'The Lego Movie' review by Captain Raptor

'The Lego Movie' review by Captain Raptor

A lot of people object to the idea of subjecting children's entertainment to any serious or in-depth criticism. I completely understand that products made specifically for children might not be made with artistic merit in mind, but there's still huge range within the medium; Toy Story is not exactly on equal footing with Mike Myers' Cat in the Hat. If anything, it's more important that we scrutinize children's movies than ones that are labelled as 'proper' films - children are more impressionable and the message of a film might have some lasting impact (I still routinely ask myself 'What Would Rafiki Do?').

Conveniently, The Lego Movie is pretty damn good regardless of which standards you judge it by. Despite the concept sounding like a feature-length corporate advertisement that you paid to see, it's got more warmth and imagination than almost anything else on the market. It uses a semi-parodic, semi-heartfelt version of the Hero's Journey story archetype, and with this familiar territory as anchorage, what follows is some beautiful form of delirium. The visuals are charming, and having everything made of Lego gives the film unique opportunities for humour, which is just as well because the visuals are basically the film's sole reason for existence. 21 Jump Street scribes Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (See! Grown-up movie people!) are on both writing and directing duty, and fittingly treat the movie like their own personal sandbox. They did an excellent job, with a well-chosen cast voicing a host of preposterous characters, giving the audience such treats as Charlie Day's astronaut, Morgan Freeman's blinded prophet and Alison Brie's unicorn-cat hybrid. If those concepts don't excite you, I feel embarrassed for you. They're all good for a chuckle or two, as are all the visual jokes, but the only truly hilarious part of the film is, surprisingly, Liam Neeson as a two-faced cop, showing senses of comic timing and voice artistry that I never would of thought he possessed. 

The film's mildly funny throughout, so while there's never a dull moment, there aren't many outstanding moments either. The sheer madness and inventiveness of the film makes up for this though; from the soundtrack (Tegan and Sara featuring The Lonely Island? That deserves an Oscar nomination more than bloody U2), to the setpieces - the infinite possibilities of Lego are taken full advantage of, so at some point a robot pirate will punch a monolithic squid-droid, and it doesn't seem in the least bit weird. This makes it all the more disappointing that the majority of the film's conclusion takes place in the real world; the entire film is revealed to be the imaginative playtime of a child. As well as sucking all the whimsy out of the film, it's also just a drab and boring conclusion - I can't imagine anyone in the audience as being as captivated by this sickly father-son bonding as by, y'know, cowboys and dragons and explosions. It's an awkward and dull scene that was inelegantly handled, and it felt crowbarred in so that some sort of sane conclusion could be drawn, but it was the lunacy that was the appealing part of the film.

The Lego movie is pure entertainment. It's hyperactive nonsense of the highest order, and fun from start to finish. A lot of talented people worked on this, and it's wholly evident. Yes it's dumb, and incoherent, and childish, but so are Evil Dead II, Airplane! and Life of Brian, and we're allowed to take them seriously as films. The last 15 minutes misfire on every cylinder, and some of the jokes don't stick, but it's got heart and originality, something that a lot of people complain mainstream films today are lacking. Regardless of age, I urge you to go and see this. It's fun. It's really, really fun. Who cares if you're "too old?".