{"id":29512,"date":"2014-02-10T15:54:11","date_gmt":"2014-02-10T20:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=29512"},"modified":"2014-02-10T15:54:11","modified_gmt":"2014-02-10T20:54:11","slug":"the-lego-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2014\/02\/the-lego-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Lego Movie\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bob Garver<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/center>If I could sum up the appeal of \u201cThe Lego Movie\u201d in one word, that word would be \u201cdetail.\u201d There are so many intricacies and hidden treasures stuffed into every second of this film that it\u2019s easy to forget the delightful movie that\u2019s right in front of your face. It\u2019s perfectly fine to enjoy the film at face value, but this film is going to earn itself a fan base that enjoys it for much more than that. These fans are going to watch the film frame by frame, catching all the subtle jokes, hidden messages, complex designs and extensive cameos. In an animated film based on a line of toy bricks and other bric-a-brac, I suppose it\u2019s appropriate to say that not a brick is wasted.<\/p>\n

The plot is pretty standard for a kids\u2019 movie. An everyman named Emmet (Chris Pratt) discovers that he fulfills an ancient prophecy and somehow he\u2019s so special that only he can save the world. Nobody believes this, especially himself. But his positivity and resilience pay off and it turns out that he does have something to offer. Other characters include a love interest (Elizabeth Banks) and a mentor (Morgan Freeman). And of course there is a villain, the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell), who wants to control the Lego universe with a weapon called the Kragle. It\u2019s a bit of a plot hole that Lord Business\u2019s plan to use the Kragle to drench everybody is not going to have its intended effect; he needs to use it with more finesse if he\u2019s serious about succeeding.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure what to make of the animation. On one hand, it\u2019s incredibly awkward, especially when it comes to the characters\u2019 movements. Lego characters just aren\u2019t built for mobility. But then again the movie needs to be given credit for doing absolutely everything it can with the clumsy physiques. This is a movie whose look has to play by an odd set of rules, but it\u2019s a better movie for sticking to them. The scenery, of course, is all excellent Lego designs.<\/p>\n

A lot has been made of the film containing characters from multiple franchises and properties. The good news is that you get to see Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Gandalf, Dumbledore, William Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, Shaquille O\u2019Neal and plenty of others (there are some big surprises) in the same movie. The bad news is that there\u2019s disappointingly little interaction between them. If you\u2019re expecting this to be an unofficial \u201cJustice League\u201d movie, you will not be happy.<\/p>\n

The humor is chaotic and constant. Perhaps it skews a bit too young at times, but there are plenty of jokes for all ages. My favorite gags are just the details of Emmett\u2019s everyday life, as little by little we become accustomed to his silly world. I also liked the voice work of Liam Neeson as a henchman with a split personality who\u2019s always arguing with himself. There are a ton of other funny moments, these are just the first that came to mind.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to give away too much about the last act of the movie, but there\u2019s no way I can\u2019t mention it at all. You can probably guess what it involves based on some fuzzy mythology mentioned early in the film, but I had no idea it would play out the way it does. The sequence contains one of the saddest scenes I\u2019ve ever seen in a movie, kids\u2019 or otherwise. \u201cThe Lego Movie\u201d doesn\u2019t seem like a film that would make such an emotional impact, but believe me, it does.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lego Movie\u201d is going to become a classic. It\u2019s being seen by a lot of people right out of the gate, it will be seen by a lot more people through its reputation, and it will be seen many more times on repeat viewings. This generation has found its \u201cToy Story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three and a Half Stars out of Five.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lego Movie\u201d is playing at Hershey Cocoaplex. The film is rated PG for mild action and rude humor. Its running time is 100 minutes.<\/p>\n

Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bob Garver If I could sum up the appeal of \u201cThe Lego Movie\u201d in one word, that word would be \u201cdetail.\u201d There are so many intricacies and hidden treasures… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}