LEGO my Ego

The Lego Movie is pretty hilarious. Yes, you might even say it's awesome! Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street) have tapped that audience pulse that studio executives stay up nights dreaming about - a movie that appeals to both kids and their parents. Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt) is just a regular fella in a world where everything is awesome, thanks to the influence of President Business (Will Ferrell). If only there was something about him that made coworkers so much as remember his name. Fate lends a hand and before long, Emmet has stumbled across The Piece of Resistance, the one object that can save the world from the forces of Lord Business. If The Lego Movie is reminiscent of anything, it's South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (...I just got that title). It's irreverent and satiric at nearly every turn. It also throws enough mayhem and kinetic hyper-adrenalized action at you that your kids may not sleep for a week.

If you're a fan of voice-over work, get ready for a field day. The Lego Movie is worth seeing for Liam Neeson and Will Arnett alone, as Good Cop/Bad Cop and Batman, respectively. This is probably the only movie where you'll ever get to see Batman and the Star Wars characters interacting. Arnett makes Batman a wildly narcissistic ego maniac with a girlfriend named Wyldstyle (take that, X-Men), voiced by Elizabeth Banks, who's beginning to see something in Emmet that might be missing in the Bat guy. There's a festival of cameos, including Jonah Hill and Billy Dee Williams. Morgan Freeman holds sway over everything as wise man Vitruvius.

It's easily 20 minutes too long and drags a tad, but there are so many hilarious bits and so much great dialogue that The Lego Movie is going to do ridiculous business, green light a sequel immediately, and sell a ton of plastic bricks. See you on Taco Tuesday!