lego movie review

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The lego movie, common sense media reviewers.

Hilarious toy tale plugs product but is nonstop fun.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

This is an entertaining film not an educational on

Though the message doesn't come until the end, the

Vitruvius guides and encourages Emmet and leads al

Lots and lots of Lego action and peril, including

Emmet has a crush on Wyldstyle, who is dating Batm

"Dang it," "darn," "rubbish," "what the heck," "st

It's a movie about Lego characters, many of which

Just "overpriced coffee."

Educational Value

This is an entertaining film not an educational one, but kids will still learn about various Lego characters, pieces, and instructions.

Positive Messages

Though the message doesn't come until the end, the importance of play, creativity, and parent-child togetherness is a big takeaway. Also, that you can be extraordinary if you believe in yourself and take action. There are some deeper messages about how bland aspects of popular culture are, when everyone sees the same shows, listens to the same songs, and drinks the same expensive coffee. Teamwork is another positive theme.

Positive Role Models

Vitruvius guides and encourages Emmet and leads all of the Master Builders. Like many other reluctant heroes, Emmet is hesitant to believe he can do anything helpful until he believes in himself (but he's always really positive and upbeat). Wyldstyle learns to have confidence in Emmet and be herself, not just her persona as a tough girl.

Violence & Scariness

Lots and lots of Lego action and peril, including gunfire and explosions; all are depicted with Lego pieces. Lego characters are "beheaded," erased with nail-polish remover, super-glued in place, kidnapped, captured, and "tortured" (their minds are probed for building instructions).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Emmet has a crush on Wyldstyle, who is dating Batman. Some intense gazes are followed by hand (claw?) holding.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"Dang it," "darn," "rubbish," "what the heck," "stupid," are all said infrequently.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

It's a movie about Lego characters, many of which are merchandise tie-ins to movies, comics, and books, like Batman, Gandalf, Dumbledore, Superman, Green Lantern, Han Solo, Lando, and Wonder Woman. All of the new characters are also available in various Lego kits and minifigures.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Lego Movie is an action-packed animated family-friendly adventure following original and existing Lego characters. Featuring an all-star voice cast and some of the brand's most popular figures (Batman, Superman, Gandalf, Wonder Woman, etc.), the inventive movie should appeal to all ages, from young Duplo players to teens who consider themselves Master Builders. Although there's nothing overly objectionable (a few mild exclamations like "dang," "heck," "stupid," and "darn"), there's definitely a lot of action and peril, plus quite a bit of violence with the villain's security forces shooting at the good guys, and a character getting "beheaded" (since minifig heads pop off) or erased (with nail polish remover). Kids will love seeing some of their favorite minifigures come to life, but of course they'll probably ask for the tie-in Lego kits after the movie. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (101)
Kids say (258)

Based on 101 parent reviews

besst movie

Funny, clever, action-filled caper with a nice message at the end, what's the story.

THE LEGO MOVIE opens with the legendary battle between evil Lord Business ( Will Ferrell ) and noble Master Builder Lord Vitruvius ( Morgan Freeman ). Lord Business plans to dominate the entire Lego universe with a deadly weapon called the Kragle, but Vitruvius has a vision that a yellow-faced someone, the Special, will defeat the villainous Lord Business with the missing "piece of resistance." Years later, completely ordinary construction worker Emmet ( Chris Pratt ) spies a suspicious figure (Wyldstyle, voiced by Elizabeth Banks ) on the construction site and, while following her, ends up finding the legendary red piece of resistance. Wyldstyle believes Emmet to be the Special and takes him to Vitruvius, but they soon realize he's more of a nice-guy rule follower than a visionary Master Builder. As Business and his cronies, led by a ruthless Bad Cop ( Liam Neeson ), attempt to steal the piece of resistance, Emmet must discover whether he has what it takes to be the Special and save Lego kind.

Is It Any Good?

Movies based on toys aren't ever this good, and it's a testament to the veteran animation filmmakers that this one is so smart, humorous, and visually fun to watch. The perfect cast of voice actors completely embodies their Lego counterparts: Pratt's adorable earnestness is legendary to any Parks and Recreation fan; Banks is a go-to girl-power voice; Arnett sounds exactly like Michael Keaton's Batman; and Freeman, Neeson, and Ferrell are master voice actors. But The Lego Movie is not just your typical animated adventure; there are real messages and sophisticated criticisms of popular culture and consumerism (rather subversive -- or very, very smart -- for a movie tied to a multi-billion-dollar toy company).

Like Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter or Neo, Emmet embarks on the archetypal hero's journey -– complete with his own mystical guide (Vitruvius), intelligent and fierce love interest (Wyldstyle), and larger than life nemesis (Business). Along the way, Emmet bumps into a cadre of hilariously depicted minifigures, from superheroes to historical legends, like Shakespeare and Lincoln. The story contains various brilliant cameos, laugh-aloud one liners, and a live-action interlude that is surprisingly touching. Families with kids of all ages will love this reminder of the joy of playing and laughing together.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about movies based on toys. How does The Lego Movie compare to the others, like Barbie or Transformers films? Does it make you want to get the Lego characters portrayed in the movie?

The movie pokes fun at aspects of popular culture, like dumbed-down TV comedies, catchy pop songs, and overpriced coffee. What do you think the filmmakers are trying to say?

How can we all apply Vitruvius' lesson that everyone is special if we believe in our own talents and abilities?

How do the characters in The Lego Movie demonstrate teamwork ? Why is this an important character strength ?

Movie Details

In theaters : February 7, 2014
On DVD or streaming : June 17, 2014
Cast : Chris Pratt , Elizabeth Banks , Will Arnett
Directors : Christopher Miller , Phil Lord
Inclusion Information : Latino directors, Female actors
Studio : Warner Bros.
Genre : Family and Kids
Topics : Adventures
Character Strengths : Teamwork
Run time : 100 minutes
MPAA rating : PG
MPAA explanation : mild action and rude humor
Last updated : April 6, 2024

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Entertainment
Movie Review

'The Lego Movie' review: the best film about blocks you'll ever see

A toy story that's not really about the toys.

By David Pierce on February 10, 2014 10:28 am 84 Comments

When I think about the house I grew up in — my football-themed bedroom, the big family room, the yard — there are always Lego bricks everywhere. And I’m clearly not alone, because everyone in my packed theater watching The Lego Movie this weekend seemed to have the same experience I did: a 100-minute exercise in nostalgia, rendered in RealD 3D.

It's the first big-budget Lego movie in the company's 80-year history, made painstakingly over five years in concert with writer–director duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Its cast list is riddled with A-list actors, its marketing is massive and unavoidable — and it's a shockingly fun, remarkably entertaining movie. Sure, it's an hour and a half of advertising for Lego, but if this is the future of marketing, sign me up.

The movie follows Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt), a normal guy with a normal job and a normal life. As soon as he wakes up, he breaks out the instruction manual. Jumping jacks? Check. $37 coffee? Check. Wave to neighbors? Check. He follows the speed limit, works diligently at his construction job, and every once in a while wonders if there might be more to life than this. One night as he's leaving his worksite he meets a pretty girl named Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), and finds a mysterious object called The Piece of Resistance. The one who finds it, it's been prophesied, is The Special: the smartest, most talented, most interesting person in the world, and the one who will save everyone from President Business (Will Ferrell) and his evil plan. But to do that he needs to ditch the instructions and go freestyle.

"Everything is Awesome," the movie's theme and the catchiest song you'll ever hear.

It's not exactly breaking new ground — normal guy learns he's special, saves the world — and it does come with a fair amount of heavy-handed preaching about how everyone is special and we can all be anything we want. Like any good family-friendly movie, there's a love story, there are jokes both obvious and subtle, and there's a surprisingly tender third act. But everything about the way The Lego Movie unfolds feels fresh, with Lord and Miller doing their brand-building duty while simultaneously rolling their eyes at it. Where a movie like The Internship is one long bow at the altar of Google, The Lego Movie frequently cuts to awkward scenes where minifigures can’t quite figure out how to hold hands, or the revered "relics" that are mostly just gross things you might accidentally find in a box full of Lego bricks. It’s loving throughout, but it’s edgy and self-deprecating enough to never feel contrived.

Everything in the movie from elaborate cities to puffs of smoke is made of Lego, and it's all fair game: at one point Wyldstyle builds a motorcycle out of an alleyway in order to escape Liam Neeson's nefarious Bad Cop. It's this build-and-rebuild ethos that makes the movie go — the movie twists and turns relentlessly and often without any warning, as if there's a kid above acting like King Kong and knocking down the tower he's built before starting over on something different. It's a funny, quirky, weird adventure that has fun with the limitations of Legos while making clear that there's nothing you can't do or make with those interlocking blocks. Including spaceships.

"I think what we’ve really found is that Lego is a medium," Michael McNally, Lego's brand relations director, tells me. "It’s not a toy, it’s a medium for other people to tell their own stories and create their own adventures." To tell theirs, Lord and Miller (who wrote and directed 21 Jump Street and the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs series) turned to Animal Logic, a well-known Australian effects studio. The result is stunning, a mix of stop-motion and photorealism that left me constantly forgetting and remembering the characters are Lego minifigures with claws for hands and as many personalities as they have outfits.

The world of The Lego Movie is enormous and meticulously detailed , and McNally notes that you could pause the movie at any point and build everything you see. (Lego’s own designers helped Animal Logic with the set and character design.) The film still feels very much like Lord and Miller, though, a constant string of winking references and off-topic pop culture jokes to go with crazy sight gags and physical humor. The cast may be needlessly star-studded — Channing Tatum’s Superman has all of about three lines — but it’s hard to imagine a lesser group pulling off this mix of irreverent and sincere. Will Arnett might be my favorite Batman ever.

It's a movie made for Lego fans of all ages, which McNally reminds me are everywhere: Lego is the second-largest toy maker in the world, and there are even communities of Adult Fans of Lego (AFOL) around the world. "It’s no different from Volkswagen owners or Apple enthusiasts or Disney fanatics," he says. "We have Lego fans." He grants that the movie seems designed to encourage and revive interest in Lego (and to sell bricks), but says that wasn't the point. "A feature film was never really something we set out to make. A lot of people say, ‘Well, toy movies are just designed to sell toys.’ And that’s not something that was compelling to us… it wasn’t like we needed a movie to help us sell more stuff."

Only a cast this good could pull off this movie

It took more than two years for Warner Bros. to convince McNally and Lego to allow the movie, and more than four more to make it. "We didn’t have urgency around it," McNally says. "And I think that was maybe not such a bad thing for either party, because it made us all want to work harder to make sure it was the right film." He says there’s no immediate plan to work on a sequel, though Warner Bros. might have other ideas .

The Lego Movie is one of my favorite animated movies in years, and it left me wondering about that big blue bucket of interlocking squares that’s still in my parents’ house. Suddenly I want to build something.

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THE LEGO MOVIE Review

The LEGO Movie review. Matt reviews Phil Lord and Chris Miller's The LEGO Movie starring Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, and Will Ferrell.

I loved LEGO when I was a kid. I discovered a bag of LEGO bricks on a high shelf, and my collection expanded from there. I was always an "instructions" kid, although I did try to combine sets from time to time. But I always liked the minifigures the best. I liked using them to come up with stories and adventures. I mention all of this because The LEGO Movie is the best of all worlds. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have shown their genius once again through their unique blend of wit, humor, and heart to go far beyond what others would have boiled down to a crass, exploitative toy commercial. While the movie will undoubtedly sell toys, it manages to respect the "instructions" kids while encouraging them to go beyond the box, build their own worlds, and discover their own creativity and personality through these adorable little toys. But rather than aim for cheap sentiment, The LEGO Movie earns every emotion in a story that's unabashedly silly and constantly hilarious.

Emmet ( Chris Pratt ) is the most ordinary "person" (i.e. minifigure) in his city of Bricksburg and probably the world. He follows the instructions for everything, loves the most popular stuff such as the lame TV show "Where Are My Pants?" and the infectiously catchy pop song "Everything Is Awesome", and no one remembers him even though he's unfailingly friendly. When he stumbles into a pit at his construction job, he unintentionally finds the "Piece of Resistance", which means he's meant to fulfill the prophecy set down by the wise "Master Builder" Vitruvius ( Morgan Freeman ) to defeat the evil Lord Business ( Will Ferrell ). When the rebels discover Emmet's painfully ordinary, they must work to help him become extraordinary.

As with their previous two movies, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street , Miller and Lord have unquestionably proven themselves as brilliant storytellers who know how to play against expectations. A LEGO movie seems like it's designed to sell toys, and it will. It will also sell toys beyond the " LEGO Movie " line since part of what's being encouraged is mixing and matching toys from different sets. But rather than a cynical "BUY MORE FOR MORE FUN", the movie celebrates how funny and joyful those combinations can be. The movie treks across different LEGO worlds from "The Old West" to pirates to an adorably cute world where anyone is free to build what they want. Yes, LEGO has become more license-heavy in recent years, but at the Council of Master Builders, it's delightful to see Superman ( Channing Tatum ) standing alongside William Shakespeare. When Abraham Lincoln ( Will Forte ) flies away in a rocket chair, it makes total sense because that's the kind of freedom and creativity the movie is ultimately encouraging.

It's fine to draw from the instructions, but as we see in Emmet's case, it can also stifle creativity. His most creative thought is a "Double Decker couch, so everyone can watch TV and be buddies!" Meanwhile, the Master Builds are clicking together everything they can find and even, in the case of Vitruvius, going beyond the LEGO world by wielding a staff that's apparently a mostly-used lollipop. The filmmakers could have undermined their point about creativity by only using bricks. Instead, they say that creativity doesn't, and shouldn't, stop at the box. Also, it's more entertaining to bring in these outside elements like q-tips and markers.

And without spoiling anything, they've taken the same clever twists to their screenplay. The plot follows the Hero's Journey to the point where you feel like someone is going to break out an instructional manual, which would be hypocritical to the whole endeavor. But just when you think you've got Lord and Miller pegged, they change the entire game in a way that's kind of mind-blowing. The filmmakers could have simply leaned on name-brand recognition and called it a day, and instead decided to do something surprising and brave. Their risk absolutely pays off.

The same goes for the stop-motion style animation. When the traditional mode of thinking dictates that all animation should be smooth and unobtrusive, Lord and Miller decided to pay tribute to all of the stop-motion LEGO filmmakers who came before. These pioneering LEGO fans took the toy they loved, and brought it to life bit-by-bit. While The LEGO Movie was mostly done only in the style of stop-motion, they did it so well that the filmmakers were able to sneak in shots that were actually done with stop-motion animation. Lord and Miller not only took the style, but then they used a bright, vibrant, gorgeous color palette to further bring the world to life with an emphasis on the plastic details of the figure. All of these touches not only help to bring the world to life, but they make LEGO fans like me flashback to the minfigures we loved and played with as kids.

And yet for all of the movie's thoughtful subtext and construction, the story's primary interest is on lovable characters with distinct personalities and a lot of emotion. The voice acting is superb, and Emmet is incredibly endearing. His warmth and generosity speaks to people who do all of the right things, but end up going unnoticed anyway. Additionally, his ineptitude is, like almost every other joke in the film, a blast. The LEGO Movie has a big heart to back up its even big brain.

At the very least, The LEGO Movie gave me a big smile on my face from the first frame to the end of the credits (and you should stay to the end of the credits). At its best, The LEGO Movie had me struggling to breathe from laughing so hard. I was slightly worried the film's best jokes may have been in the trailers, but they're only the tip of the iceberg in a movie that is constantly clever and courageously absurd. One of my favorite lines of the year is one that comes out of nowhere between two characters talking in a saloon. Some people won't find it as funny as I did, but it speaks to Lord and Miller being on my comic wavelength like few others. However, it's not a divisive comedy, and there are plenty of jokes that kids and adults will enjoy.

The LEGO Movie is something special. It takes me back to when I loved LEGO as a kid and reminds me why I still enjoy them as an adult. Lord and Miller made a movie about imagination that's truly imaginative and literally thinks outside the box. It constantly plays against expectations and does so in a smart, understated, and above all, entertaining manner. They took a bunch of plastic pieces and assembled them into something that's far beyond what other filmmakers would have even attempted. They embraced their creativity and encouraged their audience to do the same. It all clicks together perfectly.

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‘the lego movie’: film review.

Directors-screenwriters Phil Lord and Christopher Miller bring the building bricks to life with a voicecast that includes Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman.

By THR Staff

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After successfully testing the computer-animated waters on the smaller screen with the likes of LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Ninjago , not to mention a series of hit video games, everybody’s favorite Danish interlocking brick system has finally been transformed into a big 3D animated feature—with wildly entertaining results.

Arriving at a time when feature animation was looking and feeling mighty anemic—essentially reconnecting the same dots until the next big thing comes along— The LEGO Movie shows ’em how it’s done.

It’s a non-stop blast from beginning to end, jam-packed with a wacky irreverence, dazzling state-of-the-art CGI (courtesy of Animal Logic) and a pitch-perfect voice cast headed by Chris Pratt , Elizabeth Banks and Will Ferrell .

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DVD & Streaming

The LEGO Movie

Action/Adventure , Animation , Comedy , Kids , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

February 7, 2014
Voices of Chris Pratt as Emmet; Morgan Freeman as Vitruvius; Will Ferrell as President Business and The Man Upstairs; Elizabeth Banks as Wyldstyle/Lucy; Will Arnett as Batman; Liam Neeson as Bad Cop/Good Cop

Home Release Date

June 17, 2014
Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

Distributor

Warner Bros.

Movie Review

Emmet is an average nobody. I mean, we all have something that makes us someone, but Emmet doesn’t really even have that. On the other hand, he’s a very nice, very positive, very devoted average nobody with nothing. His favorite song is “Everything Is Awesome.” It’s a catchy tune he could listen to all day, and usually does. When he goes to work at his average construction job, building average skyscrapers for his big boss, President Business, why, Emmet can’t help but smile ear to blocky ear.

Then one day something happens that changes all that.

Emmet runs back to the construction site after work to grab his prized instruction manual he left behind and spots this beautiful girl digging through the debris. She’s the most un -average girl he’s ever seen. So much so that his jaw would have hit the floor if a painted-on jaw could do such a thing.

Then, after he slips and takes a series of accidental tumbles—something pretty average for Emmet—the splendid girl mistakes him for “the most important person in the universe.” (Otherwise known as the Special.) Emmet hasn’t got a clue what that even means, but if she wants to talk to him about it, then that’s super stupendous. Besides, maybe she can tell him what this big piece of something or other is that’s stuck to his back.

The girl’s name, by the way, is Wyldstyle. How’s that for unique? And she’s a master builder who’s able to snap together just about any blocky thing she can dream up. (Sigh. And wow! )

Wyldstyle takes Emmet to meet a wizard-like guy with a long white beard named Vitruvius. And he seems to think Emmet is this prophesized Special too. They also tell him this incredible story about President Business and an ancient relic called a Kragle and the coming of the end of the world … in three days! It all seems so far-fetched and unbelievable and out of the ordinary.

But Emmet’s not going to complain or worry or even doubt any of it. For the first time in his very square life there are people who think he might be more than mediocre. And they just happen to be the most cool, smart and incredibly AWESOME people he’s ever met! If they want him to be Special, then he’ll work to make that true.

He just has to piece it all together.

[ Connecting studs and plot spoilers are both contained in the following sections. ]

Positive Elements

You’ve figured out by now that Emmet is a perfectly ordinary guy who is pretty unexceptional in every way. (We find out that the people he works with hardly know him and in many cases can’t even remember his name.) But when he gets singled out to be Special, he steps up in a big way. “When you told me I was important and special, that was the first time anybody had ever told me that,” Emmet says to Wyldstyle, whose real name, we find out, is Lucy. “And I wanted to do everything I could to live up to that.” He goes so far as to even be willing to sacrifice his life to save those around him.

That “embrace what is special about you” attitude permeates the movie and is repeated over and over. Emmet’s choices eventually motivate the master builders (a group of individually talented block builders) to work together as a team, sacrifice for one another and stand up to fight what they consider to be an all-powerful evil. There’s even a nice thread in here about the value of following instructions. Get along. Work together. Follow instructions! Those are very nice messages indeed.

And now we get to our first blocky spoiler : In the real world, you see, a young boy with a rich imagination is the creative force behind the whole adventure we’re watching. And though his dad isn’t initially too happy with him, the man eventually embraces the boy and admits that playing imaginatively—and together —is far more enjoyable than working alone on his grand LEGO hobby set.

Spiritual Elements

There are a number of “relics” imbued with special power that are revered in this fantastical world of plastic people. But once we get a closer look at them, we realize that they’re actually discarded items from the real world of human people, such as a tube of Krazy Glue, a Band-Aid and a Q-tip. One of those relics—a special item that the wise man Vitruvius prophesizes about—is a cap to the aforementioned tube of glue. And Emmet receives a quick “vision” when he first touches it. He sees the image of someone Vitruvius defines as the “Man Upstairs.” Then, in the course of things, Vitruvius is killed and returns as a plastic ghost held aloft by a string.

We eventually learn that the entire world of blocks and studs, and all its “magical” happenings are part of the human boy’s imagination. It’s a story he concocts as he snaps together the plastic bricks in his basement. And the Man Upstairs is actually his dad, who warned him not to play with the elaborate cityscape he’s constructed out of his prized LEGOs.

Sexual Content

There’s an obvious attraction developing between Emmet and Lucy that culminates with them … holding hands. (She’s been dating Batman up till this point.) Somebody makes a comment about Wyldstyle having a “heavenly body.”

Violent Content

If the blow-’em-up action and wham-bam fight scenes of this pic were part of a live-action movie, they would demand several paragraphs detailing the damage in a Plugged In review. There is a constant stream here of everything from fast-moving traffic smash-ups, to bombastic fist- and gunfights, to horsemen riding off a high cliff and erupting in a nuclear explosion, to a whole cloud-based fantasy land being blown up and destroyed.

The difference here, of course, is that this is an animated world populated by plastic blocks. Even the rapid-fire projectiles and an explosion’s resulting flames are all made of colorful plastic—just as they are when kids around the globe play with LEGOs on their bedroom carpet. Characters, buildings and vehicles bash, crash and fall apart into their primal pieces, and so nothing feels deadly or particularly permanent. A tube of Krazy Glue becomes the ultimate deadly weapon because it can freeze the LEGO folks in place, effectively rendering them lifeless. (We see numerous examples of this.) A laser ray is used to melt plastic and almost zaps Emmet before it’s stopped. Indeed, “melting” is threatened as a torture technique. A head is lopped off a “man’s” neck.

Crude or Profane Language

“Darn,” “dang it,” “butt” and “oh my gosh” are all repeated a few times each. We hear exclamations of “what the heck?” Name-calling includes “butt,” “dorky” and “ding-dong.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

A group of guys talk about meeting up at a “sports bar” after work (but they say it’s the chicken wings that prime the pump for getting “crazy,” not alcohol).

Other Negative Elements

There are silly lowball gags thrown into the comedy mix. A pair of robots, for example, jump up on a copy machine to make photocopies of their plastic block backsides. Similarly, a running gag revolves around a favorite TV show called “Where Are My Pants?” So we sometimes see “naked” LEGOs, all yellow and “bare” instead of painted with “clothes.” When someone states that a proposed plan will be “really hard,” a pirate-robot scoffs at the statement saying, “Wiping ye bum with a hook for a hand be really hard .”

Picture dumping a box full of LEGOs, Lincoln Logs, old action figures, cast off toy cars and plastic thingamajigs on the rug. (Something I was very fond of doing as a tyke, much to the chagrin of my mother who never seemed to find the joy in it.) Then think of staging all those playthings in a wacky action adventure of your own boundless youthful imagining.

That pretty much sums up The LEGO Movie experience. (If, that is, you were also very good at coming up with giggle-a-minute quips and had some talented movie star pals who could voice the whole thing with grown-up glee.) It’s a bright, silly and breakneck-paced good-guy-vs.-bad-guy tale that offers kids and kids at heart some pretty big lessons for such a small-scale story:

1) Believe in yourself. You can never know how much you can really do—how special you really are—unless you give it a good try.

2) Let your imagination lift you up to creative rapture. There’s nothing more fun or fulfilling than that.

3) Work together to get the job done right. After all, a bunch of geniuses all going in opposite directions can’t accomplish anywhere near what a gaggle of workaday guys and gals can if they cooperate and push forward down the same path.

4) Follow instructions. You just never know what kind of cool result you might get!

For those who have played any of the LEGO video games, the transition to the big screen will feel very familiar. The film does, however, pack in more “dangs” and “darns” and “what the hecks” than you’ll find while gripping a game console. And the story is actually more high-action than the games, too—which equates to lots and lots of chases, explosions and rapid-fire plastic bullet shootouts between heroes and villains.

Still, like the games—and my blocks on the rug—all that thumping and bumping comes off as a playful part of a kid’s overactive fantasies. Even a chap losing his head and reappearing as a glow-in-the-dark toy ghost feels inconsequential thanks to the movie’s connect-a-block-and-break-everything-into-pieces goofiness.

You could say that it’s all just the longest and most entertaining LEGO commercial you’ve ever seen. But I’m actually quite fond of the idea it offers to parents and kids alike: That using your imagination is a grand thing, and using your imagination together is even better.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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The Lego Movie – review | Mark Kermode

T he repositioning of luddite Lego bricks as a saleable staple of the digital gaming revolution is one of the greatest marketing coups of the 21st century. Parents who grew up assembling brightly coloured building blocks in the age of the Bakelite telephone were amazed to find their children playing Lego Harry Potter for DS or Lego Star Wars for Wii, the brand name meaning as much to their computer-literate offspring as it did to them.

Terrific to report, then, that The Lego Movie does nothing to undermine the Danish dynamo's ongoing reputation as a purveyor of fine entertainment for kids of all ages. While younger viewers will delight at the whiz-bang animation action and hugely likable familiar figures, adults will laugh themselves silly at the smart consumer satire gags and goggle in wonder at the undulating Legoland vistas.

Tipping its head toward the self-aware set-up of Wreck-It Ralph (via the Tour Guide Barbie sequence from Toy Story 2 ), The Lego Movie casts (un)happy plastic construction worker Emmet (Chris Pratt) as an accidental hero when President Business ( Will Ferrell ) attempts to obliterate nonconformist creativity with the aid of an instruction manual and some glue. Teaming up with Batman, Wyldstyle and other assorted contrarians, Emmet waves the flag for free-form invention, which appears to be Lego's rallying cry.

The denouement may be a super-soppy sales pitch, but the surreal slapstick sensibilities of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs writers/directors Lord and Miller consistently undermine any corporate guff. You'll come out singing theme tune Everything is Awesome in only mildly ironic fashion.

The Lego Movie
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The Lego Movie review

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Ridiculously funny and meticulously detailed, The Lego Movie is far better than a toy tie-in movie has any right to be. Despite a couple of dips, you’ll be grinning throughout.

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

For more than 60 years, LEGO’s been a peerlessly popular toy brand. Despite its ‘educational value’, the minifigures have charmed with their cute simplicity – an unassuming blandness that’s seen them seamlessly adapt various big-name properties ( Star Wars, The Lord Of The Rings, Harry Potte r, all the key marvel and DC characters), which has skyrocketed their popularity and collectibility far beyond the specified age ranges listed on the boxes. The spin-off videogames – with their slapstick cut-scenes – haven’t done any harm either.

Ignoring previous straight-to-DVD features (made for the likes of Bionicle and, erm, Clutch Powers) and the Star Wars shorts, a LEGO movie has felt like a long time coming. But can a toy best known for its miniature scale really fill the big screen? And how do you resist making the thing feel like one extended commercial break for the Danish company’s latest wares?

Thankfully, The LEGO Movie is so madcap hilarious that you never feel like you’re being sold out. The appointment of directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller was a shrewd move. Having cut their teeth on the immensely likeable Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs , they went live-action with high-school cop-com 21 Jump Street . On paper, that should have been a shameless cash-in too, but it ended up being one of 2012’s most satisfying comedies.

Here, they’ve assembled a cast of regulars from your favourite US sitcoms (Chris Pratt and Nick Offerman from Parks And Recreation , Will Arnett from Arrested Development and Alison Brie from Community ) and teased great work from A-listers (Liam Neeson, Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman) to ensure that the funnies fly thick and fast. Bigger than the star names, though, are the supporting cast of LEGO favourites who’ve been roped in to fill out the ranks.

Arnett’s Batman is inspired: a moody blowhard who’ll only work with black bricks (“or very, very, very dark grey ones”). He might get the lion’s share of the belly laughs, but there’s plenty more to go round – 21 Jump Street stars Channing Tatum and Jonah hill have a cracking dynamic as Superman and Green Lantern, and Neeson’s terminally conflicted Bad Cop (whose rotating yellow brick head occasionally flips to the Good Cop side) is an unexpected highlight.

Front and centre, though, are the new creations. Emmet Brickowoski (Pratt) is a bog-standard construction worker who follows every instruction to the letter, until a run-in with punky Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) – imagine a cuddlier Lisbeth Salander – sets him on course to fulfil a prophecy. Their banter creates more sparks than your average romcom and, like many of the gags, you wonder if it’ll be lost on younger kids.On their travels, they take in the Old West, ‘middle Zealand’, Cloud Cuckoo Land and the high seas, teaming up with Batman and souped-up pirate metalbeard in an effort to stop the dastardly Lord Business (Will Ferrell) putting an end to freewheeling creativity with a mysterious weapon known as ‘the kragle’.

If the plot sounds creaky, rest assured that it’s skewered and subverted as much as Batman and co. possibly can – genre tropes are mocked, ‘chosen ones’ are in for it, and The Terminator ’s just one classic movie touchpoint up for parody. There’s an anarchic childlike glee to the way it’s all thrown together – as with actual LEGO sets, pieces can be reassembled to create something entirely new – and the various set-pieces, including freeway chases, shootouts and laser-sharks play like blockbuster versions of the fan videos you’d find on Youtube .

Reportedly part stop-motion, part CG-animation, you won’t notice the joins. There’s an insane level of invention on display – the world is brimming with hilarious background detail, and everything you can see is made of LEGO pieces, even the water. The characters are given more expressive eyes and mouths than their toy counterparts, but their movements are just as restricted – and the animation makes a virtue of this, from their clippy hands to their plastic wigs.

The world lends itself to 3D, the stereoscopy making it feel like you could reach in and take part. It’s not without its flaws. Some of the set-pieces feel a little too noisy, and the resolution to one particular plot mystery isn’t entirely satisfactory, taking you out of the moment ahead of the climax. and given the irreverence for just about everything, there’s rarely a feeling of genuine peril.

Even so, it’s likely to be a film that you’ll want to revisit, to catch some of the background gags you missed first time and to wallow in its joyously nostalgic environments.

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.

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Why THE LEGO MOVIE ‘Resonates’ 10 Years Later

By Movieguide® Contributor

Ten years after the release of THE LEGO MOVIE, Lego’s head of global entertainment, Jill Wilfert, is opening up about its origins.

“It’s quite interesting, our road to THE LEGO MOVIE, and it was a fairly long road,” Wilfert told Variety last month. “We were not actively looking to get into the film business so when we were approached I was interested, of course. But the first reaction we had was, what would that [movie] be?”

Movieguide® +1 review of the Teddy Award® winning-movie reads:

THE LEGO MOVIE is an animated comedy about a heroic underdog. Emmet is just a regular guy until one day he finds the peace of resistance. As a prophecy goes, whoever finds this powerful tool is said to be the “special one” who will save the world. No one would expect Emmet to be “the special one,” but he has a good heart and tries to help. Emmet only has three days before a deceitful dictator posing as a good guy destroys the world. Extremely well done, THE LEGO MOVIE is hilarious. The animation is top notch, and the characters are clever. THE LEGO MOVIE stresses sacrifice and a father-son relationship. There’s also a political message. The villain in the movie is a dictator who stifles creativity and wants to control everything. All ages will enjoy THE LEGO MOVIE. However, there is some confusing content in that the villain calls himself President Business, but he tyrannically opposes a free market for business. THE LEGO MOVIE is a hilarious movie with great animation and a strong moral worldview containing a strong Christian allegory.

Lego believed it critical that the story felt “authentic” and in line with their brand.

“So the first task we sent them back with was: ‘Maybe we would consider doing this, but you need to come with a story that we feel resonates and really is true to our brand.’ That was kind of the starting point,” Wilfert said.

Some of the organization’s members were skeptical about the project, but they stuck closely with the Warner Bros. team until they had a story that lined up with Lego’s brand.

The development process was “almost seven years,” Wilfert said. “It happened after the first TRANSFORMERS movie launched. For better, for worse, something like that gets a lot of people’s attention in the movie business so we started getting phone calls after that—Warner wasn’t the only one.”

“People were approaching us saying, ‘Would you ever consider doing a film?’ It took a long time to find the right story and then once we had [Phil] Lord and [Christopher] Miller involved, things moved a little bit faster.”

Wilfert believes the movie inspired those who watched it—a success in her book.

“I’ll be very un-Danish and brag a bit—it still shows up on a lot of people’s Top 20 animated films of all time, so I think it was both commercially and critically really beloved,” she said. “If anything, more [than] the critical acclaim, it was when people walked away from the film saying, ‘This really inspired me.'”

“For us, that was the most gratifying reaction that we could have gotten. We didn’t expect it, but certainly we were very pleased people recognized the quality and authenticity of the message,” she said.

Lego made three more Lego movies and several shows, too.

“In hindsight, we would probably say we had too many films too close together. All those movies did get good reviews. If you even look back to LEGO 2 the reviews were better than the box office might indicate. I think people that did see it really did enjoy it,” Wilfert told Variety.

“But really, in the film industry, it’s tough. I think you have to bring something unexpected to the table. And for us, going through that timeframe we felt like it was the right time to maybe take a little bit of a pause, re-evaluate what we’re doing,” she said.

After Lego’s deal with Warner expired, they shook hands with Universal.

“We kind of took a step back and really thought about where we wanted to go in the future with film and talked to a lot of people around town–[there was] a lot of interest as you might imagine–but felt that the team at Universal really understood the business. And they really are true fans of the brand, from Donna [Langley, chair at Universal Pictures] to everyone on down,” Wilfert explained.

Wilfert notes that movies like BARBIE have helped grow the attraction to toy-to-film adaptations. But when asked if Lego would consider making a Lego movie designed more for adults, like BARBIE, Wilfert’s answer leans toward no.

“Well, we hope that the Lego movies attract all audiences. We’ll look to reach the broadest possible audience that we can and we feel that the brand really is in a pretty unique position to really deliver that because we have fans of all ages,” she said. “Whatever we do, it will always be very appropriate for our brand and we’re also extremely sensitive to make sure that it fits with the values that we have and that we bring that to the screen in that way.”

On the real-life side of Lego entertainment, LEGO MASTERS just got renewed for its fifth season.

“The reality competition follows teams of two as they compete against each other in ambitious brick-building challenges to be crowned the country’s most talented amateur Lego builders,” a Variety article reported . “In each episode, the competing pairs who impress the judges the most progress to the next round, until the finale, during which the top teams will face off for a cash prize, the ultimate Lego trophy, and the grand title of Lego Masters. Season 5 will feature a new batch of builders from across the country challenged with creating the most inventive designs to date.”

Will Pharrel is also slated to work with Lego on a documentary about his life called PIECE BY PIECE. Wilfert will serve as an executive producer alongside Keith Malone.

“Uninterested in making a traditional film about his life, Pharrell set out to tell his story in a way that would set audience’s imaginations free,” a press release said . “Developed from his singular vision, PIECE BY PIECE defies genres and expectations to transport audiences into a Lego world where anything is possible.”

The doc will release Oct. 11, 2024.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Warner Bros. Entertainment (@warnerbrosentertainment)

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The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part

2019, Kids & family/Comedy, 1h 47m

What to know

Critics Consensus

While it isn't quite as much fun as its predecessor, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part fits neatly into an animated all-ages franchise with heart and humor to spare. Read critic reviews

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The citizens of Bricksburg face a dangerous new threat when LEGO DUPLO invaders from outer space start to wreck everything in their path. The battle to defeat the enemy and restore harmony to the LEGO universe takes Emmet, Lucy, Batman and the rest of their friends to faraway, unexplored worlds that test their courage and creativity.

Rating: PG (Mild Action and Rude Humor)

Genre: Kids & family, Comedy, Adventure, Action, Animation

Original Language: English

Director: Mike Mitchell

Producer: Dan Lin , Phil Lord , Chris Miller , Roy Lee , Jinko Gotoh

Writer: Phil Lord , Chris Miller

Release Date (Theaters): Feb 8, 2019 wide

Release Date (Streaming): Apr 16, 2019

Box Office (Gross USA): $105.8M

Runtime: 1h 47m

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Production Co: Rideback, Vertigo Entertainment, Lord Miller

Sound Mix: DTS, Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos

Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

Cast & Crew

Chris Pratt

Emmet Brickowski, Rex Dangervest Voice

Elizabeth Banks

Wyldstyle, Lucy Voice

Will Arnett

Batman Voice

Tiffany Haddish

Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi Voice

Stephanie Beatriz

General Mayhem, Sweet Mayhem Voice

Alison Brie

Unikitty, Ultrakatty Voice

Nick Offerman

MetalBeard Voice

Charlie Day

Benny Voice

Maya Rudolph

Will Ferrell

President Business, Dad Voice

Brooklynn Prince

Bianca Voice

Channing Tatum

Superman Voice

Green Lantern Voice

Richard Ayoade

Ice Cream Cone Voice

Ben Schwartz

Banarnar Voice

Noel Fielding

Balthazar Voice

Jason Momoa

Aquaman Voice

Cobie Smulders

Wonder Woman Voice

Ike Barinholtz

Lex Luthor Voice

Mike Mitchell

Screenwriter

Chris Miller

Jinko Gotoh

Jill Wilfert

Executive Producer

Keith Malone

Matthew Ashton

Chris McKay

Zareh Nalbandian

Ryan Halprin

Will Allegra

Chris Leahy

Clare Knight

Film Editing

Mark Mothersbaugh

Original Music

Patrick Marc Hanenberger

Production Design

Kristen Anderson

Art Director

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Critic Reviews for The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part

Audience reviews for the lego movie 2: the second part.

The Lego movie was a success thanks to the talented filmmakers. The sequel attempts to maintain their style, but Mitchell has a hard task competing with the first film. The issue with this film is the lack of originality, that made the original so great. The storyline is a little generic and they force too many jokes. The musical numbers a great again and they manage to finish the film on a very strong note. The core reason this film failed to ignite the box office was fatigue. They allowed two spin-off films to push ahead of this film. The film didn't have the same strength of the first, and entering a market with strong competition wasn't ideal. This was a good film and it's a shame the series will be rebooted. Maybe they could've stuck with the spin-off style of storytelling. 22/03/2020

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is an incredibly fun and exciting family film. When Ethan's friends are abducted by aliens he partners up with a rogue adventure seeker named Rex to rescue them. The writing is especially good and takes the series in an interesting direction. And it delivers a positive message, addressing some important issues in a lighthearted and entertaining way. Additionally, the humor is really well-done and delivers a lot of laughs. Also, the musical numbers are extremely energetic with a rich, colorful visual style, and the songs are very catchy (especially "Catchy Song"). A worthy successor to the original, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part delivers a hilarious adventure that all ages can enjoy.

If you may recall, the original Lego Movie was a bolt from the blue, a rude shock to the world of post-millennial animation. Just because your intention is to sell a product doesn't mean you can't have cutting commentary or take the piss out of what you are selling. Subsequent entries have not let me down. The Lego Batman movie was damn good, the Lego Ninjago outing was a decent rental movie, and this picture manages to follow up on the themes of the original and expand on them, albeit in a more predictable manner. We still get plenty of sharp writing from Phil Lord and Chris Miller; Chris Pratt, Will Arnett, and Elizabeth Banks are great as you'd expect; and the visuals, set pieces, soundtrack, and plethora of fun licensed material may encourage viewers to open up a crate of LEGO's and have at it. And the message is kind of interesting. If the original was about a father who really needed to loosen up, this movie is about his son needing to do the same. It's one of those rare modern CGI-filled kids pictures that has about as much to say to the parent as it does juvenile audiences. It's not perfect but it didn't need to be. An easy choice to entertain you and your family on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Maybe my expectations were too high, hell I even loved The LEGO Ninjago Movie, the one in this franchise most people seem to agree is pretty mediocre. But this one just didn't do it for me as much. Is LEGO Movie 2 bad? No, not by a long shot. I still give a positive ranking, but only marginally, and I'm a bit harsher on it than usual just because of the precedent this franchise has set and just how far the ball has been dropped here. If this was where the franchise had started, I'd say it was better than expected for LEGO, but still not great if I'm being totally honest. It falls into a lot of that sequel fatigue of the same, but not as good. They explore different worlds, but only a couple, and they aren't as crazy or interesting as the first one. There's more about the connection between the Lego world and the human world, but after the mindf*** ending of the first this time it just doesn't feel as organic. Yeah there's a nice bit about sibling relationships, but overall the human element just comes out a little weird this time around and raises some bizarre questions. The biggest downer though is the comedy, in that it's just not as funny. The first Lego movie was outright hilarious. This one, at best, is chuckle-worthy. There were 2 or 3 decent laughs, but for the most part it just got small smiles out of me. Having said that, it's still charming and the animation is still absolutely gorgeous. The characters are all likeable, new and old, and kids will definitely love it. It's a shame that it's such a massive step down from the first one, but with the bar set so high even a step down is still a decent movie.

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The Lego Movie

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

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.

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The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part Review

Emmet and wyldstyle are back in a vibrant, likable sequel that's just a little too ambitious for its own good..

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part Gallery

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part opens February 8, 2019 in theatres

The LEGO Movie 2 isn’t quite as funny or as brilliantly executed as the original, but it’s an ambitious, likable sequel. Kids will enjoy it and adults will appreciate that the filmmakers took it seriously, and tried to say something meaningful. Just don’t think about it too much, because the LEGO universe is often weird and confusing.

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, the lego movie 2: the second part.

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Here’s the thing: No sequel could ever match the ingenuity and infectious energy of “The LEGO Movie.” The 2014 animated extravaganza exceeded all of its aesthetic and narrative ambitions. It was full of big ideas and minute details. It made you laugh and cry. It was, in a word, awesome.

Five years later—with a couple of spin-offs in between—we have “The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part.” And while it’s a lot of fun, it isn’t as consistently clever or thrilling as its predecessor. All the components are certainly there: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller , the masterminds behind the original movie, are back this time as screenwriters, while Mike Mitchell (“Shrek Ever After,” “ Trolls ”) has taken over directing duties. There are more wildly entertaining and insanely catchy songs than ever, including the aptly titled “Catchy Song,” which will indeed get stuck inside your head. And most of the lively voice cast from first film has returned—led by Chris Pratt , Elizabeth Banks , Will Arnett and Alison Brie – alongside some welcome new additions, most notably the scene-grabbing Tiffany Haddish .

But something’s just missing here—a crucial piece, if you will, that keeps the whole set from snapping together. Maybe it’s a lack of novelty, pure and simple. But more fundamentally, the revelation at the end of the first “LEGO Movie”—that the entire story was the manifestation of a little boy’s imagination in his basement—is a given here from the beginning. That culminating twist was downright profound back then. This time, we know from the start that certain LEGO creations are the work of that slightly older boy, Finn (played once again by Jadon Sand ), and others are the creations of his pesky little sister (“ The Florida Project ” star Brooklynn Prince ). The conflict between them is rendered in animated form, but live-action reality creeps in from time to time.

It’s still amusing. It’s just not dazzling.

Still, “The LEGO Movie 2” quickly grabs you with its startling depiction of what’s happened in the five years since we last visited Bricksburg, the sunny, colorful place that industrious everyman Emmet (Pratt), rebellious Lucy/Wyldstyle (Banks), high-strung Unikitty (Brie) and the rest of the characters called home. It literally has devolved into a dystopian wasteland, now known as Apocalypseburg, with a healthy wink and nod to the bleak look and feel of “ Mad Max: Fury Road .” (As in the first “LEGO Movie,” much of the fun here comes from catching all the fast and furious pop culture references. Arnett’s LEGO Batman is at the center of an entire hilarious song that analyzes the many cinematic incarnations of the Caped Crusader, for example. Once again, you could not possibly catch all the meta gags in one sitting, but you also probably won’t mind repeated viewings.)

Emmet, however, remains his perky, optimistic self. Efforts to be edgy and moody to impress the badass Lucy are adorably futile. But he finds a real opportunity to prove his worth when Apocalypseburg becomes the target of an invasion by seemingly benign but secretly evil LEGO Duplo creatures from outer space. (We caught a glimpse of these shiny, squeaky characters at the very end of the first “LEGO Movie.”) It’s clear what these larger, simpler blocks represent in the real world; the challenge is finding novel ways to reflect that sibling rivalry in inspired, animated fashion as the action shifts to a glittery, rainbow-hued locale known as the Systar System.

Bits of dialogue are mostly zippy, but Mitchell’s overall pacing drags at times and there’s a repetitious nature to the adventures. And some of the bits just do not land, such as the one involving a LEGO banana that keeps tripping over its own peel. It’s not all that funny the first time, much less several times. Meanwhile, other self-aware jokes are good for big, consistent laughs; besides Arnett’s Batman song, the movie features an extended riff on Pratt’s various other blockbuster performances in the form of a swaggering character named Rex Dangervest. (Rex’s army of velociraptors, who communicate through subtitles, are giddy fun.)

And the film’s feminist streak is certainly welcome, especially given the propensity for big-studio franchises like this to focus on the heroism of their male characters. “The LEGO Movie 2” features a biting exchange in which Lucy acknowledges that she did all the real work in the first film, while Emmet got to bask in all the glory as “The Special.” And Haddish’s character, the shapeshifting Duplo Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi, exists to upend expectations of what villains typically look like and seek.

While these pleasures and insights may not be as overwhelming as they were the first time around, the songs remain a total treat. “The LEGO Movie 2” is actually more of a musical than the original – knowingly so, of course—and it saves the best for last. Once again, you’re going to want to stay through the closing credits to experience a joyous and playful tune about … the greatness of the closing credits. “Super Cool,” featuring Beck, Robyn and the Lonely Island guys, is a genuine expression of appreciation for the hard work that goes into putting all the pieces into place. And it is awesomely catchy.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part movie poster

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)

Rated PG for some rude humor.

106 minutes

Chris Pratt as Emmet Brickowski / Rex Dangervest (voice)

Elizabeth Banks as Lucy "Wyldstyle" (voice)

Will Arnett as Bruce Wayne / Batman (voice)

Tiffany Haddish as Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi (voice)

Stephanie Beatriz as Sweet Mayhem

Alison Brie as Princess Unikitty (voice)

Nick Offerman as MetalBeard (voice)

Charlie Day as Benny the Spaceman (voice)

Margot Robbie as Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn (voice)

Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry / Aquaman (voice)

Channing Tatum as Clark Kent / Superman (voice)

Jonah Hill as Hal Jordan / Green Lantern (voice)

Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (voice)

Jadon Sand as Finn (voice)

Brooklynn Prince as Bianca (voice)

Ben Schwartz as Banarnar (voice)

Will Forte as Abraham Lincoln (voice)

Ralph Fiennes as Alfred Pennyworth (voice)

Jimmy O. Yang as Enthusiastic Zebra (voice)

Jorma Taccone as Larry Poppins (voice)

Will Ferrell as President Business (voice) / Dad

Mike Mitchell

Writer (story by)

Christopher Miller
Matthew Fogel
Clare Knight
Mark Mothersbaugh

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Screen Rant

The lego movie 3 faces the same challenge that ended the $1.1 billion franchise 5 years ago.

The highly-anticipated LEGO Movie 3 is facing the same challenging uphill battle that ultimately halted the $1.1 billion franchise 5 years prior.

The uphill battle for The LEGO Movie 3 to recapture the magic of the first film is acknowledged.
Head of global entertainment admits rushing sequels hurt the franchise's success.
The delayed release of The LEGO Movie 3 may increase its chances of success by allowing for more care and consideration.

The LEGO Movie 3 faces the same difficult challenge that ultimately ended the franchise years ago. The first The LEGO Movie was met with unprecedented success, grossing over $468 million and earning a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The franchise then went on to release three more movies before the rights were ultimately sold from Warner Bros. to Universal. With The LEGO Movie 3 now confirmed , there are high expectations for it to find a way to live up to the expectations set by the first film.

The LEGO Movie franchise has struggled with this in the past, and the LEGO head of global entertainment has admitted that this is due to the fact that the studio raced to make too many movies. This led to dwindling box office numbers and future LEGO Movie plans to be canceled . Now that the franchise is picking back up with the third direct movie, it is essential that it takes into consideration what caused it to halt in the first place.

The LEGO Movie 3 Will Struggle To Recapture The First Movie's Magic

The LEGO Movie 3 faces an uphill battle in trying to recapture the magic of the first movie. What made The LEGO Movie so special was that it was able to deliver something so unexpected. Its freshness set it apart from other animated movies, and its meta-humor and stop-motion animation felt new and exciting. The way that it was able to playfully poke fun at superhero tropes and conventions delighted audiences of all ages and may it be a standout film in the children's movie space.

Replicating that lightning-in-a-bottle effect will be quite challenging. Sequels, in general, often struggle to recapture the original's novelty. The LEGO Movie 2 was unable to satisfy audiences as well as the first one, which proves that it is tricky to make a movie that lives up to the first. The LEGO Movie 3 will have to find a creative way to innovate and surprise viewers once again if it is going to have a chance at truly measuring up to the original.

The LEGO Movie 3 Taking So Long Is A Good Thing

The LEGO Movie franchise has already tried to expand multiple times, through a direct sequel as well as spinoffs. None of these have been able to live up to the first, proving that this kind of thing gets harder to replicate each time it is attempted. This sets up quite a challenge for The LEGO Movie 3 , but the fact that it is taking so long to make gives it a better shot at getting things right.

With The LEGO Movie 3 taking so long, there is more time for the producers to get it right. Having it be rushed would only hurt the overall franchise and make it so that future iterations are basically off the table. It is essential that The LEGO Movie 3 is done with care and consideration, even if that means audiences will have to wait longer to see it come to fruition.

It's Time to Revisit the LEGO Movies

The LEGO Franchise was one of Hollywood's biggest properties before the steam eventually ran out.
That said, big box office hits like Barbie may have offered the clues necessary to bring LEGO movies back to the big screen.
With LEGO's popularity, the future of the franchise could succeed by following simple steps and calling on a quiet demand for an amazing franchise.

The animation industry is making bold moves with unique stylized visual choices dominating the current conversation. However, before the likes of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, one animated film broke new ground, catapulted an incredible creative team, and cemented an already impressive animation studio. That film was, of course, The LEGO Movie , which used a variety of effects to ensure the plastic world felt as real as possible. With Phil Lord and Christopher Miller driving the narrative forward, the original installment to the series catapulted the LEGO brand to a new cinematic echelon.

Since the first big-screen LEGO film, there have been a couple of spinoffs, including The LEGO Batman Movie and the LEGO Ninjago Movie, alongside a sequel to the original hit. But, the animation industry, and indeed cinema in general, requires the presence of the LEGO series once more. The LEGO films have been entirely absent for too long, but there's still an appetite for the brick-based brand. While the LEGO products and video games go from strength to strength, as the toy company widens its target audience, it seems almost criminal that the movie department isn't being given that same boost.

The LEGO Movie Series Has Taken a Break

The LEGO Batman Movie Outdid One of The Flash's Biggest Dark Knight Jokes

Many viewers might have noticed that there has been a significant gap in the LEGO brand's big-screen schedule. There are a couple of different reasons for that. Although there have been plenty of cartoon LEGO series and small-scale films, there haven't been any main movies released since The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part in 2019. While last year, there were some production updates on a third installment to the series , news has been thin on the ground since then. Part of the reason for these delays is linked to the changing production companies. Although Warner Bros. previously had the rights to produce the LEGO films, the intellectual property has since curiously moved over to Universal Studios.

There's talk that another LEGO movie is still in the works and will be released no later than 2025, but there's no telling how recent industry issues have impacted that production process. But there is another reason why there has been a gap since the last entry. The LEGO franchise had made a couple of mistakes , which went on to affect both the box office and the quality of the movies. Although the first LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie delighted audiences and critics alike, The Second Part didn't enjoy anywhere near the box office of its predecessors. What's more, The LEGO Ninjago movie damaged the reputation the series had built, with the film not quite as appealing to all ages as the others had.

Toy Adaptations Are Sure to Be the Next Big Trend

Peacock Announces Animated LEGO Jurassic Park Special

The movie industry is always looking for trends, and the current one appears to be toy adaptations. Sure, video game movies are up there as well, but after Barbie and the return of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles driving incredible product sales, it's clear that brands will be looking for cross-promotional synergy in their upcoming projects. A whole host of toy-based movies have gone into development, from a reimagining of Polly Pocket to an attempt to bring Hot Wheels to the screen. Plenty of comparisons were made between Barbie and The LEGO Movie when the former was released, especially when it came to breaking the fourth wall and treating the toys as... well, toys.

In the huge list of toy adaptations that will be heading to cinemas very soon, there are going to be some surefire hits and forgettable flops. But the LEGO series has already been tested on that grand stage and, despite the missteps, thrived on an overall analysis of its performance. It seems strange that a renaissance period is upon the toy industry in the movie-making space when arguably the production that kicked it all off is now absent from proceedings. Barbie might be the first entry into a new age, but that risk might not have been taken were it not for the universally beloved LEGO Movie. LEGO might be focused on adapting classic films like Hocus Pocus or Back To The Future into exciting sets, but maybe it's time they move back to that domain.

It's Time to Bring the Bricks Back

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's Final Scene Recreated by Fan With LEGO Animation

One of the biggest movies of the year, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, nodded toward Lord and Miller's plastic past. A scene depicting a brick universe, where LEGO Spider-Man was one of the greatest heroes of the Multiverse, made headlines when it was revealed that it was animated by a teenager . The moment is a memorable highlight from the film and did a fantastic job of reminding audiences how much they enjoyed watching LEGO come to life in theaters. In a way, Across The Spider-Verse broke the streak of LEGO being absent on the big screen and indicated that there's a lot more potential in this brand than it has gotten to show so far.

It's definitely time to bring LEGO back to cinemas because of the increase in consumer interest in the product and because of the boom in toy adaptations. But most of all, because audiences are starting to miss it. There were plans beginning to take shape of sequels to The LEGO Batman Movie and further spinoffs depicting characters from previous outings. There was talk of brand-new franchises, like The Billion Brick Race, which would expand the series into new directions. Regardless of the approach, what made the LEGO movies really connect with audiences was the heart that is featured at their core. The live-action elements initially told a moving narrative of a father trying to connect with his kids. And the spinoffs and sequels leaned into those familial relationships alongside the humor and imaginative storytelling that can come from playing with LEGO. The creativity of those early films is what's really being missed, and Universal Studios has to get in gear and drive the brand back into cinemas.

Cast & crew

Piece by Piece

Follow this autobiography where Pharrell Williams shows his imaginative and creative process using Lego, as he constructs Lego models representing his artistic development. Each build reflec... Read all Follow this autobiography where Pharrell Williams shows his imaginative and creative process using Lego, as he constructs Lego models representing his artistic development. Each build reflects a different creative milestone. Follow this autobiography where Pharrell Williams shows his imaginative and creative process using Lego, as he constructs Lego models representing his artistic development. Each build reflects a different creative milestone.

Morgan Neville
Pharrell Williams

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Review: LEGO 75383 Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator (2024)

April 9, 2024 By VaderFan2187 2 Comments

Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator was one of the first LEGO Star Wars sets ever released in 1999, so it’s only fitting that it returns for the LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary with 75383 Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator .

It also coincides with the 25th anniversary of The Phantom Menace , commemorating two occasions with one set. This particular variant appears to be smaller than previous models, but with only a slight reduction in price. Let’s take a closer look and see if this set does a good job of celebrating 25 years of the iconic and beloved LEGO Star Wars line.

75383 Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator will be released worldwide on 1 May 2024 and will be available from LEGO.com, your local LEGO Store and most toy retailers.

This is a guest review from our LEGO Star Wars correspondent Vaderfan . We’ll be taking a look at the entire May 2024 LEGO Star Wars wave in the next few weeks!

Special thanks to LEGO for sending this review copy over.

75383 Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator Set Details

Set Number: 75383 Set Name : Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator Minifigures : 4 (Darth Maul, Qui-Gon Jinn, Anakin Skywalker, Saw Gerrera) Pieces : 640 Retail Price : US$69.99 / AU$89.99 / £59.99 / €69.99 / CAD$89.99 Theme : Star Wars Release Date : 1 May 2024

The box is surprisingly small for a US$70 / AU$90 set, but it is also unusually thick. It sports the new metallic blue border design for the 25th Anniversary sets, with a cutout of the exclusive Saw Gerrera minifigure to tempt you in.

The back of the box shows the Sith Infiltrator in its landed mode, along with a recreation of the scene where Maul charges at Qui-Gon and Anakin on his swoop bike. Some additional photos of the play features are also included.

Inside are seven numbered plastic bags and an instruction manual. Thankfully no sticker sheet is included, although I am starting to wonder when we will start to see the new paper bags in LEGO Star Wars sets.

Building Process

Bag 1 is the smallest bag, building Darth Maul, his swoop bike, and three probe droids.

Bag 2 begins construction of the base of the Sith Infiltrator, using some Technic bricks for stability.

Bag 3 includes Qui-Gon and adds some more plates to the model.

Bag 4 fleshes out the front of the nose section.

Bag 5 includes Anakin Skywalker, and adds some more detail around the cockpit area.

Bag 6 finishes off the cockpit and the surrounding bodywork.

Finally, bag 7 includes Saw Gerrera and finishes off the model by adding its four winglets.

75383 Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator Minifigures

First up are Qui-Gon Jinn and young Anakin Skywalker, both of which have been updated slightly for this set. Qui-Gon uses the same hair piece from 1999, but has a new face print with a slight smile and some grey highlights on his beard.

Anakin uses the newer Harry Potter hairpiece in dark tan which looks fantastic, and has a smiling expression as well.

Both of these minifigures come with alternate expressions for when they are ambushed by Darth Maul.

Qui-Gon comes with a dark tan cloth poncho, but still has his robes printed on his torso and legs underneath in case you want to use the minifigure without the poncho.

Unfortunately, the colour matching for the skin tone on the torso and the tan robes on the legs leave much to be desired – printing errors like these have plagued LEGO minifigures for years and it is disappointing to see they still have not been fixed.

There’s a new Darth Maul minifigure as well, and the graphic designers made the interesting choice of removing his pupils, to match other minifigures with colored eyes (Ahsoka Tano, Hera Syndulla).

I think it looks reasonable, and the rest of his robes look good too. His rubbery horned headpiece originated in 2011 but still works brilliantly today.

Maul is armed with a double-bladed lightsaber, though some fans have expressed they would like the new Monkie Kid hilt element to be used instead of the regular lightsaber hilt piece, since Maul’s lightsaber hilt in-universe is longer than your typical lightsaber hilt.

Saw Gerrera is the exclusive 25th anniversary minifigure included in the set, and funnily enough, he does use the Monkie Kid hilt element for his staff.

His face print and hairpiece both work well, and his armour has really nice printed details, though the accuracy of the dark green base colour is debatable.

In addition to his chest armour piece, Gerrera also comes with a printed cloth element that looks really neat.

Unfortunately the design of the chest armor piece means that the cloth cape tends to stick out way too far back, which looks kind of odd from most angles.

Saw Gerrera comes with a black display stand with a printed 4×6 plate showing the 25th Anniversary logo.

On the whole, the minifigure selection is alright. The included minifigures are good, but for a US$70 set I would have liked one or two more – maybe Captain Panaka, Padmé or Shmi Skywalker?

The Completed Model

Moving on to the builds, let’s start with Darth Maul’s swoop bike. It has an accurate dark tan colour scheme, but is a very simplistic build, made up of only 17 pieces.

While some curved slopes are used, it still fails to recreate the smooth rounded shape of the in-universe Bloodfin speeder.

Darth Maul can sit on top, but there aren’t any stud connections for the legs so he has to be clipped onto the handlebar. At least the scale is pretty reasonable between the figure and the speeder.

Now on to the Scimitar , or the Sith Infiltrator. This version is smaller than the last couple of iterations, measuring just 27cm (11″) long, but I think it works – there’s no need for the model to be unnecessarily large if the smaller version still fits all the necessary features.

The front view looks great, and several relatively new pieces have been used to create more accurate shaping for the two-colored design.

Here’s a comparison of the in-universe ship. The designers did a pretty good job mimicking the patterns and shapes of this complex craft design, although the nose is a bit too thick.

Still, the model looks reasonable from a low angle considering the designers had to pack in Technic pieces for stability and include some play features.

The rear of the model is finished off nicely too, and there are a pair of trans-lime green engine thrusters around the rear hatch.

The Sith Infiltrator has folding landing gear at the front, with one landing strut on each side. These support the model when the winglets are folded into the landing configuration.

These landing struts can be folded away for flight mode, and they look good in either layout.

The rest of the nose is also quite sleek, using some gentle curved slopes for shaping.

This area hides another play feature – a pair of spring-loaded shooters are integrated into the nose.

Pressing on a pair of ingot tiles on the top of the bodywork will fire off the missiles – a great feature that has been integrated smoothly without comprising the Sith Infiltrator’s sleek aesthetic.

The trigger tiles that launch the missiles are integrated perfectly into the body design – you wouldn’t even know they were part of a play feature!

Higher up on the bodywork sits this strip that leads to the cockpit.

This section hides another play feature – hinge the sub-assembly forward and it reveals a place to store the three Sith probe droids.

These fit in smoothly with no issue, and the feature is nicely integrated.

The underside of the model reveals a trapdoor mechanism, held back with a unique mechanism that I have not seen in an official LEGO set before.

Pulling back on this 1×2 rounded plate releases the trapdoor and causes the probe droids to fall out of the ship’s underside.

A closer look at the underside reveals this subassembly is spring-loaded thanks to a rubber Technic connector towards the front. The dark red tile sticks out just slightly over the edge of the trapdoor, ensuring it stays shut.

When you use your finger to push back on the 1×2 rounded tile, it temporarily pushes down on the rubber Technic connector, moving the dark red tile back just enough for the trapdoor to clear it.

It’s a unique redesign of the commonly seen trapdoor play feature, and takes up less space than a traditional axle-below-trapdoor design would need.

The probe droids themselves are very simple and unremarkable builds, but they do their job fine.

The Sith Infiltrator has four winglets at the back that can be folded outwards for flight mode. While these lack the curvature of the in-universe craft, the model still looks quite good overall.

The rear looks neat as well – reminds me of the TIE Advanced Prototype.

There is a narrow section of the bodywork just in front of the cockpit that is perfect for your fingers to grab, making the model suitably swooshable.

The winglets themselves are asymmetrical and are fairly simple assemblies, just connected via click hinges.

This section of the model is nicely detailed, with some curved slopes and a lot of smooth, tiled surfaces.

The cockpit itself also looks reasonable – the trans-red tiles represent the cockpit glass and the 6×6 printed dish on the top looks good.

The spherical shape has been recreated well at the rear, thanks to some 3×3 corner curved slope bricks.

The cockpit opens up by hinging open four sub-assemblies – this grants you better access to the interior.

Inside there is space for Darth Maul, his swoop bike, and his lightsaber.

The speeder bike actually slots into the cockpit with Maul attached, a feature available on previous versions of this ship but one that still works nicely.

Inside the cockpit there’s a printed 1×2 slope for the controls, along with a pair of clips for his lightsaber.

With the swoop bike placed inside, the handlebars double as a control yoke for the Sith Infiltrator – a neat integration.

Final Thoughts

There are many positives for this set – the model looks good, integrates all the necessary play features well despite its reduced size, and it has some nice minifigures (especially the 25th anniversary Saw Gerrera figure).

However, a huge limiting factor is the price. US$70 feels far too expensive for a set of this size – even the box and minifigure selection is smaller than you’d expect from a US$70 set.

This feels like it would’ve been a US$50 set a couple of years ago, maybe US$60 at a stretch, but I cannot recommend this set at full price.

Nonetheless, this is still a good rendition of the Sith Infiltrator, with nice aesthetics and play features.

Build [4] – The model is designed well and looks good, plus has some fun features and almost no wasted space. Minifigures [3] – Four minifigures in a set of this size is too low. The Saw Gerrera minifigure is a highlight, but the other three have room for improvement. Real Value [2] – Much too expensive for US$70. The Australian price (AU$90) is more reasonable, but this set feels overpriced in most regions. Innovation [3] – Nothing super crazy but the included play features are good and I like the unique design of the trapdoor feature. Keepability [3] – A decent set that will be remembered for being part of the 25th Anniversary lineup, but I do expect LEGO to release better and improved versions of the Sith Infiltrator in future.

Rating and Score: 3/5 ★★★✰✰

Thanks for reading! 75383 Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator will be available starting 1 May 2024 from LEGO.com and from most toy stores.

To get the latest LEGO news and LEGO Reviews straight in your inbox, subscribe via email, or you can also follow on Google News , or socials on Facebook , Instagram (@jayong28), Twitter or subscribe to the Jay’s Brick Blog Youtube channel .

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