Special: The LEGO Movie Review

We've all played with those brightly coloured bricks in our youth. Whether or not we were building the highest tower we possibly could before it tipped over or if we got a kit and were following the instructions so we could build our own space ship just like the one on the box, we all have (mostly) fond memories of LEGO. It's a highly recognizable name brand, but how would it translate into the movie world? The LEGO movie gave us that answer...

But before we jump into whether the movie worked or not let's delve a little deeper... Contrary to popular opinion this is not the first LEGO movie, they have previously used popular icons in order to make LEGO movies similar to what they did in the video game realm producing hits like "LEGO Star Wars" and "LEGO Batman" which translated to films "LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out" and "LEGO Batman: DC Superheroes Unite". Now granted this is the first theatrical attempt which does mean a higher budget and conversely higher stakes. Even higher when you consider that animated fare is generally not released in February. Over the last 4 years we've seen 2 animated films open in February and take home more than 50 million. Last year's "Escape From Planet Earth" (57 million) and 2011's Gnomeo And Juliet (99 million). Normally it's not a bad idea to open up family films apart from others but with Frozen and The Nut Job still holding well nothing is guaranteed even to a major player like LEGO.

So what exactly is The LEGO movie about? Essentially we follow our hero(?) Emmett as he is the chosen one to save the LEGO world from the evil Lord/President Business who plans to use the deadly Kragle to end the world. The only problem is no one believes Emmett to be the chosen one, hell he's not even a master builder and until he meets the attractive Wyldstyle he has always followed President Business' rule as law. He's always been generic and never stood out in a crowd and has to have the burden of stopping this evil mastermind with no one believing in him and his past-life friends never actually liking him or even caring that he's missing. Luckily Emmett isn't alone however, on top of Wyldstyle he receives a helping hand from Batman, Vitruvious, Space Man Benny and many more colourful... Err... Yellow characters.

Now my thoughts are simply an opinion of what I got out of the movie... It can be as varied from person to person as what that person would create given a box of LEGO, but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Did I over-hype it? A bit... Maybe. But that didn't take anything away from the film experience in general. It could have very easily rested on the fact that LEGO is a well known name brand and regardless of what they throw on the screen some people would go see it, but instead the creators became fully invested in the project and their hard work showed, from the beautiful animation to the wonderful characters you were fully pulled in. It gets a little convoluted in the third act but as we watch the two scenarios play out side by side we see the film in a new profound way.

In short the LEGO movie is not without flaws, but considering most movies like this simply try to use the film as a lengthy ad to see the merchandise (**cough**Transformers**cough**) The LEGO movie went above and beyond and instead of being an hour and a half of corporate crap with just enough slapstick to allow for 5 years olds to beg their bewildered parents into buying officially licensed merchandise, we got a good solid movie that had a laugh a minute for kids and adults alike that also had more heart than most of what major studios are putting out these days all in a wonderful toy world.

I give The LEGO Movie four bricks out of five.

Monthly Movie Madness: February

First Friday of the month kids! Let's look at what is hitting a multiplex near you soon...

5. The Bag Man: Though De Niro and Cusack are no longer the box office draws they once were (Cusack's last movie that he lead and made $50+ mil at the box office was Hot Tub Time Machine) though the thought of a gritty thriller with the pair is enough to give The Bag Man a chance.

Synopsis: THE BAG MAN is a taut crime thriller that follows the story of Jack (John Cusack), a tough guy with chronic bad luck but human touches. Hired by Dragna (Robert De Niro), a legendary crime boss to complete a simple but unusual task, the plot centers around the anticipated arrival of Dragna who has summoned Jack and a host of shady characters to a remote location for unknown reasons. Over the course of a long and violently eventful night awaiting Dragna's arrival, Jack's path crosses that of Rivka (Rebecca Da Costa), a stunningly beautiful woman whose life becomes physically and emotionally entangled with Jack's. When Dragna finally arrives on the scene there are sudden and extreme consequences for all.

4. Non-Stop: Oh hey! Liam Neeson is shooting things again! Derivative? Sure. Absolutely awesome? Damn straight. Neeson is a big time box office draw. His last movie to fail to hit $50 million was all the way back in 2010 when The Next Three Days was released, that was 8 movies ago... 9 if you include this month's Lego Movie which is a guaranteed success at this point.

Synopsis: Global action star Liam Neeson stars in NON-STOP, a suspense thriller played out at 40,000 feet in the air. During a transatlantic flight from New York City to London, U.S. Air Marshal Bill Marks (Neeson) receives a series of cryptic text messages demanding that he instruct the government to transfer $150 million into an off-shore account. Until he secures the money, a passenger on his flight will be killed every 20 minutes. Non-Stop, which reunites Neeson with Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra and producer Joel Silver, co-stars Golden Globe Award winner Julianne Moore.

3. The Wind Rises: From acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki (Director and/or screenwriter of pretty much every Studio Ghibli movie ever released including Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro) comes his swan song as The Wind Rises will be his last feature. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt lend their voices to the hit from film fests around the world as Miyazaki pays tribute to Japanese engineer Jiro Horikoshi.

Synopsis: Jiro—inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni—dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes. Nearsighted from a young age and thus unable to become a pilot, Jiro joins the aircraft division of a major Japanese engineering company in 1927. His genius is soon recognized, and he grows to become one of the world’s most accomplished airplane designers. He meets and falls in love with Nahoko, and grows and cherishes his friendship with his colleague Honjo. A tremendous innovator, Jiro leads the aviation world into the future.

2. RoboCop: Had I not have liked Dredd this would not have been on this list, but that movie proved bad movies can be remade to be good.

Synopsis: In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years - and it's meant billions for OmniCorp's bottom line. Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it. When Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) - a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit - is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp sees their chance to build a part-man, part-robot police officer. OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine pursuing justice.

1. The LEGO Movie: The animation looks simple yet beautiful, the voice cast is as funny and charming as one could hope for. The trailer depicts laugh-a-minute gags that promises to be just as entertaining for adults as it is for kids. What's not to love? Oh and BT Dubs... The movie currently boats a fantastic 97% score on Rottentomatoes.com... That's on par with Gravity and better than American Hustle, Frozen and 12 Years A Slave.

Synopsis: "The LEGO (R) Movie" is the first-ever, full-length theatrical LEGO (R) adventure. The original 3D computer animated story follows Emmet (Chris Pratt) an ordinary, rules- following, perfectly average LEGO minifigure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world. He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared.