The LEGO Movie: A Chuckle-Fest

Ah, the second movie I've seen in a month...and it's another kids' movie.

Don't you judge me.

That being said, The LEGO Movie was exactly what I was hoping it would be: a tongue-in-cheek comedy for both kids and adults. The entire time I was watching it, I kept thinking about how much it reminded me of another recent kids' movie that is near and dear to my heart: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Star-studded voice talents, ridiculous humor, kid-mindedness, and so many giggles - I loved it!

Ahh! Run! It's Lord Business!

The movie starts out with Lord Business (voiced by Will Ferrell) stealing the all-powerful weapon known as "The Kraggle" and a prophecy made by Vitruvius (voiced by Morgan Freeman) that there will be a man who can stop the Kraggle with the "piece of resistance" who will be the most special, most interesting, and most powerful Master Builder of all. Cut to LEGO Land, where our man, Emmett Brickowoski (voiced by Chris Pratt) follows daily instructions on what to do, how to stay happy, and basically who to be -- until he stumbles upon the "piece of resistance." He then finds himself implicated in a race to stop Lord/President Business from using the Kraggle (you're going to die when you find out what it actually is) to freeze the entire city.

Behold. The piece of resistance.

I really liked this movie. And it's not just my affinity for stop-motion movies (although, to be honest, that helped - yay stop-motion movies!). It's got a clever and interesting plot, a great commentary on the importance of being different, and a metric TON of familiar Lego figures, including (but not limited to) Batman, Superman, Dumbledore, Gandalf (who have a hilarious bit, I might add..), Random 80s Space Guy, Abraham Lincoln, C-3PO, Shakespeare, and a lot of others. Between pop culture references, goofs, and renamed objects that have entered their world ("Bring me the po-leesh ray-move-air of nai-eel!") this movie is solid gold.

*Disclaimer: this movie is not actually made of solid gold.

The fact that it is entirely made up of actual Legos cannot be overlooked either. (Can't imagine how much time pre-production took...) Additionally, the plot point about "Master Builders," who can imagine up different things to make totally on the spot, vs. those like Emmett who just follow the instructions, is a great commentary on how kids actually play with Legos, and ends up basically qualifying both methods.

Totally ridiculous, yet well put together, I would highly recommend The LEGO Movie. Full-on chuckle-fest. I don't think there was a span of more than 5 minutes that I wasn't laughing the whole thing through.

8 outa 10.

I am ashamed to be adding a link here instead of imbedding the actual video, but Warner Brothers is stupid and won't allow embedding. Dumb Warner Brothers. 

The Other Guys

So went and saw The Other Guys with the good ole Mom and broseph after eating an incredible amount of sushi last night and I've gotta say, it wasn't too bad. The Other Guys is a classic Will Ferrell vehicle that knows it's silly and embraces it. While it's no Step-brothers, The Other Guys starts off in a way that has the audience cracking up. Samuel L Jackson and Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) are hilarious as two over-blown caricatures of action heroes. When their luck takes a turn for the worse, it is up to the "Other Guys", Allen Gamble (Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz, in a typical odd-couple set-up. Allen, the quiet and reasonable (and ridiculous like only Ferrell can be) cop who drives a Prius, and Terry, the ex-detective who is convinced everything leads to drugs, are pretty damn funny as the movie's main characters. Ferrell, as always, delivers what can only be ad-libbedly hilarious dialogue (more notable in my memory is a certain Irish folk song he sings in a bar) and basically carries the movie in a way similar to that of his lesser films, like Semi-Pro (2008) or Kicking and Screaming (2005). unfortunately, Ferrell's one-liners have a tendency to outshine any type of rehearsed dialogue that the rest of the cast seems to be going on. However, Wahlberg (and a lot of the other more minore characters) are not to be slighted. While Ferrell has a lot of the one-liners, Wahlberg's ignorance at how to become heroes can be downright funny, and he really puts in a job well done as an actor who doesn't normally play comedic roles. Overall, the film had me chuckling at the characters' horrible interaction and their countless mishaps, but nothing really stood out and the overall plot dragged a little. Despite car chases and such, my attention span wained a little towards the end. Though I remember a lot of the hilarious one-liners, the plot was mapped out among so many jokes it was a little hard to pick up on, but this movie is mostly fun anyway. And if you don't understand the plot, wait until the credits. I would recommend this movie to any Will Ferrell fan, but if you only go to the movies three times a year, I'd save this one on your Netflix queue. (Also look for outstanding bit parts played by Michael Keaton as the police captain and Eva Mendes as Ferrell's wife!)