Dir: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller; Starring: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Alison Brie (voices). U cert, 100 min. Andy Warhol would have been knocked sideways by The Lego Movie. The new animation from Warner Bros. takes art and commerce and clicks them together as naturally and satisfyingly as a pair of plastic bricks on their way to becoming a castle or spaceship. Never before have I felt less like a film was selling me a product, and then left the cinema more desperate to fill my house with the product it wasn’t selling. That’s largely because The Lego Movie is swooningly in love with the Lego brick itself: its look, its feel, its clutchable there-ness. The film is computer-generated, but it looks like an old-fashioned stop-motion production. Individual bricks and figures come scratched, scuffed and smeared with fingerprints. The Lego world looks lived-in. No, even better: played-with. And playfulness is the prevailing sprit.
At ground level, The Lego Movie is an uproariously funny family adventure – a Star Wars-Matrix hybrid with jokes, that bounds along with a kind of crazed, caffeinated energy. Dig down a little, though, and you realise that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the film’s two-man writing and directing team, are telling a classic quest story precisely because those stories are so Lego-ish at heart. Two sides in the Lego world are vying for supremacy. One is led by Lord Business (Will Ferrell), the ruler of Bricksburg, a bustling city where the cars and buildings are all assembled, and lives are lived, in line with the instructions. The other is made up of the Master Builders; visionaries and outlaws who see new, exciting ways to connect the blocks Lord Business would rather remain in place. LEGO CULTURAL ICONS: picture special The security of order versus the thrill of working outside it: that’s the struggle at the heart of any number of classic adventure films, but it’s also a choice made by every seven-year-old who’s ever unwrapped a brand new Lego set.
Do you follow the instructions, and end up with the model on the box? Or do you set the manual aside, click the pieces together at random, and see what chance produces? This decision also faces Emmet (Chris Pratt), a Bricksburg builder whose life, when we first encounter it, is one never-ending routine. Wake up, exercise, work, eat, relax, sleep, repeat. He does this every day, in order, and fits in because of it. His favourite song is everyone’s favourite song: a pop track called ‘Everything Is Awesome’ that’s catchier than Velcro. But unbeknownst to him, Emmet is also The Chosen: a saviour foretold in a prophesy by a Morgan Freeman-like sage – who is, brilliantly, voiced by Morgan Freeman. The hooded freedom-fighter Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) finds him and whisks him out of the city and into new, unexplored parts of the Lego universe, where they plot Lord Business’s downfall, with help from Wyldstyle’s celebrity boyfriend, Lego Batman (Will Arnett). Will Ferrell attends the premiere of the film The Lego Movie REUTERS Each dimension is home to a particular range of Lego kits, and the long-standing favourites like pirates, Wild West and space are where most of the action takes place.
Less-successful Lego sub-brands, meanwhile, such as the unloved Fabuland and Galidor ranges, are hastily covered in a self-deprecating montage. There are so many blink-and-miss-them moments to appreciate: in another wonderful detail, a 1980s-vintage spaceman character, voiced by Charlie Day, has a helmet that has snapped in exactly the place where all the 1980s Lego spacemen figures’ helmets used to snap. Parents who themselves grew up with Lego in their toy-boxes will almost certainly feel the prickle of nostalgia, and a sweet, witty passage late in the film acknowledges that for fathers, in particular, a son or daughter’s plastic bricks can spirit them back to a childhood long-past. Lord and Miller, both former sitcom writers, have arrived here via two unexpected hits: the 3D animation Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and their comic reboot of the teen police drama 21 Jump Street. Those films didn’t have to be particularly inventive or thoughtful or witty to turn a profit, but they were.
The Lego Movie is too, but it reaches even further. For a shot of pure forward-leaping, backward-dreaming animated pleasure, pick brick. The Lego Movie is released on February 14 PICTURE SPECIAL: INCREDIBLE LEGO EXHIBITION How to unlock all The Lego Movie Videogame characters? That question will be answered in this guide that shows you how and who to unlock to get the full roster of secret The Lego Movie Videogame unlockable characters on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PC, PS Vita, 3DS, Xbox One & PS4. Discover where to find all 101 playable characters in the game! Miranda CosplayTifa CosplayLara Croft CosplayPokemon Trainers Here’s the funny The Lego Movie Videogame launch trailer showing the main characters. To unlock 96 of the The Lego Movie Videogame playable characters, you basically have to finish the Story Mode levels and explore the Free Roaming open world hub areas. This goes especially fast if you have finished the game’s Story Mode levels before further exploring the Hub Areas (like The Old West & Bricksburg) where you can buy the in Story Mode unlocked characters as they walk around.
— The 5 remaining spots that round out the 101 characters are at the bottom-right of the character select screen; They are reserved for for a cheat code secret character and 4 downloadable content (DLC) characters, which at first will only be available via a Special Edition at select retailers like Game.co.uk as a Wild West Pack DLC, but are likely to be released in a $4.99 paid DLC Pack sometime after the February 2014 release (for the 4 Wild West characters and 4 pants). — The 8 last spots on the character select screen’s bottom-left side are for the custom characters you can create at the “Cloud Cuckoo Land” stadium behind the rainbow-colored brick door that Unikitty can transform into a bridge. The Lego Movie Videogame characters guide and a full characters list follows here-under. Index of The Lego Movie Videogame Guides: Here’s how to find, unlock & buy the hidden characters in this guide for The Lego Movie Videogame. How To Buy Unlocked Characters For Play: After finishing a Story Mode level you’ll unlock the characters in the game’s 15 levels.
After that’s done, you can return to the Free Roaming open world hub areas like “The Old West” & “Bricksburg” to access the available characters as they walk around or stand next to/inside buildings. You can then go and find to buy the characters you’ve unlocked (with our tips from this page). To buy a character, go stand next to him/her/it and press the A button on Xbox / X button on PlayStation / B button on Wii U. — Additionally, you can hold the Y button on Xbox / Triangle button on PlayStation / X button on Wii U to bring up the character grid and select them to see their buying price and the option to buy them right away. After that you can finally play with them. It is important to note that this character buying/selecting menu cannot be accessed while you’re in Story levels/missions, it’s only accessible when you’re in the Free Roaming open world hub areas or when you’re doing Free Play. This video shows the actual location of all purchasable characters in The Lego Movie Videogame.
This includes all of the overworld Hub Areas such as Cloud Cuckoo Land, Bricksburg, Octan Tower and The Old West. Below we’ve listed the secret characters in alphabetical order. Take the following steps to unlock each one; Buying Characters Tip: Whenever you unlock a new character during gameplay, you can go right into the Character Menu via quick select, and buy him/her/it right then and there! — Or if you’d rather go look for them in the Hub Areas, then you can activate the “Character Stud Detector” Red Brick cheat to find them quickly (that link goes to our guide page for it). This video will show the character abilities of all 101 characters in a row: Video guide #1 shows you how some “The Old West” hub area natives are unlocked as playable characters: Where to buy Calamity Drone & Native is shown at 8:37 minutes, at the bubblebath house stairs & roof. At the saloon with the wanted posters on the walls and a golden prison next to it, in front of it you’ll find Deputron for 150,000 studs & Sheriff-Not-A-Robot for 500,000 studs, Right of them Sir Stack-a-Brick for 50,000 studs is trapped in the gold prison (in front of the train station).
Lastly, Robo Cowboy can be found for 125,000 studs in the town center. Video guide #2 shows you how certain “Bricksburg” hub area natives are unlocked as playable characters: Once you’ve finish the Story Mode, you can use the rainbow-colored portals to travel to all the Hub Areas to find the remaining characters standing or walking around at. The areas are called: The Old West (Flatbush Gulch), Bricksburg (Middle Zealand), Cloud Cuckoo Land, Octan Tower, and The Bonus Room (Finn’s Room). You will earn yourself several achievements or trophies for finding all characters in every level and open world area of The Lego Movie Videogame. The character-related achievements/trophies are: * “The Special People In Your Life” (40 Gamerscore / Gold Trophy) — Purchase all Characters (Single Player). * “Complete Collection” (Silver PS Vita Trophy) — Unlock all Characters.(20 Gamerscore / Bronze Trophy) — Destroy 50 enemies as MetalBeard. * “The Opposite Of Happiness” (20 Gamerscore / Bronze Trophy) — Defeat 20 enemies as Rage Unikitty.
(20 Gamerscore / Bronze Trophy) — Defeat 30 enemies as Emmet Cowboy.(5 Gamerscore / Bronze Trophy) — Defeat 20 enemies as Sheriff Not-A-Robot.(5 Gamerscore / Bronze Trophy) — Customise your character. * “A House Divided” (5 Gamerscore / Bronze Trophy) — Play as Abraham Lincoln and Lady Liberty.(10 Gamerscore / Bronze Trophy) — Complete all Master Builds in Server Room as Benny. * “I Super Hate You Right Now” (10 Gamerscore / Bronze Trophy) — Play as Superman and Green Lantern. * “The Prophecy, I Made It Up!” (10 Gamerscore / Bronze Trophy) — Switch from Vitruvius into Ghost Vitruvius. * “END OF THE LINE!” (10 Gamerscore / Bronze Trophy) — Shoot Emmet with Robo Skeleton.(10 Gamerscore / Bronze Trophy) — Smash a chair as Bad Cop.(10 Gamerscore / Bronze Trophy) — Switch from Good Cop (Scribble Face) to Bad Cop. Credit for the unlock videos to Packattack & Family Gaming TV. Big thanks for character unlocking and locations tips to: Mike, Joe & Claudio.