Everything is Awesome in 'The Lego Movie'

When I first heard about The Lego Movie, I thought it was just another gimmicky way to sell Lego toys. After watching this film, I was shocked to find out that this isn't the case at all! The Lego Movie is an extremely fun and surprisingly moving film, which tells a great story and has a lot of inventive ideas.
A Lego figure named Emmet is an everyday, average individual who lives life following the rules and doing everything by the book, until he is mistaken for the chosen one who has to stop President Business from taking over the Lego world using his secret weapon, the Kragle.

This is an amazing underdog story. I found myself rooting for Emmet the second he was introduced. He was a really lovable character and I really felt for this plastic Lego figure. All of the characters are very lovable and are well developed throughout the film. The Lego Movie does not feature Lego characters just to sell more Lego sets. Instead, it features Lego characters because the filmmakers had a great idea for a great story involving Lego characters.

There are a lot of inventive ideas in this film. For example, those instruction booklets that come with every single Lego set? Lego characters belonging to that set follow those instructions to live their daily lives! That's just brilliant! There are so many inventive concepts going on in this film! This is one of the most inventive films, that wasn't from Disney or Pixar, that I have seen in quite a while.

This is also an extremely funny film. There was not one joke that fell flat and I laughed a lot when watching this film. The timing for each of the jokes were perfect. I also love how the film made fun of the common clichés in many films and did so in such a brilliant, unique and funny way.

The film is really funny, but it is also really moving. I am quite surprised by how touching it was. It actually made me cry! This film involving little Lego figures had the ability to make me cry! There are a ton of jokes in this film that will make you laugh constantly, but the film is also extremely powerful.

The pop culture references were extremely minimal. There were only around 2 pop culture references and the film does not in any way rely on them, unlike many other films. There is a possibility of them being dated, but it did not ruin the overall experience and enjoyment of the film.

The animation is amazing. Every single item, character and set piece is made of Lego pieces. They also have really nice textures to make them look like plastic. The character designs and movements are also very well done. They don't have many joints since they're Lego characters so they can't do much movement with their bodies. This makes the Lego characters feel a lot more realistic, which is something that the Direct-to-Video Lego movies did not do. In those movies, they were able to move in all kinds of ways and that really took away from the idea that they are Lego figures. I also love how everything moved like the film was done in stop motion! Again, this really gives the film that Lego feel.

The voice acting is also great. Chris Pratt plays Emmet, Elizabeth Banks plays WyldStyle (yes, that is a character's name and yes, that is how you spell it), Will Arnett plays Batman,  Will Ferrell plays President Business, among a lot of other great actors who are lending their voices to these great characters. The voices fit the characters perfectly.

The films is also really well directed. Chris Miller and Phil Lord (who also directed Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street) did a fantastic job with the camera shots and cinematography. The action scenes, in particular, are very fast paced and have a lot of great camera angles.

The Lego Movie is a fun, inventive and moving experience. It is the first good film to come out this year and it just makes even more excited to see the other animated films that are coming out this year.

Film Grade: A+