3:25 PM PDT 5/20/2016 THR gets stars at the Cannes Film Festival to reveal the last movie that made them cry, the first film they fell in love with and more. Stars from the Cannes Film Festival — including Justin Timberlake, Chloe Sevigny and Adam Driver — open up to reveal the last movies that made them cry, the first movies they ever loved, their worst travel experiences and the last song they had stuck in their heads. /entertainment/Lego-Movie-Review-33907542 on this server. Your technical support key is: 36b3-2791-1756-6707 If you are unable to fix the problem yourself, please contact and be sure to provide the technical support key shown above.This past weekend not only saw the first blockbuster of 2014 finally hit theaters, but also the first truly great movie of the year. And it wasn’t the WWII action-adventure epic starring George Clooney and Matt Damon (holy hell was The Monuments Men a terrible movie). No, it was a movie about Lego.The Lego Movie stunned industry pundits by assembling an astounding $69.1 million debut at the box office—the best of the year so far—while also earning raves from critics, with a 95 percent approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
To put that in perspective, only two Oscar nominees for Best Picture, Gravity and 12 Years a Slave, scored higher. The Lego Movie: Better than American Hustle!It’s the kind of surprise success that inspires scores of think pieces attempting to pick apart—brick by brick, if you will—how a film based on toy building blocks came out of nowhere to become the toast of Hollywood. (A few favorite headlines: “The Lego Movie: Did It Make You Cry?,” “Can The Lego Movie Really Be THAT Good?,” and “Fox Host Calls Lego Movie ‘Anti-Business.’”)Sifting through the pieces, here’s why The Lego Movie clicked with moviegoers:It’s freaking freezing out. Cars are getting stuck on Atlanta highways for days at a time. It’s not like families are going to spend the weekend at the amusement park. Family films frequently tend to perform better than expected because, when analyzing box-office prospects, pundits often forget to take one key thing into account: families need something to do.
Since Frozen was released back in November, it’s been slim pickings for parents at the cineplex. So slim, in fact, that Frozen continued, right up until this weekend, to be either the number one or two movie at the box office…three months into its run. Its dominance is owed to the fact that a) it’s frozen outside (hey-o!) so families keep coming back for repeat outings, b) it’s really, really good (like, incredibly good), and c) the only real supposed-rival family film released since—The Nut Job—wasn’t.Knowing that another frigid weekend was ahead and kids still needed to be entertained, parents raced to theaters to see The Lego Movie. Not only did the fresh option mean they wouldn’t have to sit through Frozen for a twelfth time—though that sounds like heaven to me—but the rave reviews for the film probably excited them to see it more.Listen, no one is cheering Hollywood for its groan-worthy insistence on mining every single brand name, franchise, and toy for box-office cash.
(There were, at times, Stretch Armstrong and Ouija board movies in the works. But it’s next-to-impossible not to be charmed by the idea of Lego on the big screen. Internet culture and the Buzzfeed generation have combined to make nostalgia as much of a dominant force dictating the success of entertainment product as marketing. The triumph of Frozen, which audiences swooned over for its resemblance to the modern Disney classics like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, speaks to that.Most people have their own personal connection to Lego: getting their first set when they were 5 or 6, playing for so long the bricks would leave impressions on their thumbs, buying sets for their own kids, nephews, nieces—what have you—when they were older. For them, the release of The Lego Movie is akin to discovering an old container of their own childhood Lego pieces in the attic of their parents’ house. The movie’s mere existence is a warm and fuzzy feeling, made warmer and fuzzier at the reassurance by critics that the beloved brand hadn’t been bastardized by Hollywood, that the movie was actually really good.
Simply put: if you were a father who played with Lego and you had a kid under the age of 10, you were gladly piling them into the minivan and taking them to this movie this weekend.Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are recycling fiends. It may seem weird at first to hear that The Lego Movie—a PG-rated, animated charmer—is from the directors of 21 Jump Street—a raunchy, R-rated comedy romp. But on second thought it actually makes perfect sense. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller not only wrote and directed Lego and directed Jump Street, they wrote and directed 2009’s Oscar-nominated animated film Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. The throughline with all three films: they’re all based on cherished, already-established properties with rich, almost hallowed histories.In each case, Lord and Miller have managed to pay homage to the property the film was based on while at the same time reinventing and bringing them to the screen in a whole new, fresh light. Did anyone really think that an R-rated comedy reboot of 21 Jump Street starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill could really be as inspired as Lord and Miller’s film was?
Or that their Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs would end up being such a lovely buffet of whimsy and sly humor?The duo has worked their same magic on The Lego Movie, building a film that’s wacky and irreverent, cinematically dazzling (the CGI is great!), imaginative, unexpectedly moving, and with a script packed jokes firing off at machine-gun pace. For as cute and energetic as the film is, that there crystallizes the success of The Lego Movie to a singular element: it’s awesome. As they say in the film, everything is awesome.Batman, how could you! You can’t tell your main villain that you’re seeing other villains. It’s against the super rules. We have the pleasure of seeing Lego Bruce Wayne this time around, as well as more Robin, more parties, more Batcave, more everything. This will probably be the most accurate Batman film ever made: The LEGO Batman Movie will be here in February 2017!I was not prepared for The LEGO Movie. No really, I was not prepared at all.
After months of playing the wondrous trailers over and over again, I was so excited about catching an early showing of the film this past weekend in Atlanta that I could barely even dress myself. It's a miracle they let me into the theater. I even forgot to grab 3D glasses and had to bug the security guy at the back of the theater for a pair. I was also completely unprepared for movie itself. What I was expecting — what I was prepared to watch — was an extended ad for the popular building toys, backed by some celebrity voice work. I was ready for the professional version of a stop-motion LEGO fan film. I was prepared to laugh. I was not prepared to cry, or question my place in society, or my role as a father. The LEGO Movie revolves around Emmet (Chris Pratt), the most average Joe imaginable, a tiny cog in the massive machine of the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell). Lord Business' regime exercises complete control of every aspect of LEGO world life, issuing step-by-step instructions for even the simplest of tasks.
Emmet believes in Lord Business' plan. He watches the television shows he is supposed to watch, purchases the overpriced coffee he is supposed to drink, enjoys the music he is supposed to enjoy and performs his job to specifications. He's blissfully unaware that he's the least special guy in the world, until a chance encounter bonds him with a mystical artifact prophesied (more or less) to bring an end to Lord Business' evil schemes. Under interrogation by Business henchman Bad Cop (Liam Neeson), Emmet is offered a glimpse at what the people in his life really think about him — if they think about him at all. It's a heartbreaking moment. So when the irrascible rebel Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) frees him from captivity and tells him he is The Special — the most interesting and important person in the universe — it's no wonder the hapless hero clings to the idea desperately. It's a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak and depressing life. What, you wanted a whirlwind adventure filled with character cameos from the beloved brick toys' 64-year history?
Well good, because that's what comes next. Emmet is introduced to the Master Builders, a secret society led by the wizard Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman, obviously having a ton of fun). They are champions of creativity, eschewing following instructions in favor of tapping into the power of imagination to make their world a truly magical place. In a way, The LEGO Movie is pitting two aspects of LEGO fandom against each other — those who build from pre-packaged sets, and those who craft amazing custom creations. Or perhaps it's urging fans like myself, sticking to the safety of step-by-step instructions, to throw caution to the wind and make something that's truly their own.Emmet and his rag-tag band of freedom fighters — Wyldstyle, Vitruvius, Batman (an amazing turn by Will Arnett), Benny the Space Guy (Charlie Day), Metal Beard the pirate (Nick Offerman) and the ridiculously cute Unikitty (Alison Brie) — take their battle to Lord Business. It's their freedom versus his strict instructions.
It's actually much more than that, but I don't want to spoil the story. Suffice it to say there is much more at stake here than some imaginary world, and the resolution will have any and every toy-collecting parent soaked in teary feels. In between the poignant messages that feel like they were aimed directly at my stupid, blocky heart, there's plenty of good-natured humor, LEGO sight gags, and jokes and references only the hardcore LEGO collector will understand. And the cameos — my god. Almost every major LEGO property makes an appearance, even if they make completely no sense given the parent companies of the characters involved. I should probably hush about that before I ruin everything. In retrospect, I suppose The LEGO Movie could never have been simply a two-hour toy commercial, because LEGO bricks are much more than simply toys. They are the building blocks of imagination given form, childhood memories waiting to be passed down from one generation to the next. The LEGO Movie embodies that timeless wonder, and like the toys themselves, it begs to be shared.