The Lego Movie

The Lego Movie (2014)

96% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 198 reviews)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

Starring: The voices of Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, Will Arnett

From: Warner Brothers/Village Roadshow

Yep... yep. Here's one of those review that most will strongly disagree with, and some will think that I am like Armond White. I usually don't watch movies like this but it doesn't mean I hate all of them; I've seen the Toy Story films as an adult (the first one, also as a teenager) and I rate all those 4 stars or higher as they're great movies. This one, though... at least already I got some support on Letterboxd for my against the grain review, from a person that said he couldn't even finish the movie.

I am sure everyone by now knows of the plot (and likely knows that there's a big plot twist, even if they don't fully know what it's all about) so let me skip ahead to the lengthy Letterboxd review and I'll mention that I'll return tomorrow afternoon with a shorter review.

I hope this rating (only 2 out of 5 stars) doesn't ruin anyone's long Labor Day weekend...

Here I am (rock you like a hurricane)... but no really, here I am finally watching a movie Letterboxd went wild for this year, the majority of the people I follow here having seen it already and most love it; me, I had no idea what to expect as I actually didn't think the trailers were all that great and I never really played with Lego's as a kid. But, as I haven't seen too many films from this year that would be appropriate for a Top 10 of this year list, I had to check it out on the chance I would put it on the list I'll do early next year.

Well, it's not going on the list. Let me explain why in a detailed (& hopefully not too long) manner.

I may have been hampered by how I heard so many people giving it so much praise and I had my expectations too high. It may have been that all the films these two directors have done, when I've seen their trailers I didn't think any of them were funny at all (that's why this is the first film of theirs I've even seen... and I don't think I'll see the others) and I've seen many of the “funny” gags elsewhere AND knew there would be a big plot twist and I just knew its basics... maybe the deck was stacked against me.

Or maybe I just thought the movie was more annoying than funny, with intolerable aggravating characters, an unbelievable buffoon for a “hero”, and “humor” that I mostly did not enjoy. What people find to be funny is SO subjective and throughout the years I've learned that my tastes there are usually pretty far off from most other people.

It is in fact ironic to me that in a movie preaching not conforming to what everyone does (before then changing its message quite a bit) that my opinion of it would be way off from how most people feel about it. Believe me, I am all for nonconformity and dissing the mass-market commercialization that is ever-present in today's society-especially in the United States and its entertainment field-and telling people not to go with the flow.

It's just that I did not really enjoy the film or was entertained by it. I was mostly just irritated by it, wondering what it is about this that most people love and yet I can't seem to grasp; I seem to think that way more often than a lot of people as I am a pretty “different” and “odd” individual in general but I really do wish I could see what's so special about this. All the pop culture references and bits actually reminded me of f'ing Family Guy, which is not a positive.

Oh, and I'd have to go into spoiler territory to discuss specific issues; however, I can say that once I saw what the big plot twist exactly was... it only made things worse and eye-rolling cheesy rather than did anything to warm my heart or make me feel good about life... or fit the story being told, for that matter.

At least I can say that there were some amusing gags and the way the movie looked was great; at least I can appreciate the aesthetic aspects of it.

Last year while reading about the film I was not only surprised that it was a thing (then disappointed by the fact it was a thing) but that it'd have such an elaborate plot. With that I hoped it would be worth seeing. Alas... if everyone else loves this I am OK with that, as I am OK with having my opinion and thinking that not Everything is Awesome with this motion picture.