by Jason Marnocha aka LordJazor, reporter

The LEGO Movie, as a film that on the surface is basically a two hour toy commercial (which you’d think we’d have had enough of with Batman & Robin), has almost entirely no business being as laugh out loud funny as it is. Its humor is quick, its inclusion of characters from movies that LEGO has made into building sets is delightful, and the pacing is solid throughout.

And I mean come on, it has a robot pirate. And Batman. It has Batman. And even as a parody, more or less, it’s still a more awesome Batman than we’ve really gotten lately.

The film is brought to life by Phil Lord and Chris Miller who rewrote, though uncredited, the 21 Jump Street remake. I enjoy this film far more than 21 Jump Street or their Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs film. That’s one of those “The book is better” sort of things, but more that “The book is….wait, what’s even going on with this movie?” But they really knock it out of the park with The Lego Movie.

The cast is stunning, and surprising in a lot of ways. Chris Pratt (of Parks And Recreation renown) heads up the cast as the incredibly awkward Emmet, a construction worker who has absolutely nothing at all interesting going for him.  At first. Elizabeth Banks voices the sort of identity-crisis-teenager-like Wyldstyle, whose expertise in building all manner of suchery certainly counterbalances Emmet’s lack of, well, almost any skill at all.

Morgan Freemen essentially plays God again in the form of the wizard Vitruvius, but he’s so perfect for it that it works. And he is just as hilarious in line delivery as anyone else in the picture. Liam Neeson, who voices the almost Two-Face-like Good Cop/Bad Cop, is an especially incredible choice for the film. In an interview he said that, even though he is 61 years old, he remembers he had LEGOS as a child and so he was delighted to be a part of this film. Think about that for a moment. Little Liam Neeson playing with LEGOS. What even.

While not exactly the same character, Will Ferrell’s Lord Business is indeed somewhat Mugatu-esque, in so much as he’s delightful to watch and goofily over the top. Will Arnett is incredibly funny as Batman.  Just wait for “his song.”  Trust me.

Channing Tatum, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, I mean the list of voice talent in this movie is just off the charts. I normally prefer to see (well, hear) actors who make their living with voice acting doing these sorts of movies as opposed to TV or film stars, but honestly this movie’s cast and the delivery and direction all totally make me forget about that. Because it all works, it’s all solid.

The animation is another thing to be praised. Everything is LEGO pieces. Everything. All the bits. The ocean, smoke, water and suds in a shower, all of it. They’re often those little round pieces that you’d have to really dig through to find if you were like me and used to keep all your LEGO stuff in one big box. I’m beginning to suspect they were all stolen to be used in this film. Bricks are used to construct all of the various set pieces in the film as well, of course. From a Western saloon in a canyon, to the aforementioned ocean, to a pirate ship that makes one of the best sounds ever when it moves. The only things that are not actual LEGO pieces are certain real items, or “relics” in the film, which bring a sort of Toy Story feel to the movie at times. The “Cloak of Ban-Daeed” which is of course a band-aid, for example and Vitruvius’ staff which is a mostly-finished sucker. Then of course there’s the deadly weapon Lord Business intends to use to keep his perfect world in stasis: the Kragle, which I won’t spoil here because you’ve got to see it.

That’s the main message here. Go see this film. It’s got plenty of humor for kids and adults as well, so it won’t be tedious to see if you take your little cousins or your own kids or your banker’s kids or whatever you do. It’s not only hysterical, but it’s nostalgic for people who’ve had LEGOS as children and some who even still get them today. The animation is spectacular and fun, the voice cast is great, the one-liners keep on coming, it’s just an all around spectacle of a film and totally deserves the acclaim it’s been getting.

The brain-washing song in the film doesn’t lie. Everything is awesome.