I could easily be glib and quote the perfectly self-referential song in The Lego Movie and call it a day. "Everything is awesome." I could, but I won't.
Emmet Brickowoski is a perfectly average Lego living a perfectly average life in a perfectly average Lego city. Something in his daily routine gives him pause--an announcement about destroying all life during the most popular sitcom in the city--but Emmet continues to follow the rule book for a perfectly average day. That is until he runs into Wildfyre, a Lego revolutionary, and accidentally discovers the one artifact that will save the world Emmet doesn't even realize is in trouble.
The Lego Movie thrives on the fact that it's the Lego movie. All of the jokes derive from references to Lego or officially licensed Lego kits. The very nature of Legos being the toy that anyone can build anything with is the lynchpin of the plot. Emmet's perfectly average job is destroying Lego buildings that weren't built to the exact specifications of the instruction manual and then rebuilding them to code. The limitations are exploited at every turn (those little Lego people have no range of motion but are constantly thrown in high stakes action sequences) and the film even mocks the multi-digit part identification numbers for the advanced kits (like 22065 for the corner of a rocket ship).
The pop culture references do a lot of heavy lifting, too. Emmet and Wyldfire team up with a Wizard in the Gandalf/Dumbledore mode (who is friends with Gandalf and Dumbledore) and even Batman himself on their quest to save the Lego universe. Superman and The Green Lantern have a running gag about their friendship and even Shaquille O'Neal, William Shakespeare, and Milhouse show up for quick sight gags. A lot of these jokes might lose a younger audience (the children at my screening were silent until Batman showed up, the first figure they really recognized), but they are far more clever than this grab all the licensed Legos pastiche should be.
The quality of animation is great. The forced limitations of the building blocks require a lot of innovative solutions to bring action to the screen. When Emmet takes a shower, small square white and blue blocks drop from the officially licensed shower head attachment for Lego kits. Waves of ocean are created with individually placed blue, green, and white Legos of varying heights and the interchangeable Lego heads are used for character shifts and emotional outbursts. The film is digitally animated within the confines of the actual Lego bricks and the result is impressive.
Then there's the voice acting. For once, an all star cast is worth the price of admission. Everyone from Morgan Freeman to Liam Neeson earns their paycheck with fearless comedy performances. The standouts are Elizabeth Banks as Wyldfire and Chris Pratt as Emmet. They don't have the clear character gags (like Unikitty, a unicorn/kitty hybrid) or pop culture reference to draw from and carry the film. Even Will Ferrel, also playing an original character, gets familiar supervillain notes to riff on (and does them very well). Banks and Pratt voice the debut characters who steal the show with no obvious references to draw from.
The Lego Movie's greatest strength is a strong message about independence and the value of each life. Everyone is special, the same way everything is awesome, and no one can take that away from you. Imagine that: a film comprised entirely of characters pulled out of a big toy manufacturer's box is actually a narrative designed to boost independence and self-esteem. The Lego Movie is fun and inspiring without ever preaching or talking down to the audience.
Have you seen The Lego Movie? What did you think? Share your thoughts below. And listen to "Everything Is Awesome." I will be shocked if it's not already a lock for an Original Song nomination at the Oscars.