1:20 PM PST 2/2/2014 After successfully testing the computer-animated waters on the smaller screen with the likes of LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Ninjago, not to mention a series of hit video games, everybody’s favorite Danish interlocking brick system has finally been transformed into a big 3D animated feature—with wildly entertaining results. Arriving at a time when feature animation was looking and feeling mighty anemic—essentially reconnecting the same dots until the next big thing comes along—The LEGO Movie shows ’em how it’s done. It’s a non-stop blast from beginning to end, jam-packed with a wacky irreverence, dazzling state-of-the-art CGI (courtesy of Animal Logic) and a pitch-perfect voice cast headed by Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks and Will Ferrell. PHOTOS: 35 of 2014's Most Anticipated Movies Backed by an army of executive producers, the Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow presentation should translate beautifully into whatever corner of the earth it plays, with a laugh-and-you’ll-likely-miss-something potential for repeat viewings.
Not that there was ever much doubt about co-directors and writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller being the right guys for the job, having previously surprised with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street, but their gift for inspired lunacy hits fresh, imaginative heights in the anything-goes LEGO universe. Serving as the idealistic heart of the picture is Emmet (endearingly voiced by Pratt) a sweet but generic regular guy of a LEGO minifigure with a prodigiously empty mind, blissfully content to let instruction manuals be his guide. And that’s just the way President Business (Ferrell) wants it. A control freak of a CEO with world domination on his mind, his obsessive disdain for creative expression has turned him into the maniacal Lord Business, whose bidding his carried out by the swivel-headed Bad Cop/Good Cop (Liam Neeson). PHOTOS: Todd McCarthy's 10 Best Films of 2013 But Emmet’s non-descript life is about to find meaning in a construction excavation pit when he stumbles across the elusive Piece of Resistance and, in the process, is earmarked as The Special--the one prophesied to reunite the great Master Builders and remove Lord Business from power before he destroys their various worlds.
Joining Emmet on his reluctant quest is the sassy, butt-kicking Wyldstyle (Banks), whose rebellious streak is represented by the hot-pink and turquoise ones in her hair; and Vitruvius, a blind, hippy-dippy sage (a hilariously loose Morgan Freeman). They’re soon joined by Wyldstyle’s bf, Batman (a terrifically self-absorbed Will Arnett), and the cringingly sweet Unikitty (Alison Brie) who presides over the no-rules Cloud Cuckoo Land, along with numerous special guests. Not only do Master Builders Lord & Miller, who crafted the script from a story by Dan Hageman & Kevin Hageman (Hotel Transylvania) manage keep all those careening bricks in the air with crack comic precision, they sneak in an affecting third act reveal that’s absolutely in lockstep with the venerable brand’s creative spirit. STORY: Inside the 'Lego Movie' Premiere It’s also vibrantly captured by those millions of LEGO pieces rendered, brick-by-brick, by Australia’s Animal Logic, whether taking the inherently three-dimensional form of a fiery explosion or, most vividly, a stormy, undulating LEGO sea.
Production companies: Village Roadshow Pictures, LEGO System A/S, Vertigo Entertainment, Lin Pictures Voice cast: Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Alison Brie, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman Directors-screenwriters: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller Executive producers: Jill Wilfert, Matthew Ashton, Kathleen Fleming, Allison Abbate, Zareh Nalbandian, Jon Burton, Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Seanne Winslow, Matt Skiena, Bruce Berman Producers: Dan Lin, Roy Lee Director of photography: Pablo Plaisted Production designer: Grant Freckelton Editors: David Burrows, Chris McKay Rated PG, 100 minutes. MovieBob Reviews: GET OUTMovieBob Reviews: THE GREAT WALL (2017) The LEGO Movie proved that you can make a complex work of satire and a heartfelt ode to the power of imagination and ingenuity out of something that was -literally- a feature length toy commercial slash exercise in brand management. The LEGO Batman Movie sets out to prove that a one-joke supporting character from that same toy commercial can carry their own feature in the same basic vein.
Next up, The LEGO Ninjago Movie will try to prove that trick will work when the comfort zone of nostalgia being appealed to only dates back about 5 or 6 years. If that one works, too, this whole thing might start to get a little scary: we only have this one small planet – there’s a finite amount of territory for LEGO, Marvel, and Star Wars to fight over.Yeah, it worked again. LEGO Batman is an instant near-classic of both the animation and superhero genres. And while I don’t necessarily know if I can go fully along with what I’m sure will be a tidal wave of declarations that this is, in fact, the best Batman movie ever made; it’s without question the best movie to emerge from under the DC Comics umbrella since 2008. The innate gimmick of the LEGO movies is that building everything out of easily-recognizable toys turns the otherwise action-heavy goings-on into both a kid-safe environment and a work of implicit satire: Taking place in a world where literally everything is made out of toys puts such an automatic layer of humorous distance between what’s supposed to be going on and what we’re seeing that a lot of the time there doesn’t even need to be a joke – that they’re doing
this that or the other thing “but with LEGO” is funny enough on its own… which is not to say they didn’t also bring plenty of actual jokes as well. What’s most interesting in that regard is that both the explicit and explicit satire are getting a solid majority of their material from what’s essentially – my apologies, given that this is technically a kids movie – a gigantic “fuck you!” to the last 20 years or so of the broader Batman franchise. Granted, if you saw The LEGO Movie you already know that Will Arnett’s Lego Batman himself was a brutal piss-take dressing-down of the Frank Miller/Christopher Nolan/Zack Snyder “dark and brooding” vision of the character. But the broader storyline on display here ends up taking the form of a feature-length argument that Batman as a lone grim avenger is kind of a dull, played-out narrative and that long-ignored elements like Robin, Batgirl and a sense of humor are more necessary than they’ve been given credit for… and as perhaps the most potent indicator of this conscious attempt to unwind the grim n’ gritty era
, the film’s aesthetic and palette are deliberate throwbacks to Burton/Schumacher movies – in fact, LEGO Batman almost looks more like Batman Forever than Batman Forever did. Impressively, all of this deconstruction comes wrapped around what’s otherwise a fairly straightforward Batman story that frames the standard goings-on in Gotham City as a series of absurdist relationship metaphors: A retiring Lego Commissioner Gordon is succeeded by his daughter Barbara, who wants the police and Batman to work together rather than relying on him as an unaccountable vigilante, which Batman in turn braces at because his ongoing trauma over his parents has led him to eschew any and all personal connections – a policy that he also applies to his crimefighting: When he refuses to acknowledge that he and The Joker share a special bond as hero and villain, the Clown Prince of Crime has a breakdown and schemes to gain access to Lego Superman’s Phantom Zone prison in order to marshal up a more dangerous class of villains with which to attack the city;
ultimately requiring Batman to get over himself and align with eager would-be adopted son Robin, Barbara and Alfred to save the day. As with the original LEGO Movie, it all moves at a fairly rapid pace and piles on the gags, jokes and pop-culture references from start to finish – maybe moving a little too fast for adult audiences but probably the exact right pace for the target audience (it actually feels like it’s skewing a little bit younger than The LEGO Movie actually) and while the humor at the expense of just how obnoxious the various incarnations of Batman being mocked here is pretty merciless it also manages to reconceive Arnett’s routine as a three-dimensional character we end up actually caring about. The various cameos and DC mythology deep cuts are all amusing and well-researched, and even the gags at the expense of well-worn targets like shark-repellant and Robin’s briefs take on an amusing originality. The only thing that doesn’t feel quite as fresh… is most of the actual LEGO stuff.