Boy, I have not seen such positive reviews for a movie since Toy Story 3. Last check, 4 negative reviews out of 110. One really has to ask: How the hell did a Lego movie get such a high rating?
Well, let me tell you a little bit about Lego Politics. Yes, such a thing exists.
You see, originally, Lego had no sets. It was just a big box of colorful bricks that you built with. Over the years they obviously added sets, which came with instructions. Slowly over time, the only Legos available were sets which came with instructions. You couldn't go out and get that one piece you needed, or get a massive box of an assortment of them, you had to get a set, and cannibalize pieces from it.
Now of course, the sets built to instructions are pretty damn cool; I should know, I have tubs FILLED with Bionicle pieces, and have 3 dozen displayed on my shelves. But, those who recall the times where there were no instructions believe a lot of the creativity has been lost in Lego...
And they are kinda right, more often kids just treat Legos as yet another action figure, and find the instructions merely the precursor to having fun. The Lego sets having such strange pieces doesn't help matters, a factor which has gotten worse with the technic series Hero Factory, featuring such specialized pieces that make them just action figures with little interaction with regular Legos. But, my opinion on Bionicle's predecessor aside, this obviously doesn't preclude people from building what they want from the Legos; though it does make one not want to disassemble something they put together via the instructions.
This argument between instructions and creativity is the first conflict in the movie. I can't really do this conflict justice in a non-visual medium though, so I won't stick to this very long...
Basically, this comes in 3 arguments:
1. The instructions allow you to build something interesting and practical, but may be boring.
2. Pure creativity allows you to build something very cool, but impractical.
3. Using instructions as a springboard for creative ideas can create awesome and practical creations.
All three basically extend to forms of art. Following strict adherence to rules and lessons you've been taught will create technically good artwork, but is dis-interesting. Going completely free-form with no lessons, while unique and interesting, may not actually work. Taking in lessons, but breaking and following the rules as long as it is interesting, creates something even greater.
Again, I can't explain it that well in text, I'd require video for it... Maybe when the movie comes out on DVD I'll show ya.
Then there is a second bit of Lego Politics in the movie, which is the more obvious plotline:
Legos are a toy, VS Legos are an art
The whole main conflict of the movie is that Lord Business hates chaos, and is thus endeavoring to glue everyone into place. This desire does actually occur with adult collectors; they will glue together their sets so that they don't come apart. Which of course is completely acceptable, and understandable...
Except they are also a toy, something to be played with and enjoy.
This one bit of politics I shall leave as is for now... Going further would be spoilers.
I shall come back to it however in this video review half a year from now (Or more... Frozen came out in November, and still has regular showings in theatres. It may take until November for them to release the DVDs...)
But, as is my name sake (which I have been ignoring for a while), there are some things to fix.
Largely, I have no problem with the characters, the jokes, the plot, or anything at all... There are just some minor things...
Emmett, the main character, acts like an idiot far too often. Some bits of it I am okay with (his most original idea is a double decker couch. It sort of works for Lego figures, but you can imagine the problems as a human), but when he absolutely embarrasses himself, or is just doing something even he should know is stupid, just annoys me. At one point he gives a speech that amounts to: I suck. Really, even Tyrion Lanister's speech was light-years better than his.
"Those are brave men outside those gates... Lets go kill them."
But those are thankfully isolated incidences that pass by quickly, that unfortunately bring the plot to a halt.
Other than that, it was a fantastic story.
And now I kinda want a stuffed unikitty...
It is just so Adorable!
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