SemioNerd

LEGO!

I watched Lego The Movie with absolutely no expectations. Oh, yes, I used to love playing with my legos as a child (well, not only as a child to be honest) but the movie? Whats the point?

Films inspired by videogames doesn't work very well, in general, and film from boardgames doesn't work at all! How could a film on toys work? Ok, Toy Story come out pretty good, but it was about toys not on some real-life toys. What story could they tell?

I watched the movie anyway, in part out of curiosity, in part because I wanted to write an article about it despite its quality.

The film starts with some weird Lego guys in a fantasy-like world arguing about fake prophecies. One of them doesn't even look like a real Lego. Ok, I told myself, two hours will be spoiled. Then the scene is set in the utopic society of Lego City, in which anyone is happy and work happily all day singing the last pop tube “Everything is awesome”. And it is, awesome. It was one of the cruelest parodies of today society that I've seen in a long time, focusing on politics, media and society. It portraits a world governed by President Business in which dumb TV shows and smart agenda setting avoid people to think, or understand, too much. A strong dose of pop music, always the same song, makes everybody happy.

That's not a movie for children, not even for every adult in fact. The story turn out to be about the struggle between anarchy and order in the Lego worlds, between who follow the instructions and who prefers creativity. It's far deeper that I thought and it was really enjoyable on different levels.

And, of course, there is another thing. One of the characters was exactly the firs lego that I ever owned when I was like six years old. The space pilot, with the suit completely blue and the broken helmet without visor, identical to my memories. You can't ignore him when an old friend appears on the screen, something happens. I think the authors were pretty good in finding references shared between any Lego player, e.g. the relics, the objects that inevitably are lost in your Lego box, like coins, elastics or patches, or the very dark gray bricks that you're forced to use when you run out of black ones.

Now, if you excuse me, I have to go in the cellar looking for some of my old friends...