When I was a child I loved my Legos. I built worlds and would then tell stories (which is what I do now, just not with Legos). I got a very nice Lego set at a rather young age and I don't remember there being instructions. Doesn't matter, I never followed instructions. I built things from my imagination.
Since I had children, they always had Legos with instructions: this is how to build what's on the cover. And I thought, "Okay, they are learning a few things, but they aren't really using their imaginations, much." And often they would build the things, set them on a shelf in their bedrooms (or around the house) and never touch them again. (I have a space shuttle built of Lego on the window sill of my office, given to me by one of my sons.) And this annoyed me. "Build something original!" I would say to myself. The same 22-year-old son did actually make some original creations, but if his brothers did, I never noticed.
(Yes, that paragraph is relevant.)
So I was happy when, in The Lego Movie, there were people who just followed the instructions and there were "master builders" who could build things from their imagination. The character arc of the protagonist, Emmett, is that he goes from only following the instructions to using his imagination and building original creations from Lego.
My biggest complaint about the movie was the name of the bad guy was "Lord Business." I mean, come on, isn't that a bit obvious. And his actions are more of someone named "Lord Government." But, I will admit, toward the end when it was (sort of ) explained I wasn't quite as annoyed.
A fun movie, good CGI, fun use of Lego memes (and Legos). Worth watching at least once. Or twice if you're my son.
UPDATE: My son had a birthday last month and is now 23! Just when I figure out how old they are, it changes.
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