Dustin: 4.5 of 5 stars Nick: 3.5 of 5 stars Average: 4 of 5 stars (Live canary)
Dustin: The Lego Movie is a 100-minute Lego commercial starring Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett and Liam Neeson. It’s set in a George Orwellian dystopia where everything is “awesome” and everyone follows the “instructions,” blissfully unaware that the evil President Business (Ferrell) plans to super glue them permanently in their perfect state.
Dustin: What’s your take on The Lego Movie, Nick?
Nick: Since the film is made of Legos it allows itself a unique world where characters from Michelangelo (the artist) to Michelangelo (the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle) try and help a nobody defeat the ruler, also a non-famous Lego. The idea feels like Shrek mixed with Phil Lord’s and Christopher Miller’s eccentric animated piece Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. While the jokes are fast and witty, it gets a little tiring until the plot starts to progress in the last third.
Dustin: I loved almost everything about this movie. Readers of Joseph Campbell will immediately recognize Emmett (Pratt) as the “Hero with a Thousand Faces.” The story follows Campbell’s outline of the Hero’s Journey so perfectly it can’t be a coincidence. You have the archetypical everyman (Emmett), the call to adventure (finding the Piece of Resistance), the denial to the call (doubting he is the Special prophecy foretold), the literal crossing of the threshold, assembling the team, the vortex into the center of the universe, a (figurative) into the belly of the whale sequence, death and rebirth, an ogre father who needs to be reconciled with. This was literally an epic adventure.
Nick: Something I loved, but was also the reason for my annoyance, was how all these things that you mentioned are mocked by the characters in the film. This continually happens until the last third. It’s hard to take something and enjoy it when it is constantly mocked.
Dustin: I appreciated the humor in the movie. I think by the end my face was hurting from me smiling throughout. I don’t mind that the whole Hero’s Journey unfolded somewhat sarcastically. In fact, I think that’s what made me like it even more. They were fully aware of what they were doing and had fun with it.
Nick: Agreed, it just did too much with being fully aware and not much outside of it. The film is cast expertly with some of the most lively character voicing ever. Morgan Freeman as Vitruvius (Oracle) is tongue-in-cheek itself, but Unikitty, voiced by Allison Brie, was a personal favorite for me.
Dustin: Morgan Freeman was perfectly cast as the Oracle, another Campbell-esque mentor figure, satirizing the roles he’s played in other movies, such as the Dark Knight series.
So why didn’t the movie work for you until the final act?
Nick: In the final act the movie starts to push away from it being fully self-aware and starts to at least try and garner some heart. I don’t really want to speak of the surprise, but the idea behind the father and son bonding moment was done well. Though it did end with an unrealistic turn around by the father and an out-of-place notion (Legos aren’t for adults, but for kids).
Dustin: There are two types of Lego consumers, which this movie is fully aware of: the adult hobbyists who typically follow the instructions and sometimes glue the pieces together and the kids who have more freeform play. The movie nods at both, but seems to be advocating for the latter, which I also found a bit out-of-place. Why would Legos include instructions if they didn’t intend for them to be followed?
Nick: I actually think adult enthusiasts are the more freeform and kids follow the instructions. As a kid I know I always did and had a damn fun time doing it as well, but now you have competitions where adults try and build the most amazing thing out of Legos where they have no instructions. Though I can believe there are adults who still buy Legos and glue all the pieces together, I’m just happy to say none are my friends!
Dustin: I enjoyed the whole film. But, like you, I thought the final act is what elevated it above what came before. If the final act had been like the previous two, I would have walked away satisfied, but probably would have forgotten it in a week or two. But the final act, which all I’ll say about it that it’s live-action, is part of what made this film great. I actually enjoyed the father’s character arc and didn’t think it was unrealistic, knowing how even an uptight hobbyist who's OCD about his Legos would enjoy playing with his child more than spending all his time on an introverted hobby.
Nick: When I say unrealistic I’m going for how the father and son have probably had this exact same conversation before and how the father does a pretty quick turn around within probably 30 minutes, though he’s been telling his preadolescent son all these years to not touch his stuff. While I can let it go and enjoy the film I was just pointing out the unlikeliness of the action.
Dustin: The Lego Movie is, in my opinion, the best animated family film since Toy Story (is it a coincidence these movies are both about toys?). If I had to fault the movie with anything, it’s that the animation is sometimes too busy. I had trouble following the action at times because there was so much going on at once and too fast to keep up.
Children will enjoy the bright colors and adventure, but there are plenty of in-jokes and themes for parents to enjoy as well. I recommend this to all audiences.
Dustin: What’s your take on The Lego Movie, Nick?
Nick: Since the film is made of Legos it allows itself a unique world where characters from Michelangelo (the artist) to Michelangelo (the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle) try and help a nobody defeat the ruler, also a non-famous Lego. The idea feels like Shrek mixed with Phil Lord’s and Christopher Miller’s eccentric animated piece Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. While the jokes are fast and witty, it gets a little tiring until the plot starts to progress in the last third.
Dustin: I loved almost everything about this movie. Readers of Joseph Campbell will immediately recognize Emmett (Pratt) as the “Hero with a Thousand Faces.” The story follows Campbell’s outline of the Hero’s Journey so perfectly it can’t be a coincidence. You have the archetypical everyman (Emmett), the call to adventure (finding the Piece of Resistance), the denial to the call (doubting he is the Special prophecy foretold), the literal crossing of the threshold, assembling the team, the vortex into the center of the universe, a (figurative) into the belly of the whale sequence, death and rebirth, an ogre father who needs to be reconciled with. This was literally an epic adventure.
Nick: Something I loved, but was also the reason for my annoyance, was how all these things that you mentioned are mocked by the characters in the film. This continually happens until the last third. It’s hard to take something and enjoy it when it is constantly mocked.
Dustin: I appreciated the humor in the movie. I think by the end my face was hurting from me smiling throughout. I don’t mind that the whole Hero’s Journey unfolded somewhat sarcastically. In fact, I think that’s what made me like it even more. They were fully aware of what they were doing and had fun with it.
Nick: Agreed, it just did too much with being fully aware and not much outside of it. The film is cast expertly with some of the most lively character voicing ever. Morgan Freeman as Vitruvius (Oracle) is tongue-in-cheek itself, but Unikitty, voiced by Allison Brie, was a personal favorite for me.
Dustin: Morgan Freeman was perfectly cast as the Oracle, another Campbell-esque mentor figure, satirizing the roles he’s played in other movies, such as the Dark Knight series.
So why didn’t the movie work for you until the final act?
Nick: In the final act the movie starts to push away from it being fully self-aware and starts to at least try and garner some heart. I don’t really want to speak of the surprise, but the idea behind the father and son bonding moment was done well. Though it did end with an unrealistic turn around by the father and an out-of-place notion (Legos aren’t for adults, but for kids).
Dustin: There are two types of Lego consumers, which this movie is fully aware of: the adult hobbyists who typically follow the instructions and sometimes glue the pieces together and the kids who have more freeform play. The movie nods at both, but seems to be advocating for the latter, which I also found a bit out-of-place. Why would Legos include instructions if they didn’t intend for them to be followed?
Nick: I actually think adult enthusiasts are the more freeform and kids follow the instructions. As a kid I know I always did and had a damn fun time doing it as well, but now you have competitions where adults try and build the most amazing thing out of Legos where they have no instructions. Though I can believe there are adults who still buy Legos and glue all the pieces together, I’m just happy to say none are my friends!
Dustin: I enjoyed the whole film. But, like you, I thought the final act is what elevated it above what came before. If the final act had been like the previous two, I would have walked away satisfied, but probably would have forgotten it in a week or two. But the final act, which all I’ll say about it that it’s live-action, is part of what made this film great. I actually enjoyed the father’s character arc and didn’t think it was unrealistic, knowing how even an uptight hobbyist who's OCD about his Legos would enjoy playing with his child more than spending all his time on an introverted hobby.
Nick: When I say unrealistic I’m going for how the father and son have probably had this exact same conversation before and how the father does a pretty quick turn around within probably 30 minutes, though he’s been telling his preadolescent son all these years to not touch his stuff. While I can let it go and enjoy the film I was just pointing out the unlikeliness of the action.
Dustin: The Lego Movie is, in my opinion, the best animated family film since Toy Story (is it a coincidence these movies are both about toys?). If I had to fault the movie with anything, it’s that the animation is sometimes too busy. I had trouble following the action at times because there was so much going on at once and too fast to keep up.
Children will enjoy the bright colors and adventure, but there are plenty of in-jokes and themes for parents to enjoy as well. I recommend this to all audiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment