The link to this page may be incorrect or out of date.2. You may have bookmarked a page that has moved. on February 07, 2014 at 12:30 PM, updated The musical theme of “The Lego Movie” is a psychotic pop song called “Everything is Awesome.” Its synthetic beat thumps like a plastic tell-tale heart, its vocals are robotic and auto-tuned. It’s so catchy, it worms its way into your grey matter, nests, and reproduces like a parasite. With that song hammering away relentlessly, it’s easy to see how the movie’s Lego land has become a dystopia of thoughtless conformists consuming overpriced coffee and watching an “Idiocracy”-style TV sitcom called “Where’s My Pants?” Everything is not so awesome, you see, and one average Lego man – who, like every other average Lego man, has a yellow head and two black dots for eyes - destined to change the world. Writers/directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have built an amazing cinematic world out of Legos, or at least photo-realistic computer-animated facsimiles of Legos.
It’s clever in concept, if a bit manic in execution. Every shot is an eyeful, sometimes to a fault. For every wonderful image – massive and surreal Lego-brick ocean waves, for example – there’s an action sequence so manic, it’s nearly incomprehensible. Sight gags, pop-culture references and inside jokes zing by lickety-split, a problem with Lord and Miller’s first feature, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” One can’t help but wonder if these movies are hyper-edited per a mandate by studio accountants, so we pay to see them a second time in order to catch all the jokes. But Lord and Miller’s world is made of witty ideas as much as CG bricks, something we wouldn’t expect from an oversized commercial for one of Earth’s most popular toys. “The Lego Movie” seems to be aware that it’s a piece of corporate-branding propaganda, and plays into that idea. The hero, Emmet Brickowski (voice of Chris Pratt), is an average-joe construction worker. He’s brainwashed by the fascist regime led by President Business (Will Ferrell), who seems reasonably benevolent, but secretly doubles as Lord Business, a maniacal supervillain.
In his employ is Bad Cop/Good Cop, a two-faced fellow who spins his little plastic, bipolar head around to switch personalities, and is voiced with amusing gusto by Liam Neeson. The regime dictates that everything be built via instruction manuals. Anything not built to spec is blown up. Emmet stumbles upon the Piece of Resistance, a legendary artifact that could bring about great change. He meets up with a secret rebellious movement led by hoodied ninja-lady Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), old hippie-guru Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) and Batman (Will Arnett), who, in this incarnation, is a hilariously egomaniacal jerk. Many Lego franchise licensees turn up for funny bits – I won’t spoil any surprises, although they’re fairly well-known – although notably absent are Marvel Comics characters, perhaps one more shot fired in the eternal Marvel-DC Comic Book Wars. Although a familiar and basic Chosen One plot is the foundation of “The Lego Movie,” it explores unexpected existential and metaphorical avenues come the third act.
(Who is the god constructing this Lego world?) The film’s message encourages imagination and creativity during playtime, which is the core philosophy of Lego toys. Of course, all those licensed-franchise Lego toys have all kinds of specific pieces – that work with, say, the Batmobile only – that don’t necessarily work with building new, crazy, individualistic toys, but never mind. The movie doesn’t always follow the blueprint of mainstream family entertainment. It’s weirdly deep, consistently funny and broadly appealing. The Lego Movie - 3 Minute Movie Review John Serba is film critic and entertainment reporter for MLive and The Grand Rapids Press. or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.Lego recently took back its crown from Google as the world’s “most powerful brand,” according to Brand Finance’s 2017 yearly Global 500 rankings report. And film experts say it had a little help from a movie character named Emmet. Following the release of The Lego Movie in February of 2014, the little plastic blocks that have inspired imaginations for generations saw a record $4.4 billion in sales, which helped the already iconic brand regain its status as the most powerful.
“It’s amazing now how much a movie can impact a brand,” said Dan Lin, producer of The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie. “That’s something we’re paying a lot of attention to and that hopefully these movies do help to tell the brand’s story.” The Lego movie told the story of Emmet, voiced by Chris Pratt, who was tasked with saving the world from an evil villain, voiced by Will Ferrell. The movie, which had a budget of $60 million dollars, brought in nearly $470 million worldwide, according to Box-office Mojo, and was labeled “certified fresh” by Rotten Tomatoes. The Danish toymaker capitalized on the popularity of the film through licensing and themed toys – reporting double-digit growth in countries overseas the same year as the film’s release. Although The Lego Group CEO, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, didn’t attribute the company’s recent success entirely to the movie, he recognized the major contribution the film made to company’s bottom line.
"They didn't get permission to screen it [in China] and the Chinese market is now a huge cinema 3-D screen market. And the fact that it didn't play there means that our more than 50% growth rate in China was helped by the general strength of our marketing and assortment," Mr. Knudstorp said, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. "The movie is an important event but it's far from the only explanation." The film industry, which has stagnated in recent years, has become more reliant on physical goods to compensate for sluggishness at the box office, said Brett Danaher, Chapman University assistant professor of economics and management science. “So, without a doubt, having a franchise out there that allows you to sell stuff that can’t be pirated, that can’t be streamed, is definitely more of an edge than it would have once have been,” said Danaher. However, when the original Lego movie was first announced, the response was far from positive. “People thought we were making a craft commercial for a toy, which we were certainly never intending to do,” said Lin. “So we went in stealth mode, and then surprised the audience stealthily, and became a cultural phenomenon.”
Now Lin is at it again, and hopes to capitalize on their upcoming spinoff, The Lego Batman Movie, which hits theaters February 10. “It plays to all audiences. It plays to certainly kids and their families, but certainly evening shows will be full because adults will want to see the movie. Guys and girls want to see this movie,” said Lin. Lin said the spinoff tackles the superhero/action genre and was produced on an $80 million budget. Unlike the Lego Movie, which used 5% real Lego blocks, the Lego Batman’s level of complexity required the film to use computer-generated imagery (CGI). The plotline driving the Lego movie franchise came from from Lin's own imagination, which was sparked in 2008 when he saw his then five-year-old son playing the iconic toys. “I realized as he was playing with LEGO he would talk through an adventure in his mind, and tell himself this story, this grand adventure that he had. And I thought to myself – I love playing with Lego, I love playing with him, but I thought if I could capture that play experience in a movie that would be a really special movie.