The Lego Movie

The Lego Movie
Directed by: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Starring: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman, Will Arnett
Synopsis: Emmet (Chris Pratt), the hapless hero, becomes the Special, the one destined to save the Lego Universe from Lord Business’ (Will Farrell) evil plan of world domination.
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5


             The Lego Movie is essentially a one and a half hour long commercial. It’s a tongue-in-cheek, self-aware comedy that slyly winks at adults and doles out the laughs for kids of every age. It succeeds masterfully at two levels: Being highly entertaining, and making the viewer want to play with Legos.
             
           We begin with Lord/President Business (Will Farrell) setting up the plot by stealing the Kragle (we don’t know what this is until the start of the third act), and announcing that he’ll use it to destroy the Lego Universe. His nemesis Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman, naturally), a Wizard-like figure, delivers a prophecy that “The Special” will find the Piece of Resistance and foil his plans. Our next introduction is to Emmet (Chris Pratt), who is bright and cheery and bouncing off the walls with vigor. Basically, Chris Pratt in Lego Minifig form. Some have described him as a Golden Retriever in human form, and that seems rather apt here.
             
           Emmet goes about his day, following the instruction manual given to every Lego citizen by President Business. Everyone does exactly as they’re told, watches what they’re told to watch, and listens to the music they’re told to listen to. Ironic, no? All of this is done to the tune of “Everything Is Awesome,” a song played on repeat, presumably everyday, and is also presumably the only song, ever. At the end of his workday Emmet sees Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) digging through the bricks, looking for something. He’s about to follow the instructions and report her when he sees her face and naturally falls head over heels in love. He also falls literally and finds the Piece of Resistance. And so begins our hero’s journey through adventure, doubt, hope, acceptance, and finally victory. It’s a classic story arc, so why mess with it, right?
             
           The beauty of the movie is that it is completely aware of what it’s trying to tell us and the irony of the way that it’s conveying it’s message. Basically, the moral of the story is to not get stuck playing by the rules so much that creativity and originality get lost. It creates a nice balance between teamwork and individuality, following the instructions and letting your imagination run wild. It preaches moderation in all things. All of this is quite heavy for a children’s animated movie, but it’s handled in such a delicate way as to let viewers come to their own conclusion. It doesn’t feel forced or contrived by any means.
                       
           The dialogue is skillfully crafted and perfectly delivered. Wyldstyle in particular has some rather fun bits, especially when Emmet isn’t paying attention. She’s monologuing, going over everything the audience already knows, so rather than waste the screen time or the talent they allow Emmet to zone out and imagine Wyldstyle voicing over herself in a seductive manner, “Blah blah, blah, plot, backstory, blah, blah, exposition…” etc. And you get to see just how cheeky this movie will really be. Emmet has his own almost-but-not-quite ah-ha moments, which translate nicely for adult viewers.
             
           Probably the best part of the film is the inspiration it offers its viewers. It is truly a successful advertisement for Lego’s as by the end of the movie you feel that even you, total noob that you are, could possibly build something vaguely spaceship adjacent. I admit, I’m a fan of the bricks, so I’m always battling the urge to go purchase an absurdly expensive set and indulge in hours of building fun, but I’m no Master Builder. Without those instruction booklets I feel lost, helpless, and overwhelmed. The movie, however, lets you know that that’s okay. Play around and experiment, build something, anything, and see what happens. It’s not like they’ll be stuck like that forever! Which, again, is the whole moral of the story. They’re meant to be fun, an expression of creativity. You can let their instructions guide you, but you can also revel in your own creativity, even if the end result isn’t great. It’s about the journey.

           Overall, the movie is a fun, cheeky adventure, for both kids and adults. Not bad for a really long commercial!
  

Divergent

Title: Divergent

Directed by: Neil Burger

Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet

Description via IMDb: In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she's Divergent and won't fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too late.

My rating: 2.5/5

The movie “Divergent” is based on the book by the same name. In it a post-apocolyptic society has divided itself into “Factions.” Based on inherent personality traits and beliefs Factions provide clear cut guides as to who everyone is, how everyone should act, and what roles everyone plays in society at large. On the face, it’s a pretty cool system and it seems to be working for our characters.

The movie revolves around a young girl, Tris, who has to choose a faction to belong to. She makes a bold choice and goes with one she wasn’t born into, which, gauging by the gasps of her audience at the Choosing Ceremony, is not common. Her new Faction: Dauntless, the thrill-seekers, the warriors, and the guardians of the wall surrounding their city.

The whole movie follows her through her 10 weeks of initiation. We see her train, make friends, deal with a power-trippy leader who is reckless and has zero compassion, and finally, we see her fall for the broody hot guy who’s training them. Seriously, that whole thing takes up most of the movie. It’s not until the last 30 minutes or so that anything remotely interesting plot-wise happens (and even then it seems like an afterthought, just shoved in to get the action moving).

But, what I think the worst part is, even the meat of the movie seems superficial. It just wasn’t able to capture how difficult her training was as compared to the book. How she struggled emotionally and physically. She got the crap beat out of her, bones broken, and all we get in the movie is that she was unconscious for a day (MINUS EVEN BRUISING FROM SAID BEATING!!!).

It also wasn’t able to demonstrate how different Tris really was from the other characters. The movie is called “Divergent” because that’s what she is. The way her brain works diverges from the “norm”. Everyone is able to fit into those neat little categories of the Factions because the way they think is so limited. Tris is able to see through eyes capable of thinking in more than one way. For example, Dauntless people will choose weapons and find ways to physically take control of a scenario. This is in contrast to the Erudite who will only use logic, reasoning, and science. Abnegation are literally only able to think in terms of selflessness, while Candor can only see things in black and white, lies vs. truth. Seriously, Candor can’t even fathom that little white lies are ok sometimes. So, in the book, Tris really is a unique character and her interaction with the rest is kind of fascinating. And all of that subtlety and intricacy is lost to a basic interpretation of what can be seen from the surface.

This also seems to apply to the characters we see on the screen. The actors did fine with what they were given.

Shailene seemed to lack an internal strength, resolve, and shrewdness that Book Tris had, although she played well on screen.

Jai Courtney, who played power-trippy Eric, was totally believable, if somewhat one-dimensional.

Kate Winslet played the Big Bad as Erudite leader Jeanine. She did well, although that characters development won’t really happen until the second book. We’ll see how the character develops (if at all) in the second installment.

Theo James played the hottie trainer and love interest of Tris. He’s cute but the character was meh. Actually, James showed little depth, of which this character has tons. I mean, we literally get to see this guys greatest fears played out and how he handles them, and James is stony faced throughout. I wonder if he even read the book? Hopefully he does so before filming begins on the subsequent movies.

I think it’s also interesting to note that director Neil Burger won’t be returning to helm “Insurgent.” Hopefully the new director will allow the actors to take a bigger bite out of their characters and show some depth and development.

Overall, the movie was disappointing. It wasn’t a grand sweeping epic. It wasn’t a rousing rebel cry in the night. It was quite vanilla where it could have been a limencello. The movie glossed over the best points of the book, dragged for ages, and wasn’t able to convey the urgency of the final action (which I’ve intentionally not discussed, because SPOILERS!). It was a solid meh from me, so it only gets 2.5 out of 5 stars.