20/31: The Lego Movie
Photo: Warner Bros.
Love.
It gets a little squishy at the end there, a little message-y; I don’t care. It’s like a wonderful mash-up of all the other animated properties I love — Iron Giant, Clone High (obviously), Samurai Jack, Monsters Inc. — and Chris Pratt is one of the great frightened yellers of film, as it turns out. All the teeny little sight gags, too, like the percent sign written on the side of Unikitty when she’s in disguise in the boardroom, Shakespeare doing the worm at the end, that every time there’s a big crash a couple of little Lego roasted chickens get scattered into the frame…it’s just fun. I giggled almost nonstop. And it’s having fun, The Lego Movie, and it cares about the details. If it hadn’t had someone explain why a double-decker couch is problematic, I would have continued feeling annoyed that, in real life, everyone would think a bunk-couch is rad, because duh; if it hadn’t produced a Duplo reference, that would have bugged me. It knows who’s watching, and it put a shit-ton of cats and hens in there but didn’t go overboard (as it were) with the pirate humor.
A couple of my friends thought I would hate this. I have no idea how to hate a movie that contains the line “I’m here to see…your butt,” uttered by Batman. I’m pretty excited that “Everything Is Awesome” got an Oscar nod (the folky version over the credits: hee), but look no further for proof that the Academy Awards really don’t get it sometimes than the disappointingly self-serious How To Train Your Dragon 2 taking TLM‘s spot.
…”Marry a marshmallow!” Happiest surprise of #31films to date.
Tags: 31 Days 31 Films Chris Pratt Clone High How To Train Your Dragon 2 Iron Giant Monsters Inc. movies Samurai Jack The Lego Movie The Oscars
When my daughters announced that they wanted to be Lego Movie characters for Halloween instead of Anna and Elsa, there was no happier mom on the block. My two year old was the only Lucy (or “Woocy,” if you’re two) I saw the whole night. I love this movie so much. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THE SAME BIT?!”
Hey, that’s my jam!
“First rule of the sea…”
I have no idea how this movie didn’t get an Oscar nomination. Not a freaking clue.
Early on, when I realized that the directors are the same guys who did Clone High, I knew I’d be all in.
I was not disappointed.
SERIOUSLY! When my little family of me, hubs and ten-year-old-son went to go see it, I looked around at others in the audience. There were a few 20-, 30-, and 60-something childless couples; there were young families with toddlers; there were college students; there were grandparents with the grandkids of all ages; there were cliques of terribly fashionable teenage girls — EVERYBODY had a great time watching this movie. You can’t say that about Frozen; you can’t say that about The Boxtrolls. (Boxtrolls? Boxtrolls. MotherFUCK.) When you can get the under-ten Hello Kitty crowd to want to see the same movie as the college hockey team, THAT is accomplishment. (WTF Boxtrolls?!)
Wow, I had the exact opposite reaction to this movie, and it was loved so universally that I had that “am I taking crazy pills?” feeling. I thought it was too frenetic (it gave me a headache), and I thought the live-action Will Ferrell bits were out-of-place and strained (but then I’m also an OCD adult who likes putting together Lego sets to their exact specifications). And maybe I’ve taken too many feminist lit classes, but I thought the movie utterly sold out Wyldstyle, the best character, at the end. I delivered this sputtery crackpot rant to my boyfriend afterwards about women retaining agency. She had such cool hair though, I bet it was a great Halloween costume, Deanna’s daughter!
So Cora: Did you like Boxtrolls? Please elaborate.
(hee.)
Spaceship! SPACESHIIIIIIIIP!
I thought it was clever overall. I bought it as a gift for some kids I used to nanny and then they insisted that I watch it with them. It was really more fun for me watching them enjoy it.
We watched this movie this past long weekend on a snow trip to snowless Truckee with four other families. As many adults were laughing as kids (often at different points). I did groan when the action went into “the real world” but it was easier to tolerate the second time watching.
That song is still running through my head.
I wonder how many kindergarteners will be named Emmitt in 5 years.
“So, on your birth certificate, it actually SAYS, ‘Wildstyle’?”
“Wiping yer bum with a hook for a hand is rilly hard. THIS be impossible!”
Hee. I love this thing and I’m quickly developing a Pratt fixation.
I did the costume hair with yarn because (surprise) doing spray or chalk on a toddler is like wiping yer bum with a hook for a hand: really hard. However, the hoodie is still usable as a daily-wear item, and sometimes she tells me “I need to wear this today because I need to feel brave.”
“Business business business, is this working?” “Yes.” “Yay!”
“I need to wear this today because I need to feel brave.” <– LOVE THIS!
@Deanna, will you make me a Wyldstyle hoodie, too??
https://www.etsy.com/listing/181145511/wyldstyle-hoodie-with-graffiti-in-100
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