"Everything is Awesome" - Lego Movie
Obviously, I had to go see the Lego Movie... I hate my days off, makes seeing movies with friends harder but I took my family. I knew ahead of time that it got really great reviews and I'd studied the related sets in depth... So I was primed to go, wearing my Lego shirt.
The previews were alright. Morgan Freeman got one of his nature Imax narration movies in there since he was in this movie too, lol. I was worrying at first that it wouldn't live up to the hype. The music's good, and the spectacle is fantastic. It's a combination of mostly all actual lego stop motion and supplementation with Lego CGI. It also had a much lower budget than most films of this bracket so it became a financial success in a day and a half. Oh, but off topic.
The movie's depth, the part that the critics rave about, built and built steadily before a crystallizing moment that pushed it way above the bar. It is, indeed, worthy of all the rave reviews and I'm very happy I saw it. Also, the seeming random-ness of all the movie inspired sets aren't random at all. They all are exactly what they were in the movie, and it all fit together and yet none of them gave spoilers? It's rare for merchandizing to have the best of both worlds, lol.
Good movie, indeed... but I'm most satisfied with the cast.
Morgan Freeman did great, of course... He got some lines you wouldn't expect him to say which just adds the humor.
Elizabeth Banks, I adore her in Hunger Games but there's never enough of her. It was nice she got to be a main character for this.
Will Arnett as Batman? Never would have expected that to go well, but it fit perfectly.
The other stars are great too... Liam Neeson, Anthony Daniels, Shaquille O'Neal, Jonah Hill, Alison Brie, Channing Tatum, Billy Dee Williams... I really hope they are all happy to add this to their resumes.
The biggest surprise is Chris Pratt. I... have not really watched anything he was in. Parks and Rec, Moneyball, nothing. He gave a good performance though, showing the character development REALLY well.