Chris Reviews The Lego Movie

There are always those movies that come out and catch you completely by surprise. I remember hearing about this film last year and I just rolled by eyes and thought it was going to be another corporation trying to make a movie that promotes their toys. Then a few days ago the reviews started to come in and they were glowing and helped convince me to give the film a chance. Was it a beginning of the year surprise or just another corporate cash grab? Obviously you should read below to find out......

The Good-

This is a surprisingly good animated film! The story is pretty damn good as far as kids movies go and there is enough social commentary  to make it more than just mindless entertainment. It really tries to push across the idea that everybody is creative and useful in their own way and that even when other people may seem weird we shouldn't criticize them. At least that's the message that I got out of the film. There is a lot of other messages that you can pull out of it as well and there are quite a few adult jokes to keep the parents entertained. In fact there were times that this felt more like a movie for adults than kids as some of the themes were pretty mature. I also really enjoyed the voice acting by Chris Pratt, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Charlie Day, Elizabeth Banks and Will Arnett not to mention the numerous cameos. Not only was the story and voice acting pretty good but the visuals were excellent as well. The animation was slick and there were some pretty engaging action sequences.

The Bad-

This is still a movie about Legos and I could feel myself being urged to buy some, so don't think that this movie was not a cash grab because it is. I also felt like the film got a bit preachy at times and handled some of the themes clumsily but that's about the only problems I have with this film. 

Summary-

It's always nice to have a movie that you thought was going to be terrible be surprisingly good. If you enjoy animated movies and are looking for something that is well written, funny and has a message than you definitely should check this out. The Lego Movie is well worth a watch for people of all ages!

MY RATING-

4 out of 5

-Chris "Da Franchize" Hart