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. PG for mild action and rude humor. Running time: 100 minutes. Four stars out of four. “The Lego Movie”: Merely a great film, or the greatest film ever in the history of cinema? I asked this question — jokingly, rhetorically — during our What the Flick?! review, but the more I think about it, the more in awe I am of the way “The Lego Movie” works on every level for every possible viewer. “Everything Is Awesome” isn’t just an insanely catchy theme song, one that will be stuck in your head for days if not weeks afterward (and may even drive out “Let It Go” from “Frozen,” if you’re lucky).
It’s a statement of fact. It may even be an understatement. That’s not a typo at the top — I really am giving this movie four stars. You know that old cliched response after walking out of a movie or a play: “I laughed, I cried”? This time, it’s really true. I laughed my ass off — and then I cried. A 3-D, animated movie about a bunch of tiny pieces of plastic made me cry. And you guys who have read me for a while know that I’m cold and soulless and not usually susceptible to the power of tearjerkery. But that’s one of the many reasons I loved “The Lego Movie” so much: It kept surprising me. Actually, my husband, Chris, and I ended up liking the movie even better than Nicolas did — and he’s the one who was super-pumped to go see it, inspired by the ubiquity of marketing all around town. (Warner Bros.: You guys sure know how to reach your target audience of 4-year-olds.) It moves so beautifully, it has such irresistible humor and irrepressible energy, but always feels effortless.
It’s jammed with affectionate, cheeky pop-culture references but never seems hacky or strains for the laugh; so many of the jokes fly by at such a giddily frenzied clip, you’ll probably have to go see the movie a second time just to catch them all. And you probably won’t mind doing that; “The Lego Movie” is the rare film based on a toy or a game that truly feels like its own unique universe rather than a shameless, extended infomercial. Did we mention the voice cast? We haven’t even gotten to the exceptional voice cast yet. So often with animated movies, the A-list stunt casting serves as a distraction and takes you out of the narrative. Here, it provides one of the many opportunities for directors and co-writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller to take established genre conventions and turn them on their heads, similar to their inspired version of “21 Jump Street.” Morgan Freeman, for example, plays a blind mystic whose prophecy sends an ordinary guy on an extraordinary hero’s journey.
But in doing so, he knowingly pokes fun at his propensity for playing God-like figures, his rich voice providing both gravitas and goofy laughs. The increasingly endearing Chris Pratt provides the voice of Emmet, a regular construction-worker drone who always follows the rules and does what’s expected of him in his incessantly perky, if regimented, Lego town. Much of the humor comes from the way in which the characters’ world mirrors ours, with its overpriced coffee, crowded commutes, idiotic sitcoms and overplayed radio tunes. Everything is awesome, as the song goes, but every day is exactly the same. But one day, Emmet stumbles upon a random piece of red plastic that’s unlike the rest of the interlocking bricks that surround him. It is the Piece of Resistance, a crucial component of the prophecy that Freeman’s character, Vitruvius, told of at the beginning. And in finding it, Emmet becomes known as The Special — the one who will save the Lego universe from ultimate destruction.
He gets help from a ragtag band of strangers including a bad-ass Goth chick who goes by the name Wyldstyle (an adorable Elizabeth Banks); Batman (Will Arnett, doing a Batman version of his pompous “Arrested Development” character, Gob); a makeshift pirate captain called Metal Beard (Nick Offerman); and the unflappably happy Unikitty (Alison Brie) which is — you guessed it — half unicorn and half kitty. They must outsmart and outrun the evil President Business, better known as Lord Business, who wants the piece for himself to maintain order and separation between all the Lego realms. So yeah, he’s kind of a fascist tyrant. But in the hands of Will Ferrell, he’s also hilariously self-serious. President Business’ right-hand man is the two-faced Good Cop/Bad Cop (Liam Neeson), who dons whichever persona he must to get the job done and keep everyone in line. “The Lego Movie” message of thinking for yourself and trying new things may sound a lot like theme of “The Croods” last year, but it presents this notion in a much more lively and clever manner.