The Lego Car Blog Elves are spectacularly sulky today. The office went to the cinema to see The LEGO Movie and, sadly, we couldn’t take them.

Don’t feel sorry for the Elves though as it’s entirely of their own making. We’ve been banned from several cinemas and possibly still have an outstanding lawsuit from a particularly disastrous previous cinematic trip, so they’ll just have to wait for the DVD. However, you dear Readers, can go to see The LEGO Movie at the cinema. But should you? Read on to find out!

Synopsis:

The LEGO Movie was previewed here last June, and has been in development by Warner Brothers for the past six years. Set in a bustling and beautifully animated LEGO metropolis where ‘Everything is Awesome!’, The LEGO Movie is the tale of one mini-figure’s quest to save the world as he knows it. Emmet Brickowski (voiced by Chris Pratt of ‘The O.C’ and ‘Parks and Recreation’ fame)  is an ordinary construction worker following the instructions available for every aspect of life in the city in the vain hope of becoming a ‘somebody’. Success and popularity eludes him until, one day, his life changes forever.

Unbeknownst to Emmet, the World is under threat from the evil Lord Business (voiced by a wonderfully on-form Will Ferrell), whilst a secret society of Master Builders attempts to stop him. Emmet accidentally stumbles across the long-lost ‘Piece of Resistance’, fulfilling the Master Builders’ prophesy of a saviour, and is thrust into the apocalyptic struggle between good and evil.

Mentored by the beautiful Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) and wise Master Builder Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), Emmet must defeat Lord Business’ plans to create his ‘perfect’ world at the expense of everyone that lives within it. Adults will find the plot faintly Orwellian and actually quite dark, but it’s punctuated with such humour and so many pop-culture references that you may not realise until the end the intelligence that lies within.

The stellar lead cast is backed up by an impressive roster of supporting voice-actors, including a brilliant Liam Neeson as ‘Good Cop/Bad Cop’, Channing Tatum as ‘Superman’, Will Arnett as ‘Batman’ and the delightful Alison Brie as ‘Uni-Kitty’.

TLCB Verdict:

The LEGO Movie looks like a stop-motion animation, though it’s really computer animated, and it is at times quite busy. However it’s created in a beautifully bright way that only LEGO as a subject matter could inspire. It’s also available in 3D, but to be honest the movie doesn’t really need it and we suspect it will be just as enjoyable in only two dimensions.

A sort of Toy Story meets The Matrix, The LEGO Movie is a superbly animated film that both children and – more surprisingly – adults will enjoy. It’s also a children’s film that is quite rare in today’s cinema, in that the key message isn’t just aimed at the children viewing it, but perhaps more at their parents in attendance. We certainly hope it’ll give a few LEGO collectors within the online community something worth thinking about. The live-action finale is undoubtedly one of the sweetest movie moments of 2014, especially when you realise who is really the author of the enthralling story just witnessed.

So is ‘Everything Awesome’?

We’d have to say yes. The LEGO Movie might just be the animated movie of the year, and thus gets a TLCB rating of 4 Stars.

The LEGO Movie is in cinemas worldwide now, and success at the Box Office also means we can look out for a sequel following sometime in 2017. We can’t wait!

★★★★