The Lego Movie – a review

I wasn’t expecting Captain Phillips, but I think The Lego Movie could’ve been so much better. I saw the coming attractions over a year ago and remember thinking, by the time the movie comes out, my boys will be the perfect age for it. Yay! Something to do with them in the middle of the winter.

It turns out the preview was more entertaining than the movie. Not that it mattered much. It still gave us two hours of indoor entertainment in an especially cold and dreary February and I am sure, when it comes out On Demand, we’ll be clicking, “Rent Now”.  In my next life, I’m going to write screenplays for children’s movies, because even when they are mediocre, they make money.

The moral of the story is a good one. Unstructured, imaginative play is awesome. Rules and parental involvement ruin childhood. But, two things could have made the film much better for me.

1- The actual lego building needed to happen a little slower. Kids of all ages would’ve appreciated seeing how all those cool gadgets were assembled. (I know they weren’t real legos, but still, it would’ve been fun to watch the construction and it would’ve sparked creative play.)

2- The real people, Will Ferrell and his on-screen son, should have made an earlier appearance. Seeing Emmet and Wild Style save the world would’ve been much more interesting after being introduced to the “man upstairs” and his neurotic father.

The very end of the movie mentions a sister, leading us to believe there may be a sequel. With five kids and a constant craving for buttered popcorn, that’s another $70 down the cinema drain.