CAMDEN METHENY – Hoof Prints Staff

The first time I heard the words “Everything Is Awesome”, I thought it was funny. Ten seconds later, the song got on my nerves.Two minutes later, I wanted to rip out my eardrums. “Everything Is Awesome,” however, describes “The Lego Movie”. It’s a great start for the movies of 2014.

“The Lego Movie,” directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, isn’t quite what I was expecting. When I sat down in the theater seat, I had imagined it was going to be a movie aimed directly at young children. With a colorful cast, such as Chris Pratt, Morgan Freeman, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, and Will Arnett, it was one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time.

The plot is rather simple. An ordinary minifigure, named Emmet (Pratt), is believed to be a member of a special group known as the Master Builders. He is tasked with uniting the “Piece of Resistance” with the “Kragle”(a tube of Krazy Glue with some missing letters) and stopping Lord Business (Ferrell), who plans to destroy the world. Emmet is accompanied by various Master Builders, such as Wyldstyle (Banks), Vitruvius (Freeman), Batman (Arnett), and many others.

This movie was better than most family movies I’ve seen. Sure, it had the generic “take over the world” conflict, but the execution of it was fantastic. Using Krazy Glue to secure everyone is a rather interesting take on the conflict. “The Lego Movie” also poked fun at corporate branding, as the Octan, Lord Business’s corporation, was literally everywhere.

It also had surprising cameos, such as Shaquille O’Neal, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day, Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, and many more.

“The Lego Movie” is a family-friendly movie that, much like the toys themselves, is perfect for everyone of all ages.