The Lego Movie (1 Viewer)

[Aaron Silverman]

I've seen some pretty insane warship models that are over 10 feet long.

There are some astonishing models at the Lego Store at Downtown Disney, including this:

One time when we were there, an employee was building a large (several feet long), detailed diorama of the Empire Strikes Back scene where the Millennium Falcon is escaping from the "asteroid." And he was doing it entirely using single small photo of a still frame from the movie!

 

[Edwin-S]

Who would have thought that so much could be done with plastic blocks. As a kid, I felt like I had accomplished something if I tried building a plane and it managed to look anything like one. Was that photo taken in Florida or California? Right about now I wish I was down in either of those two places, rather than where I'm at. I'm so sick of snow and sub-zero temperatures,it isn't even funny. 3 more months of the crap to look forward to.....gaaah!

 

[DaveF]

I'm with you Jason C. But... I think the dichotomy between those who build to the instructions and those who get creative is an interesting thing to examine, and I'm really surprised that they chose to make the instructions followers the bad guys. Ultimately the world needs both, don't you think? Wouldn't it have been a stronger message for them to team up but also admit that there is strength in having the skills to do it both ways? I hate the phrase but the old saying "the world needs ditch diggers too" comes to mind. Having the tenacity to complete long projects that were designed by others is a talent in its own right. Knocking on that seems short sighted to me.

The movie began as a hilariously scathing parody of conforming. And I was getting a little worried it was going to become too much 'be different'. Then it pivoted, when Emmet noted -- because of the Submarine car -- that the builders don't work well together, they're so occupied by being different. It managed to find a middle of being different and unique, while knowing you've got to be a team player, and follow some instructions to reach even greater successes. The only part of the message I dislike is the corporate hypocrisy of getting all the kids to conform to advertising and buy their designed-to-sell song.The ending I liked, conceptually. I loved that it broke into the real world. It's like The Matrix, for kids. This would have blown my mind at age nine. I didn't like that the live action was ... dull. After the hyper-kinetic, brilliantly stylized Lego animation, Will Ferrel looked like he was sleepwalking through a scene filmed by some amateur with a smartphone. But, oh my, the Duplo ending!!!!Also, someone should flag the title that the thread has spoilers.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Edwin, that's in Florida I believe. I'm not sure if there's something similar in Cali.

Bowing out of this thread now to avoid spoilers. . .

 

[Sam Favate]

Those pictures are from Downtown Disney in Orlando. They have a lot more, including a life-size Hulk.

 

[Edwin-S]

The story was ok, but the strength of this movie was the dialog and the cameos by some of the characters, such as

Spoiler

Solo, Chewie and Calrissian. That Star Wars bit was hilarious, especially when Batman was thrown into the mix. Almost all of the stuff with him was great.

Really, I found the parts of the film greater than the whole.

Spoiler

The live action stuff was kind of lackluster after like 80 minutes of colourful, kinetic animation. The live action filming suffered from visual weakness in almost the same way as the live footage used in Osmosis Jones.

 

[Freddie Z]

Ha ha. You may want to place a spoiler tag on that. Anyway, that part took me by surprise and loved it. Why? Cause Everything Is Awesome!

 

[Edwin-S]

Ha ha. You may want to place a spoiler tag on that. Anyway, that part took me by surprise and loved it. Why? Cause Everything Is Awesome!

Which part needs spoiler tags? I probably should have thought of that earlier.

 

[Jason Charlton]

Blooper reel! I didn't stick around for the full credits, but I don't believe this was included. No doubt something that will find its way onto the home video release.

 

[TonyD]

There was no after credit sequence.We just got back, saw with our 12 and 5 year old neice and nephew. They were about impressed by it as we were and that wasn't very much. Thought it was mildly amusing.The Star Wars section was the funniest.I guess I would give the movie 2.5 out of 5 stars.The 3D was weak at our theater.Was actually flat, no 3D at all except for the opening credit.

 

[Chris Farmer]

Took my almost 4-year-old daughter to see it. She enjoyed the visuals but wasn't able to grasp what was actually going on as easily as Frozen a couple months ago. I was blown away. Apart from being genuinely non-stop hilarious the dichotomy between the instruction followers and the creatives was handled well, with neither being vilified outright but both problematic at the extremes (individuality to the point of refusing cooperation resulted in failure, working within rules to the point of rigidity was stifling), but to me the third act tied it all together perfectly. The more simple visuals to me worked quite well because it was alternating with something so frantic. It was at that point a battle of ideas (visually simple) being played out through a war between two sides (visually brilliant chaos). If everything had been that non-stop kinetic the quiet moments wouldn't have been able to breathe. It also served to show what the stakes were, and I admit I found myself squirming a bit uncomfortably, recognizing some of the things I've said (although in my defense I'm less worried about my older daughter playing with Legos as I am losing rather expensive and hard to find pieces, as she's not even 4 yet). I found the emotional resonance pitch-perfect.

 

[Sam Posten]

Well, that escalated quickly:
http://badassdigest.com/2014/02/21/the-lego-movie-sequel-gets-a-release-date/?utm_content=bufferdf63e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

[Jason_V]

I was kind of surprised by the sequel news, but, when I thought about it, it made sense. This movie is white-hot right now and it was released in the February doldrums. Lego does well in pretty much whatever it does (TV specials, video games, DTV movies), so there's no reason to think the public's appetite for Lego is going to diminish.

The thing that freaks me out about this announcement is the 2017 (the release year) is only three years away...

 

[Greg.K]

Loved it. Especially Benny & his spaceships - I played the crap out of those late '70s Lego space sets and built all sorts of spaceships, bases, etc. all. the. time.

 

[Patrick Sun]

The stuff with Batman was funny to me. The film had a bit of charm, didn't take itself all that seriously, and was entertaining for the most part, though the last act as a little iffy at times for me.

I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I'm pretty sure I heard that the sequel was in pre-production the week before this movie was released (but after very positive early reviews were out).

 

[Bob_S.]

Took my 11 year old son to see it. It was ok. Of course loved the Batman and Star Wars parts but thought the movie really dragged at the end. Still can't stand Will Ferrell.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Somewhere between a 2.5 and 3. I took my 4-year-old to see it and he wasn't as into it as FROZEN. I thought it was good but the story was just way too familiar and I must admit that I didn't care too much for the lead as he too was just too familiar. The supporting players were nice and there were a couple funny moments but not enough to fill up the entire running time. The "twist" at the end, if that's what you want to call it, was nice. I was shocked to see that it was just my son and I at a 5:30 showing but oh well.

 

[Mike Ouellet]

The only reason I went and saw this was because of the reviews. People saying it was so good.And I have to admit. Not only did my son and little brother enjoy. I loved it too. Great story.Voice work was awesome. Really funny. Will Arnett did a great job. And Chris Pratt is really turning out to be a star. Especially with Guardians coming out.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

About 5 years ago, Chris Pratt starred in a low-budget movie called Deep in the Valley where he and a buddy are magically transported to a porn-movie world. (It's less raunchy than it sounds. ) It's been a while but IIRC it was a very cute comedy and he stood out as having (regular, not porn!) star potential.