by listening to their loyal customer base and making the necessary product changes. Last year's award-winning animated THE LEGO MOVIE has stimulated even more interest in the tubes and studs … as well as permanently stamping our brains with the "Everything is Awesome" song.

Jason Bateman narrates the film – as a minifig – and adds a splash of color and visual acumen to the story telling process. It's important to note that visuals are a key factor in some of the breathtaking creations of the brand's most committed devotees. This includes the work of one who re-creates classical artwork for a gallery in NYC, and a stunning life-sized model of the Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter in Manhattan. We also see how LEGO plays a role as Autism therapy for kids, and even for mock-ups at NASA.

The LEGO community is most impressive. They actually participate in suggesting and designing new products, and the online network of LEGO stop-action short films act as a combined marketing strategy and challenge to other users. LEGOLAND doesn't draw much attention here, but the loyalty and creativity of the customers is quite something to behold. It's a reminder that the smartest companies collaborate with (rather than dictate to) their customer base … but most can only dream of this deep LEGO relationship with AFOL.

A Lego Brickumentary, also known as Beyond the Brick: A Lego Brickumentary is a very interestingly done documentary that looks at the global culture, appeal, and history of the Lego Company and its building block toys. The documentary borders on mockumentary at times, and it features some rather confusing scenes, but overall, it's worth a watch, especially if you're a huge fan of the popular brick company. The film shows the audience the origin of Legos through its country of origin, Denmark, to modern day. The film goes through both the accomplishments and struggles of the company, and how it almost went bankrupt around 1999. The film shows how the company changed with the times, as well as, footage of Lego conventions, and various fans using their Legos in very creative ways. Creative use of Legos included a person who built an entire house out of Lego bricks, and another person who built an actual car using Legos. Both examples are crazily creative. The movie even contains scenes showing how Legos are improving the world, with some psychiatrist using Legos to help their patients, and one boy, named Adrian Pitt, who is using Legos to help with his speech problem.

The documentary is narrated by Jason Bateman, playing a fictional Lego, who appears sometimes in well-done stop-motion sequences and tells the audience about an aspect of Legos. What I appreciated about these particular sequences was the amount of creativity that went into them. It must have taken the filmmakers hours just to make one sequence. We even get to see some behind the scenes footage of the making of the recent The Lego Movie.

The film contains interviews with various people who work at Lego, as well as, entertainers such as Ed Sheeran, Trey Parker, and Dwight Howard, all of whom relate their personal experiences and appreciation for Legos. These sequences are nice, as we get to see that Lego fans go well-beyond supposed children or even nerds.

In spite of all of the praise I've given this film, I can't say it's perfect. One thing, a Brickumentary falls apart in, is it's a lack of focus. While all the various Lego stories are interesting, much of the material that happens at the actual Lego studios left me uninterested. Maybe I'm just not into the actual behind the scenes aspects of the company, but I did find the actual Lego creative stories more eventful, and thankfully, they do make up the bulk of the film.

That major flaw aside, A Lego Brickumentary is a fairly well-made, well-done documentary that serves as a good look at the history and success of one of the world's biggest toy companies, who got popular simply off one product, and not many companies can say that.

It just goes to show that just because something is made out of some sort of melted plastic element does not always mean it's a product for kids. I grew up with the knowledge of several enough elements when I would fiddle with Legos and one thing I would admit is that I was more into just building the models on the market rather than create my own. In a way though, it still was a deep passion for my self and it felt that way every time I saw a brick. It still like that to this day as I still enjoy collecting larger sets that are currently on the market to this day. As for this documentary, it was definitely well engaging the first half and had some neat topics covered, including the largest lego ever built and the inspirations of the stop motion videos. The special needs topic also captured me, as I myself had some slight disabilities growing up, but without Lego, I don't know how much creative passion I would have today. This was a pretty good documentary overall.

Parade of the Virgins! That's what I thought when I saw that "A Lego Brickumentary" (G, 1:33) focused mainly on adult Lego enthusiasts. Then I saw married couples and families in this documentary… so I couldn't use that particular line. Next I thought that I could just mock the adults whose main hobby was building with Legos as being simply uncool. That's when I saw award-winning singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, "South Park" co-creator Trey Parker and Houston Rockets star Dwight Howard all extol the virtues of the plastic bricks. At that point… well, I was kinda led to take this documentary a little more seriously. And that was only the beginning.

The movie does begin at the beginning, explaining how Lego bricks were invented and became one of Denmark's most famous exports, but who knew that so many adults took those colorful little bricks so seriously? Jason Bateman narrates the documentary which spends most of its time introducing us to adults who have made Lego a way of life, and showing us many, many different uses for this construction "toy".

After we meet Lego "master builders" who are full-time employees of the company, the film introduces us to ordinary people in different countries who became self-made Lego innovators, some of whom have been welcomed into the Lego corporate family. There are also clubs and conventions for those who refer to themselves by the unfortunate-sounding acronym AFOL (Adult Fan of Lego).

Then things get serious. The documentary shows us how Legos have been used in modern art and to build a full-sized replica of a Star Wars X-Wing Fighter. Legos have even been used in city planning and in therapy for autistic children. Throughout the movie, an animated Lego minifigure ("min-fig" for short) pops up to provide moviegoers with explanations of the movie's main points, but mostly, this film is about the people, the surprising variety of people all over the world using Lego bricks in a surprising variety of ways.

"A Lego Brickumentary" follows several of these Lego-centered stories and brings some of them to interesting and satisfying conclusions. The movie was more interesting and wide-ranging than I thought it would be, but it was still not much more than a Lego commercial on steroids. The documentary is fun, but it plays out as a long visitor's center video at the Lego factory or one of the Lego theme parks. "B"