The LEGO Movie is a 2014 computer-animated comedy film written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a story by Lord, Miller, and Dan and Kevin Hageman. Based on the LEGO line of construction toys, its story focuses on Emmet, an ordinary LEGO minifigure who finds himself helping a resistance movement stop a tyrannical businessman from gluing everything in the Lego world into his vision of perfection. Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson, and Morgan Freeman provide their voices for the film's main characters. The film was dedicated to Kathleen Fleming, the former director of entertainment development of the Lego company, following her death in Cancún, Mexico, in April 2013.
The first film produced by the Warner Animation Group, The LEGO Movie was released on February 7, 2014 by Warner Bros. Pictures. It became a critical and commercial success, grossing $468 million worldwide against its $60 million budget, and received praise for its animation, acting, story, and humor. The film won the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Animated Feature, and the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film; it was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for "Everything Is Awesome".
The film has since expanded into a major franchise which ties into the LEGO brand, such as the sequel The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019); two spin-off films The LEGO Batman Movie (2017) and The LEGO Ninjago Movie (2017); the 4D film The LEGO Movie: 4D – A New Adventure; and the 2-D animated television series Unikitty!
Plot[]
In the Lego universe, the wizard Vitruvius attempts to protect a superweapon called the "Kragle" from the evil Lord Business. He fails to do so, but prophesies that a person called "the Special" will find the Piece of Resistance capable of stopping the Kragle.
Eight and a half years later, a construction worker named Emmet Brickowski comes across a woman named Wyldstyle, who is searching for something after hours at Emmet's construction site. When he investigates, Emmet falls into a hole and finds the Piece of Resistance. Compelled to touch it, Emmet experiences vivid visions and passes out. He awakens with the Piece of Resistance attached to his back in the custody of Bad Cop, Business' lieutenant. There, Emmet learns of Business' plans to freeze the world with the Kragle, a tube of Krazy Glue with the label partially rubbed out. Wyldstyle rescues Emmet, believing him to be the Special, and takes him to meet Vitruvius. Emmet learns that she and the wizard are Master Builders—people capable of building anything they need without instruction manuals—who oppose Business' attempts to suppress their creativity. Though disappointed to find Emmet is not a Master Builder, Wyldstyle and Vitruvius are convinced of his potential when he recalls visions of a human named "the Man Upstairs".
Emmet, Wyldstyle, and Vitruvius evade Bad Cop's forces with the aid of Batman. They attend a council of the Master Builders, who are unimpressed with Emmet and refuse to fight Business. Bad Cop's forces attack and capture everyone except for Emmet and his friends. Emmet devises a team plan to infiltrate Business' headquarters and disarm the Kragle. As the plan nearly succeeds, he and his friends are captured and imprisoned, and Vitruvius is killed by Lord Business, who throws the Piece of Resistance into abyss and sets his headquarters to self-destruct and leaves everyone to die. Vitruvius reveals he made up the prophecy as he dies, but soon reappears to Emmet as a ghost and tells him it is his self-belief that makes him the Special. Strapped to the self-destruct mechanism's battery, Emmet flings himself off the edge in the tower and saves his friends and the Master Builders. Inspired by Emmet's sacrifice, Wyldstyle rallies the Lego people across the universe to use whatever creativity they have to build machines and weapons to fight Business' forces.
Emmet now finds himself in the real world, where the events of the story are being played out in a basement by a boy, Finn, on his father's Lego set. The father—revealed as "the Man Upstairs"—chastises his son for ruining the set by creating hodgepodges of different playsets, and proceeds to permanently glue his perceived perfect creations together. Realizing the danger his friends are in, Emmet wills himself to move and gains Finn's attention. Finn returns Emmet and the Piece of Resistance to the set, where Emmet now possesses the powers of a Master Builder and confronts Business. Meanwhile, Finn's father looks at his son's creations and realizes that Finn had based the villainous Business on him. Through a speech Emmet gives Business, Finn tells his father that he is very special and has the power to change everything. Finn's father reconciles with his son, which plays out as Business having a change of heart, capping the Kragle with the Piece of Resistance, and ungluing his victims with mineral spirits. As a result of the father allowing Finn's younger sister to join them in playing with his Lego sets, Duplo aliens arrive in the Lego universe and announce their plans to threaten destruction.
Cast[]
- Chris Pratt as Emmet Brickowski, an everyman and construction worker from Bricksburg who is initially mistaken for the Special.
- Will Ferrell as Lord Business, an evil businessman and tyrant of Bricksburg and the Lego Universe who is the company president of the Octan Corporation under the name President Business.
- Ferrell also plays "The Man Upstairs", a Lego collector and Finn's father in the live-action part of the film.
- Elizabeth Banks as Lucy / Wyldstyle, a "tough as nails" and tech-savvy fighter who is one of the Master Builders.
- Will Arnett as Bruce Wayne / Batman, a DC Comics superhero who is a Master Builder.
- Nick Offerman as Metal Beard, a pirate and Master Builder seeking revenge on Lord Business for taking his body parts following an earlier encounter and causing him to remake his body from bricks.
- Alison Brie as Princess Unikitty, a unicorn-horned cat and Master Builder who lives in Cloud Cuckoo Land.
- Charlie Day as Benny, a "1980-something space guy" who is one of the Master Builders and is obsessed with building spaceships.
- Liam Neeson as Bad Cop / Good Cop, a police officer with a two-sided head and a split personality who serves Lord Business as the commander of the Super Secret Police. The character's name and personality are based on the good cop/bad cop interrogation method which is briefly shown in the film.
- Neeson also voices Pa Cop, a police officer who is Bad Cop/Good Cop's father and Ma Cop's husband.
- Morgan Freeman as Vitruvius, a blind old wizard who is one of the Master Builders.
- Channing Tatum as Superman, a DC Comics superhero who is one of the Master Builders
- Jonah Hill as Green Lantern, a DC Comics superhero who is one of the Master Builders
- Cobie Smulders as Wonder Woman, a DC Comics superhero who is one of the Master Builders.
- Jadon Sand as Finn, an eight-and-a-half-year-old boy who is the son of "The Man Upstairs" in the live-action part of the film.
In addition, Anthony Daniels and Billy Dee Williams reprise their Star Wars roles as C-3PO and Lando Calrissian respectively, with Keith Ferguson voicing Han Solo (whom he previously voiced in Robot Chicken and Mad). Shaquille O'Neal portrays a Lego version of himself who is a Master Builder alongside two generic members of the 2002 NBA All-Stars.
Director Christopher Miller voices as a TV announcer for the Octan comedy show Where Are My Pants?