Saw it and mostly loved it. I came in with super-high expectations because this thing is getting near-unanimous love from everywhere (and a surprising number of 3.5 and 4 star reviews), and while not a 4 star film by my reckoning, it's a surprisingly good movie. I laughed out loud a couple of times and appreciated the satire and all the sight gags. There are so many it warrants a second viewing. The ending took me by surprise, too. Unexpected depth. .....And then today I read that Fox Business channel has labeled it "anti capitalist propaganda." I've officially lost faith in the intelligence of humanity. *sigh...*
Adults are far worse at movies. It's not even close. And yes, that's generalizing on my part as well. It's pretty clear anybody calling it anti-business is basing it on the promos and hasn't seen the whole movie.
I wouldnt call it anti-capitalist, but there's definitely an under lieing message of conformity bad, free expression good. It gets more blatant at the end, but even at the very beginning there's nods to it. There's even dark little moments, like the general population being threatened to be "put to sleep" if you dont follow the instructions!
Yet at the same time it seems to ALSO suggest that individuality is bad and conformity is good. The reason why the Master Builders couldn't come up with, or agree on, a solution is because everyone had their own unique ideas and didn't "follow the directions" to find a unified solution. This is most evident when everyone is trying to escape the Cloud Cuckoo Land and everyone had their own suggestions/ideas on what their escape vehicle needed, which eventually lead to it's failure. All said, I really don't think the movie had any political or business message it wanted to sell. The only "message" in it is that sometimes you need to not be so rigid and just have fun, the message more comes from the real-world events than it does the events in the Lego world.
OK, I saw the movie today. I liked it, and it was funny, but I really don't get the level of praise that it's getting. It's not like a Pixar level of quality or anything. Big plus for lots of Batman... bit minus for Superman and Wonder Woman and Green Lantern barely cameoing in it. Loved the Star Wars cameo!
Oh there are certainly some 1984-ish themes there, but the MAIN themes drown that out. And by the end, it becomes clear that the dunces at Fox only saw the trailer before popping off.
The praise could just be from the love of LEGOs and people who played with them and loved them as kids. Hell, I *STILL* love LEGO and buy sets and build them! I just bought/built the Simpson's House set!
It could also be because people came in expecting warmed over kids' stuff and were taken off guard by how fun and clever it is. But the amount of 4 star (and 5 star, for critics who use that scale) ratings is surprising to me.
Of course it's not anti-business, it's a 2 hour LEGO commercial you are paying to see. And the new Ghostbuster set is coming out in June... http://toysnbricks.com/cuusoo-21108-ghostbusters-nytf/
There will also be a Simpsons episode done in LEGO... http://tvline.com/2014/02/16/the-simpsons-lego-episode/#more-493570
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-lego-movie-crushes-680637 Box Office: 'Lego Movie' Crushes Competition With $60 Million-Plus Holiday I wish I could see it! Looks like a lot of fun.
I saw it last weekend. The movie was awesome, they get it just right how adults take things meant for kids to have fun and co-opt them into something sterile and boring. I love that whole symbolic thread of 'President business' trying to force everybody to follow the instructions and 'STOP MESSING WITH MY STUFF!' It didn't resonate in that way quite as well as Wreck It Ralph or Toy Story. That live action part was really clever, and I think without it, it would be too close to Toy Story. The movie would have worked with or without it. It's not anti-business at all. It does criticize the way lego sets are being marketed now, focusing on following explicit instructions over one's own imagination. But that's not saying business is bad, it's criticizing specific business decisions. The theater being filled with kids didn't bother me, that was my own fault for seeing it at noon. But I wish they would have kept the ads and previews as adult-accessible as the feature. Had to suffer through inane zero-attention-span Nickelodeon cartoons for the first 15-20 minutes. Seriously, I know it's for kids, and the times I've seen the shows I loved as a kid as an adult I know they've been stupid, but nowhere near THAT stupid. Do cartoon writers just assume their entire audience has ADD now?
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/ http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/03/02/box-office-report-non-stop-lego-movie-son-of-god/ The LEGO Movie has fallen! #3.