The LEGO Movie (2014)
It could be argued that The LEGO Movie effectively re-defined the children’s movie for a new generation. Based around the popular construction toy, the film follows ordinary Lego minifigure Emmet as he tries to save the universe from the world domination plans of Lord Business. Building upon the growing popularity of Lego short films, released online and on DVD, the film was written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and was the first feature to come from Warner Animation Group.
But, it was the nature of the film that made it groundbreaking. Using a heart-warming story celebrating the power of creativity and unique ideas, the filmmakers created a production that mirrored the sensation of playing with Lego – that semi-serious feeling of building something new, important, but most of all, fun – and projected that sensation into each and every frame.
Far from being a feature-length commercial for a child’s play-thing, The LEGO Movie employs humour and levity, but also drama and peril. Everything is made of LEGO, and sometimes, the spaceship needs a raspberry-blowing sound-effect to represent its engines. Against a budget of $60 million, the film earned $468.1 million – and it did so for one simple reason. It arrived as a movie that could be loved by everyone – young and old. The young were inspired, while the old reminisced, and everyone sang the catchy theme song, stating “Everything Is Awesome.”
The production engaged with fans, launching a LEGO-user contest to design a LEGO vehicle to appear in the film. A toy store LEGO shortage was reported by the end of the summer season, and a sequel was announced before the first film had even rolled out to theatres nationwide. There has even been the announcement of a spin-off film for The LEGO Movie version of Batman, voiced by Will Arnett. Without doubt, The LEGO Movie took the mould for children’s films, broke it into brick-sized pieces, and left behind a metaphorical instruction booklet for others to go ahead and invent their own.
