The Lego Movie (Nederlands: De Lego Film) is een Amerikaans komische 3D-film uit 2014 van Phil Lord en Christopher Miller met in de originele versie de stemmen van onder meer Chris Pratt en Elizabeth Banks. In de Nederlandstalige versie zijn de stemmen van onder meer Kees Tol en Georgina Verbaan te horen. De film bestaat grotendeels uit met de computer geanimeerde beelden van LEGO-gebaseerde personages en omgevingen, maar bevat ook een klein gedeelte live-action. In de film zijn in totaal 15.080.330 (virtuele) legoblokjes gebruikt. Leeswaarschuwing: Onderstaande tekst bevat details over de inhoud en/of de afloop van het verhaal. Aan het begin van de film slaagt tovenaar Vitruvius (stem Morgan Freeman) er niet in om een "Kragle" geheten superwapen uit handen te houden van de gemene Lord Business (Will Ferrell), maar hij uit de voorspelling dat een persoon aangeduid als "Special" het "Piece of Resistance" zal vinden waarmee de Kragle gestopt kan worden. Jaren later vindt de doodgewone bouwvakker Emmet (Chris Pratt) dit Piece, maar hij wordt gevangengenomen door Business' handlanger Bad Cop (Liam Neeson).
Ene Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) redt hem en vertelt dat ze beide Master Builders zijn, die alles kunnen bouwen wat ze kunnen bedenken, zonder handleiding, terwijl Business alle creativiteit juist de kop in wil drukken. Samen met andere Master Builders binden ze de strijd aan tegen Business. Later blijkt dat het hele verhaal zich afspeelt in de fantasie van een met Lego spelend jongetje, Finn, wiens vader (ook Will Ferrell) vindt dat de creaties van zijn zoon te wanordelijk zijn, dat wil zeggen niet volgens de handleiding.The Lego Movie (2014) Christopher Miller and Phil Lord Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks and Will Ferrell An ordinary Lego mini-figure, mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary MasterBuilder, is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil Lego tyrant from gluing the universe together.There are so many things to like about “The Lego Movie”: a great voice cast, clever dialogue and a handsome blend of stop-motion and CGI animation that feels lovingly retro, while still looking sharp in 21st-century 3-D.
But the best thing about this movie, which was produced in full partnership with the Danish toymaker famous for its plastic-brick building system, is its subversive nature. While clearly filled with affection for — and marketing tie-ins to — the titular product that’s front and center, it’s also something of a sharp plastic brick flung in the eye of its corporate sponsor. Once celebrated for fostering creativity through simple yet versatile sets that could be combined into a wide variety of structures — a barn, a boat, a plane — the 80-year old Lego company is probably best known today as a purveyor of narrowly proscribed model kits with hundreds of highly specialized pieces designed to replicate, in meticulous detail, say, the A-wing starfighter from “Star Wars,” and nothing else. The most essential item of the modern Lego set has become, unfortunately, the instruction booklet. Thankfully, and somewhat surprisingly, “The Lego Movie” takes dead aim at this disturbing trend, undermining, with delightful results, the hegemony of a creative toy that comes with its own set of inflexible rules.
“The Lego Movie” is an homage to the spirit of the iconoclast (i.e., the child). Its hero, ironically, is anything but a rule-breaker. Set in a world built entirely of Legos, the story revolves around construction worker Emmet Brickowski (voice of Chris Pratt), a tiny plastic Everyman who loves nothing better than following instructions. But when his Lego universe is threatened by an evil villain (Will Ferrell) who intends to glue all the world’s pieces — and its people — together, Emmet must join forces with a group of rebels to stop him. (In a nod to the term Lego uses to designate its in-house designers, these creative free spirits are known as “master builders.”) Guided by a leader who’s part Gandalf and part Morpheus (Morgan Freeman), this underground resistance movement consists of a fittingly motley crew: a punk-ish loner named Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks); her egotistical boyfriend, Batman (Will Arnett); a well-worn Lego spaceman figure from the mid-1980s (Charlie Day);
and a robot-pirate hybrid named Metal Beard (Nick Offerman). The rest of the freedom fighters are a cheeky mix of Lego-sized historical personages (Abraham Lincoln, Shakespeare and Shaquille O’Neal) and co-branded comic book heroes (Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman and others). Keep an ear out for cameos by such stars as Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum and Billy Dee Williams, good-naturedly reprising his role as Lando Calrissian from the “Star Wars” trilogy. It’s hard not to have fun when the film (written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller) is having such a good time with pop culture. The chief party animal, of course, is Ferrell. Overplaying his character, Lord Business, like a distant cousin of his dim-witted “Megamind” villain, the actor once again gets tons of comic mileage out of his patented silly grandiloquence. (“Nail polish remover” — a deadly weapon if you’re a plastic toy and your face has been painted on — becomes, in Ferrell’s threatening delivery, the “poe-leash remover of nah-eel.”)
“The Lego Movie” pokes fun at anyone who would argue that Lego products are, as one character puts it, “a highly sophisticated, interlocking brick system,” and not simply toys. But it also makes fun of itself, tweaking the conventions of narrative filmmaking, animation and Lego model-making itself. It’s a constant pleasure to discover how the animators have figured out how to render such un-bricklike substances as water, soap bubbles, the steam from a locomotive or flames. The moral of this story is a sweet and uncomplicated one: Believe in yourself; there’s a time to follow the rules and a time to break them. Sure, those sentiments are cloying. In fact, they sound like something you’d see on one of those stupid, inspirational cat posters, don’t they? As it turns out, that’s exactly how a character in this adorably acerbic little movie describes them. ★ ★ ★ ½ PG. Contains mild action and some rude, nose-thumbing humor. Snap to it, or block it? A parents' guide to 'The Lego Movie'
Every kid with a toy box, every parent who’s ever winced from landing a bare foot on a two-by-two red block, every grandparent who’s bought a minifig for a birthday knows that “The Lego Movie” opens Friday. But is it right for everyone? We snap together some of your likely questions. (Warning: Many spoilers ahead.) The prosCritical reviews have been almost universally positive, with Time magazine calling it "the funniest, cleverest, most exhaustingly exhilarating animated feature in ages." There's plenty of pop-culture references to keep the adults amused and the movie's world is nicely representative of your typical kid's Lego collection. Milhouse from "The Simpsons" mingles with Superman, Lady Liberty, "1980 something space guy," a mermaid, a panda and other Lego figs, and other household items such as Krazy Glue and used Band-Aids ("the cloak of Ban-Dai-Ed") play roles. The consEmphasis on "exhaustive." It’s like it was written by a Lego-loving kid hopped up on Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs who was inspired by one of the “Batman” movies — the action is frenetic and hyper.
All kids who play with Legos may want to see it, but it's not right for the younger tykes. And the 3-D is unnecessary. Is it right for kids of all ages?We're going to say no. While it’s rated PG for “mild action and rude humor,” there are a lot of hyperactive battle scenes, car chases and explosions. The Batmobile is shot until it blows up, as is Wonder Woman’s invisible jet (but that’s pretty funny, since … it’s invisible). And there are intense scenes — scary skeleton-faced robots attack, a characters’ parents are threatened, our heroes are strapped into chairs and “tortured” with green light flashes. A kid behind us wailed when a submarine exploded, another couldn't stop asking her parents about a character who was beheaded with a penny. Parents need to evaluate their own child's comfort level. Nine-year-olds will be in happy hyperfrenetic heaven, preschoolers should stick to "Frozen." Do I need to pony up for 3-D?Emmet and some of the other characters are flung into the audience due to various explosions, and red Lego blocks often rain out at the audience.
But the third dimension doesn't suck the audience onscreen into its crazy cartoonish world. If you've got the money and want to get the full "Lego Movie" experience, the 3-D isn't a bad addition. But if your local theater's only showing it in 2-D or you want to save a few bucks, don't let your kids guilt you into feeling bad about it. How are the voices?Chris Pratt's enthusiastic voice as unlikely hero Emmet is in almost every minute of the movie, and he's likable and funny. Kudos also to Morgan Freeman in a perfect Morgan Freeman role as the wizard Vitruvius and Will Arnett as a growly, frattish Batman. You'll have fun recognizing the other voices too, especially Jonah Hill, whose Green Lantern could've used a much bigger role, Elizabeth Banks as a fighter not unlike Trinity from "The Matrix," and Will Ferrell as the nasty villain. Best lines“His face is so generic, it matches every other face in our database.”“We need more ideas so dumb and bad no one will ever think they could possibly be useful.”“