A few days ago, I wondered on Twitter whether it was normal for me as an adult to be looking forward to The LEGO Movie. I needn’t have worried.
It’s not that LEGO isn’t on some level a children’s movie, because it is. But that’s on the surface. Just underneath is a sly, satirical and at times almost subversive story about creativity, living outside the lines and remembering to keep your inner child alive.
The vehicle for all that is the story of an ordinary LEGO figure who stumbles upon an item that can stop the world’s megalomaniacal president from destroying the world as the LEGOs know it. This leads a group of master builders to think that this nondescript character is the Special, a prophesied figure that can foil the possible use of the dreaded weapon (Krazy glue).
Going much further than that will ruin the story, though the well-conceived story is almost secondary here. Instead, the movie takes some good-natured shots at pop culture, our society and one of the weird criticisms of LEGOs (that the instructions can stifle childhood creativity). It’s a funny, utterly enjoyable movie that reflects our world as perhaps only a children’s movie can.
