The Lego Movie

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 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, with the sequel The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part released in 2019. The spin-off films The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie were both released in 2017, while a 4D film based on the film itself, entitled The Lego Movie: 4D – A New Adventure, was released to Legoland parks across the world after its premiere at Legoland Florida in 2016. A 2-D animated TV series, featuring the character Unikitty, premiered on Cartoon Network in 2017.

Plot
In the Lego universe, populated by anthropomorphic minifigures, the villainous Lord Business steals a superweapon called the "Kragle" and blinds Vitruvius, a wizard who attempted to stop him. Before Business leaves, Vitruvius speaks of a prophecy about the Special, a hero who will find the Piece of Resistance, an object capable of disarming the Kragle.

Eight-and-a-half years later, in the city of Bricksburg controlled by Lord Business, now using the title of "President Business", Emmet Brickowski, an ordinary construction worker, notices a mysterious woman at the construction site where he works and falls underground attempting to catch the trespasser and report her to the police. Emmet finds the Piece of Resistance while folowing her and receives epileptic visions after touching it. He awakens in the custody of Good Cop/Bad Cop, Lord Business' lieutenant, with the Piece stuck to his back.

The mysterious woman rescues Emmet from an attempt to disconnect the Piece from him, believing him to be the Special as he had found the Piece, and reveals her name to be Wyldstyle. However, after realizing that Emmet is an ordinary person, she considers him finding the Piece to be a fluke and brings him to Vitruvius in the Old West. Emmet learns that Wyldstyle and Vitruvius are "Master Builders", capable of building anything whatsoever from their imagination without requiring instructions. Wyldstyle explains that Business wants to use the Kragle, a tube of Krazy Glue with a weathered label, to freeze the world into his own personal vision of orderly perfection. Though disappointed to find that Emmet is not a Master Builder, Wyldstyle and Vitruvius are convinced of his potential when he recalls visions of a deity referred to as "The Man Upstairs".

Emmet, Wyldstyle, and Vitruvius evade Bad Cop's forces with the aid of Batman, Wyldstyle's boyfriend. They visit the hidden realm of Cloud Cuckoo Land, where they meet Unikitty. They attend a council of Master Builders, who are unimpressed with Emmet and refuse to fight Business under Emmet's leadership. Bad Cop's forces invade Cloud Cuckoo Land, having placed a tracking device on Emmet. Emmet, Wyldstyle, Batman, Vitruvius, Unikitty, and an astronaut named Benny manage to escape, but the rest of the Master Builders are arrested and Cloud Cuckoo Land is destroyed. After being rescued by MetalBeard, a pirate Master Builder, Emmet devises a plan to infiltrate Business' office tower and disarm the Kragle with the help of his new friends. The plan nearly succeeds, but the group is captured and imprisoned in the Think Tank, where the Master Builders are forced to make instructions for new items. Vitruvius is decapitated by Business; before he dies, he tells Emmet that he made up the prophecy. Business throws the Piece of Resistance into the abyss outside the tower, sets a self-destruct mechanism and leaves everyone to die, including Bad Cop.

Vitruvius' returns as a ghost and reveals to Emmet that believing is what makes one the Special. Strapped to the self-destruct mechanism's battery, Emmet jumps into the abyss and severs the battery connection, saving his friends. Inspired by Emmet's sacrifice, Wyldstyle uses Lord Business' TV station to rally the Lego people across the universe to build weapons and vehicles to fight Lord Business' army of Micro Managers while Bad Cop allies with the Master Builders.

Meanwhile, Emmet finds himself in the real world, unable to move. He discovers the story is being acted out by Finn, a boy playing with an expansive Lego collection kept in a basement. "The Man Upstairs", revealed to be Finn's controlling father, enters the basement and is shocked to see his collection being played with. He proceeds to lecture his son and uses several tubes of superglue in an attempt to restore the collection to the way it was. Realizing the danger Finn's father poses to Emmet's world, Emmet catches Finn's attention by shaking himself, and Finn distracts his father long enough to retrieve the Piece of Resistance (now revealed to be the cap of the Kragle) and return Emmet to the Lego world.

Emmet, now a Master Builder, lands in a construction site, and creates a giant robot to fight against Business' army of Micro Managers. At the same time, Finn's father discovers Finn's creations and that Lord Business is supposed to represent him. Through a speech Emmet gives to Business (which Finn gives to his father), Finn's father reconciles with his son and unglues the constructions with mineral spirits; in the Lego world, Business caps the Kragle with the Piece of Resistance, frees his victims, and thanks Emmet. Emmet is then hailed as a hero, and begins a romantic relationship with Wyldstyle after Batman blesses them and says that Emmet is the hero Wyldstyle deserves. Almost immediately, aliens from the planet Duplo beam down to the Lego world, as a result of Finn's father letting Finn's younger sister to join Finn and play and threaten to destroy Bricksburg, resulting in the events of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.

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?

Critical response
The Lego Movie was met with "nearly unanimous positive reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 96% with an average score of 8.15/10, based on 250 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Boasting beautiful animation, a charming voice cast, laugh-a-minute gags, and a surprisingly thoughtful story, The Lego Movie is colorful fun for all ages." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100 based on 43 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Filmmaker Edgar Wright, and TIME Magazine film critic Richard Corliss, each named The Lego Movie as one of their favorite films of 2014.

Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Arriving at a time when feature animation was looking and feeling mighty anemic...The LEGO Movie shows 'em how it's done", with Peter Debruge of Variety adding that Lord and Miller "irreverently deconstruct the state of the modern blockbuster and deliver a smarter, more satisfying experience in its place, emerging with a fresh franchise for others to build upon". Tom Huddleston of Time Out said, "The script is witty, the satire surprisingly pointed, and the animation tactile and imaginative." Drew Hunt of the Chicago Reader said the filmmakers "fill the script with delightfully absurd one-liners and sharp pop culture references", with A. O. Scott of The New York Times noting that, "Pop-culture jokes ricochet off the heads of younger viewers to tickle the world-weary adults in the audience, with just enough sentimental goo applied at the end to unite the generations. Parents will dab their eyes while the kids roll theirs." Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News said the filmmakers "don't sink into cynicism. Their computer animation embraces the retro look and feel of the toys to both ingenious and adorable effect."

Claudia Puig of USA Today called the film "a spirited romp through a world that looks distinctively familiar, and yet freshly inventive". Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail asked, "Can a feature-length toy commercial also work as a decent kids’ movie? The bombast of the G.I. Joe and Transformers franchises might suggest no, but after an uninspired year for animated movies, The Lego Movie is a 3-D animated film that connects." Joel Arnold of NPR acknowledged that the film "may be one giant advertisement, but all the way to its plastic-mat foundation, it's an earnest piece of work—a cash grab with a heart". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called the film "sassy enough to shoot well-aimed darts at corporate branding". Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post said that, "While clearly filled with affection for—and marketing tie-ins to—the titular product that's front and center, it's also something of a sharp plastic brick flung in the eye of its corporate sponsor."

On the negative side, Kyle Smith of the New York Post called the film "more exhausting than fun, too unsure of itself to stick with any story thread for too long". Moira MacDonald of The Seattle Times, while generally positive, found "it falls apart a bit near the end". Alonso Duralde of The Wrap said the film "will doubtless tickle young fans of the toys. It's just too bad that a movie that encourages you to think for yourself doesn't follow its own advice."

Other response
Conservative political commentator Glenn Beck praised the film for avoiding "the double meanings and adult humor I just hate".

Oscar host Neil Patrick Harris referenced The Lego Movie not being nominated Best Animated Feature, which many critics considered a snub, saying prior to the award's presentation, "If you’re at the Oscar party with the guys who directed 'The Lego Movie,' now would be a great time to distract them."

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson criticized the film's anti-corporate message, saying that it taught children that "government is good and business is bad", citing the villain's name of Lord Business. "That's done for a reason", Johnson told WisPolitics.com, "They're starting that propaganda, and it's insidious". The comments were criticized by many, and Russ Feingold brought up the comments on the campaign trail during his 2016 Senate bid against Johnson.

Box office performance
The Lego Movie grossed $257.8 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $210.3 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $468.1 million. Calculating in all expenses, Deadline Hollywood estimated that the film made a profit of $229 million placing it 3rd on 2014's list of most profitable films.

In the U.S. and Canada, the film opened at number one in its first weekend with over $69 million, which was the second-highest weekend debut in February, at the time, behind The Passion of the Christ ($83.8 million). The movie retained the top spot at box office in its second weekend by declining only 28% and grossing $49.8 million. The Lego Movie was number one again in its third weekend while declining 37% and grossing $31.3 million. In its fourth weekend, the film dropped to number three grossing $20.8 million.

Elsewhere, The Lego Movie was released in 34 markets on February 7, 2014—the same weekend as its U.S. release. It made $18.7 million on its opening weekend from 5,695 screens from 34 countries. On its opening weekend, which varies depending on the country, it earned $3.8 million in Mexico, $2 million in Spain, and $1.8 million in Brazil. With a total gross of £34.3 million, it was the second-highest-grossing film in the UK and Ireland in 2014.

The popularity of the film led to a shortage of Lego products by September 2014.

In other media
Emmet and Wyldstyle make a cameo as statues in The Simpsons episode Brick Like Me in which are seen as part of a Lego building contest.