EVERYTHING IS AWESOME WITH THE LEGO MOVIE

Let me preface this review by saying that I never really played with LEGOs when I was a child. I attempted to several times but I just found the whole construction aspect frustrating. However, I do enjoy the numerous LEGO video games which I find to be clever and funny. Now, LEGO has their very own full length theatrical film directed by two of the best up-and-comer directors out there: Phil Lord and Chris Miller (who also wrote the script). Needless to say, The LEGO Movie is in safe hands.

In The LEGO Movie we follow everyday simpleton Emmet (Chris Pratt), a normal LEGO construction builder who dreams of being accepted into his community and having friends. One day, while chasing the beautiful Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks, who sounds as cute as ever here) he falls into a deep pit and stumbles across an ancient relic that could save the entire LEGO World from President/Lord Business (Will Ferrell, who is treated to one of his better roles here) and his evil plans. Emmett teams up with Wyldstyle, the wizard Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), Unikitty (Alison Brie), Benny the Astronaut (Charlie Day), and Batman (Will Arnett) to save the day and then some.

The LEGO Movie has an extensive and impressive list of voice cameos in it. Liam Neeson voices Good Cop/Bad Cop, Colbie Smulders voices Wonder Woman, and Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill team up once again to voice Superman and Green Lantern respectively, who are kind of a duo here and get some great jokes together (talk about perfect casting). Charlie Day gets a good amount of funny material as Benny the Astronaut who is obsessed with building spaceships and is kind of the odd man out, Will Arnett makes for one of the best Batmans and is easily one of the most memorable things about the film (the amount of LOL jokes he gets here is enviable), and Chris Pratt is believable as a simpleton and our hero (in all seriousness though, Pratt was the perfect choice to play Emmett. He is very funny, super energetic, and very memorable).

One of the greatest things about The LEGO Movie (besides it's all star voice cast), is that EVERYTHING IN THIS FILM IS MADE OF LEGOS. Surprisingly, most of the film is made using stop-motion LEGOS, with minimal CGI being used as well. For the most part the environments, characters, numerous dioramas, the ocean, the clouds, lasers, smoke stacks, and even fire and explosions are all made with LEGOS. Simply put, if you love LEGOS, then The LEGO Movie is your wet dream.

Now, a word of warning: If you do see The LEGO Movie you will leave with a certain song stuck in your head on repeat for days on end. This song is called Everything Is Awesome. It's catchy, cute, the lyrics are simple and easy to remember.......quite simply, it's an infectious virus. The song is repeated several times throughout the film (it's basically the theme song for the film), and if you are able to resist it's wily charms then you are a better man than I. The song itself is pretty awesome, and while I hate getting any song stuck in my noggin I've got to admit that this one has kind of grown on me.....I actually love it to be completely honest.

The LEGO Movie has some great themes in it about being special/what it takes to be special/who is special, friendship, teamwork, getting in touch with your inner child, creativity, non-conformity and imagination. It's filled with some pretty great bits of humor and there is a third act twist that had me squee-ing in jaw dropped joy. Seriously though, the twist itself elevates the film up to a higher level for me and it changes the way you look at what came before it.  It's a surprisingly clever film as well (for crying out loud people, the main villain is named Lord Business, and the film plays with the "one hero" trope in a smart and new way, creating a new and positive message in the process), and when you realize what this film is really all about, that's also when you realize just how deep and smart this film is too. I'm going to be honest, I had heard the advanced rave reviews for this film. Despite that, I still didn't have my hopes incredibly high yet The LEGO Movie still charmed me and wow-ed me (how could you NOT LOVE those LEGO characters, their so cute!). The amount of work that went into creating this film and the numerous LEGO effects and environments is staggering. It's only February, but I have a feeling that we could see The LEGO Movie become a contender for next year's Best Animated movie category. The LEGO Movie is a film that both adults and kids can enjoy in equal measure. There should be no surprise when I say that Chris Miller and Phil Lord have done it again.

5 STARS- BETTER THAN SEX