Critics all over are raving about new The Lego Movie. It is assumed that it will be the first big blockbuster of the year 2014 in the box office. In a box office market where Frozen has dominated the family slate for over 11 weeks (with an honorable mention for The Nut Job), The Lego Movie looks primed to walk away with 2014′s biggest opening to date.
Similar to the Lego Star Wars “brickfilm” shorts and Bionicle direct-to-video films, The Lego Movie employs CG animation to mimic the appearance of a world made entirely out of Lego bricks and populated by the traditional yellow mini-figures. This approach lacks the tactile pleasures of stop-motion, but nonetheless creates a slick, vivid aesthetic. In a city that operates like clockwork, cheerful but lonely construction worker Emmet (Chris Pratt) goes about his days unnoticed by those around him. Soon, however, he stumbles into a big adventure, accidentally fulfilling the prophecy of a wizard (Morgan Freeman) at odds with Lord Business (Will Ferrell, doing a mixture of Mugatu and Megamind), a dystopian overlord determined to maintain the rigid borders between Lego realms and quash creative building. Rescued by the mysterious Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), Emmet journeys between worlds that correspond to familiar Lego-set themes, while a class of remaining “Master Builders” unite to destroy the villain’s secret, relic weapon.