By Meg Hodson
It's refreshing when a movie both celebrates itself and pokes fun at itself a little, too. This is exactly what the new film, The Lego Movie, does. My husband and I attended with our three young children on the night of it's premiere. We even braved a snowstorm to attend opening night!
As the movie begins, we learn about the somewhat simple life of Emmet, a construction worker. As we witness his daily routine of getting up and going to work, we are treated to many familiar Lego traits: an elaborate "city" in which he lives, Legos being broken down and put back together again, a construction site dumping piles of random Legos here and there (sounds like my boys' room!). He is unknowingly pushed into the role of "the special", entrusted to carry out a prophecy that was stolen by the evil president.
Such a story line might be somewhat difficult for the younger set to follow. While my 5 year old probably did not keep track of every detail of the story line, he enjoyed the movie on many other levels, too. My 8 and 10 year old were giggling throughout the movie. Why? Again, there was a nice mix between the story line and the "culture" of Legos. One minifig had his face erased and later in the movie, drew it back on. There was an emphasis on being a "builder" and that masterpieces can be made from random pieces (again, I have tubs and tubs in my house of random Legos!) There was also a cute, humorous, and touching sequence in the end, paralleling Emmet stuck in real life (with a visit to Will Ferrell).
For me, the highlight came from Batman, voiced by Will Arnett. Capturing the dark, slightly raspy voice of Batman, he jumps around the movie with his Batman toys and a few vehicles. He's the boyfriend of Lucy, the main female minifig in the movie, hence the title of this post. Kids will love the Batman toys and tricks; parents will love the subtle adult humor.
Throw in some good one liners and guest appearances from Chewbacca and Han Solo, a pirate, Superman, Wonder Woman, and various other character minifigs, and you've got one entertaining movie. The PG rating comes from some very mild violence and a few references to death. For me, it is about as family friendly as it gets.
