In 2014, we were graced with the masterpiece that is The Lego Movie, and as of 2024, the film will be 10 years old. The film tackles big issues like how mindless conformity is unhealthy and how individual creativity should always be encouraged in a way that’s digestible to young audiences.
This was especially effective on me as a child as I left the theater with a bigger love for my Legos. They have always been one of my favorite toys. The free range of creativity let my mind scamper to new ideas that I could create with the colorful blocks. So watching the movie was not only encouraging, but also praising creativity through “Master Builders” made 7-year-old me ecstatic.
The star of the film, Emmett, lives by the rules of a book called “How to: Fit in! Have everybody like you! And always be happy” The book is written by the Octan Corporation, who dictates every aspect of his life and the people around him.
The corporation controls all the lives of the Legos. They control the food, television, history books and the voting of literally the whole world.
President Business, A.K.A. Lord Business, controls the corporation and parallels his human counterpart, the Man Upstairs. These two are the best villains in children’s cinema. The Man Upstairs is the father of Finn, the child playing with the Legos. The scenes with them shows good parallels between them and the Lego world. Finn is a creative child who comes up with unique storylines with the legos. The Man Upstairs thinks Legos should not be played with and believe the Legos should be seen only aesthetically. Because of this he cruelly glues the legos in place. Lord Business has the same goal, wanting to glue everything in place so it can be perfect.
It is revealed that Lord Business is based on the Man Upstairs. Close to the end of the movie the Man Upstairs asks Finn if Lord Business is based on him Finn says yes due to the two characters allining morals.
There is one scene where the Man Upstairs sees everything his son made when he wasn’t micro-managing him. It’s a really sweet scene where the father finally sees his son’s creations as not messy but creative and unique.
From this he also realizes his son sees him as Lord Business and asks Finn what he thinks Emmett would tell Lord Business. Emmett drops probably the most underrated lines in cinema.
“You don’t have to be the bad guy. You are the most talented, most interesting and most extraordinary person in the universe. And you are capable of amazing things because you are special. And so am I and so is everyone else… and you still can change everything.” Instead of coming up with excuses or fighting back, Finn’s father just silently hugs him. It is such a sweet scene, and it is definitely one of the most emotional yet simple interactions ever.
I always think it’s interesting to watch kid media tackle big issues; this one being capitalism and mindless consumerism. It’s an encouragement to young audiences to embrace their creativity in hopes that they will take the message to the future.
The end goal of the fight against President Business was to be original. The people of Lego City were encouraged to build whatever they wanted and embrace their individuality.
I tried to not spoil too much, and instead I hope you go and watch it yourself. The humor is fast paced and great for young audiences, but the message still stands.
As a 17-year-old, I would rate this movie a 8/10. It is a great movie, but it’s definitely a movie for kids and some humor is very 2014-oriented.
If you have young children in your life, I highly recommend showing this movie to them. You can watch this movie on Max, Amazon Prime, YouTube or Apple TV.
