The Lego Movie
Animated movies in 3-D are box-office bonanzas, and The Lego Movie is no exception. George Clooney’s Monuments Men should prepare to be shot down. The brightly-imagined Lego Movie is also a wickedly smart and funny free-for-all, and sassy enough to shoot well-aimed darts at corporate branding. Satirical subversion in family entertainment is an unexpected treat, especially in a movie that also functions as a triumph of product placement. For plot, we get Chris Pratt voicing a block of plastic called Emmet Brickowski, a construction worker who follows the rules until he’s enlisted to rebel against President Business (Will Ferrell) to take down the forces against spontaneity so we can all create our own universe, preferably with Legos. Or something like that. The movie, designed with flair to spare by Chris Miller and Philip Lord, the creators of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, has so much energy it sometimes spins out of control. But the fun is nonstop. The movie’s irresistible theme song, by Tegan and Sara, is “Everything Is Awesome.” In this movie, everything really is.