Review: The LEGO Movie

EVERYTHING IS AWESOOOOOOME! EVERYTHING IS COOL WHEN YOU'RE PART OF A TEAM!
This song will be stuck in your head for a long time after seeing this instant animated classic, and for good reason. In The LEGO Movie, everything IS awesome. In a mostly bland sea of animated movies (save for the Disney empire), The LEGO Movie is a refreshing movie that has excellent visuals, great voice acting, and a surprisingly touching and bitingly funny plot. While not perfect, it is a great way to open up the 2014 movie season, and one of the best animated movies I've seen in recent memory.
One thing that really stands out about the film is its eye popping visuals. It's almost entirely stop motion, and it's really freaking fantastic. Every color flies off the screen, and the intensity of battles shows off incredible detail and technical prowess. For being an animated movie, it's really not all that animated.
The performances also add to this monumental movie to celebrate the monstrosity that is LEGO. Chris Pratt really shines as his run-of-the-mill, pretty-much-a-nobody-until-he-suddenly-becomes-somebody Emmett. He's funny, like laugh out loud funny, and his endearing enthusiasm never wears thin as the movie's run time progressively shortens. Wildstyle is your stereotypical punk girl, being as cool as cool can be, while being incredibly quirky and never too tough for her own good. Though the biggest star of the show is Batman, played by Will Arnet. Almost every other line is a Batman pun, and Arnet delivers them skillfully with the perfect blend of coolness, cheesy darkness, and overall jerkiness. He's incredibly funny, and even though he plays one of the most iconic characters in character history, you never lose that classic Will Arnet charm that shows in all of his shows and movies. And then there is Morgan Freeman, I don't think I've ever laughed at a Morgan Freeman performance. He's so funny here, and there's definitely a comedic side to him that I desperately want to see again. Sometimes he just spews random words of "wisdom" that really means nothing, or he'll just casually walk across the ceiling, or he'll keep watch while being completely blind. The laughs never stop.
One thing that this film does expertly is bridging the gap between age groups. Never have I seen (save for Disney) an animated movie that's so classically funny, that anyone can watch it and have a good time. It told a wonderful story, one that surprisingly touching, and has a whole lot to say on the "everyone is special" topic, and not in the way you'd expect. I expected the ending to be cheesy, light-hearted, and one that would really end the movie on a good vibe, but The LEGO Movie hits it out of the park. The way Chris Pratt ends one of his monologues with Will Ferrel towards the film's finale is really well done, and seems as real as it can get while still being portrayed through the classic LEGO minifigure. It's really something to behold, and is an ending I will hold future animated movies to in the future.
Now, as with almost all movies, there are a few downsides to this wave of praise.
While it's filled with great laughs, many of the characters make a brief appearance, leave, and make no impression on you except "why are they here?" Yes, the film is used to celebrate everything that is LEGO, and the many trademarks it has at it's disposal, but it sometimes just feels like a hodgepodge of super names. Now, the core group of protagonists do actually leave a mark on your viewing experience so we can count them out. But people like Gandalf, Dumbledore, Abe Lincoln, Superman, Green Lantern, and Han Solo, really have no substantial impact on the plot or anything that has to do with the plot.
Though stuffed to the brim with stitching puns and dry humor, quite a few of the jokes fall flat. Leaving you with the feeling that they just tried too hard. These are both minor complaints, but still make a serious impact on the viewing experience.

Score: 9

+Great performances
+Awe-inspiring stop-motion animation/CGI blend
+Celebrates the brilliance that LEGO has created
+Everything Is Awesome
+Bitingly funny...
- ... But sometimes tries to hard
- Flash in the pan characters