The Lego Movie is a 2014 animated adventure comedy film written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Based on the Lego line of construction toys, the film stars the voices of Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman. The story focuses on Emmet Brickowski (Pratt), an ordinary Lego minifigure who is believed to be "the Special" and destined to help a resistance movement stop a tyrannical businessman (Ferrell) from gluing everything in the Lego universe into his vision of perfection.
Plans of a feature film based on Lego started in 2008 after a discussion between producers Dan Lin and Roy Lee before Lin left Warner Bros. to form his own production company, Lin Pictures. By August 2009, it was announced that Dan and Kevin Hageman had begun writing the script. It was officially green-lit by Warner Bros. in November 2011 with a planned 2014 release date. Chris McKay was brought in to co-direct in 2011 with Lord and Miller and later became the film's animation supervisor.
The film was inspired by the visual aesthetic and stylistics of brickfilms and qualities attributed to Lego Studios sets. While Lord and Miller wanted to make the film's animation replicate stop motion, everything was done through computer animation, with the animation rigs following the same articulation limits actual Lego figures have. Much of the cast signed on to voice the characters in 2012, including Pratt, Ferrell, Banks, Arnett, Freeman and Brie, while the animation was provided by Animal Logic, which was expected to comprise 80% of the film. The film was dedicated to Kathleen Fleming, the former director of entertainment development of the Lego company, who had died in Cancún, Mexico, in April 2013.
The Lego Movie premiered in Los Angeles on 1 February 2014, and was released theatrically in the United States on 7 February. It became a critical and commercial success, grossing $470.8 million worldwide against its $60–65 million budget and received acclaim for its animation, writing, story, humor, score and voice acting. The National Board of Review named The Lego Movie one of the top-ten films of 2014. It received a nomination for Best Original Song at the 87th Academy Awards, among numerous other accolades. The Lego Movie is the first entry in what became the franchise of the same name, which includes three more films—The Lego Batman Movie, The Lego Ninjago Movie (both 2017) and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019). It has since been recognized as one of the greatest animated films of all time.
Plot
In a Lego universe, a wizard named Vitruvius fails to protect a superweapon called the Kragle—a tube of Krazy Glue—from the maniacal Lord Business, who blinds him in the process. Vitruvius prophesies that someone called "the Special" will find the Piece of Resistance, an item capable of stopping the Kragle.
Eight and a half years later, in Bricksburg, optimistic but unimaginative construction worker Emmet Brickowski falls into a pit and finds the Piece of Resistance. Compelled to touch it, he experiences visions, including one of a being dubbed "The Man Upstairs", and passes out. He awakens in the custody of Business' lieutenant Bad Cop and discovers that the Piece of Resistance is stuck to his back. Emmet learns of Business' plans to freeze the world with the Kragle; the Piece of Resistance is the tube's cap. A mysterious woman named Wyldstyle rescues Emmet, believing him to be the Special. They escape Bad Cop and travel to "The Old West", where they rendezvous with Vitruvius. He and Wyldstyle are Master Builders—beings capable of building anything without instruction manuals—who oppose Business' attempts to suppress their creativity. Though disappointed that Emmet is not a Master Builder, they are convinced of his potential when he recalls visions of the Man Upstairs.
The trio evade Business' forces with the help of Wyldstyle's boyfriend Batman and escape to "Cloud Cuckoo Land", which serves as the Master Builders' refuge. Following Emmet's confession about not being a Master Builder, everyone is unimpressed with and reject him. Soon after, Business' forces attack and capture everyone except Emmet's group and fellow Master Builders MetalBeard, Unikitty and Benny. After saving the group with his double-decker couch invention, Emmet devises a plan to infiltrate Business' headquarters and disarm the Kragle. It nearly succeeds until the group is captured and imprisoned as Business murders Vitruvius and throws the Piece of Resistance into an abyss before arming a device to electrocute the captured Master Builders. Before he dies, Vitruvius reveals he made up the prophecy, but his spirit returns to tell Emmet that his self-belief makes him the Special. Strapped to the mechanism's battery, Emmet drops off the edge of the tower and into the abyss, disarming the device and saving everyone. Inspired by Emmet's sacrifice, Wyldstyle, who earlier revealed to Emmet that her real name is Lucy, rallies the people across the universe to embrace their own creativity to oppose Business.
The abyss transports Emmet to real life, where current events are being played out in a basement by a boy named Finn on his father's Lego collection. The father, revealed to be the Man Upstairs, chastises his son for creating hodgepodges of different playsets and begins to glue his creations back into place. Realizing the danger, Emmet wills himself to move and gains Finn's attention, who returns him and the Piece of Resistance to Bricksburg and confronts Business with newfound Master Builder abilities. Meanwhile, Finn's father notices his son's creations and realizes he is suppressing his creativity. Through a speech from Emmet to Business, Finn tells his father that he is special and can still do the right thing. The duo then reconcile, which plays out as Business reforming, capping the Kragle with the Piece of Resistance and reversing its effects with mineral spirits. Following this, Lucy and Emmet enter a relationship with Batman's blessing. Finn's father grants Finn and his younger sister permission to play with the Lego sets, leading to Duplo aliens invading the Lego universe.
Cast
Chris Pratt as Emmet Brickowski, an everyman and construction worker from Bricksburg who becomes the Special. Will Ferrell as: Lord Business, an evil and businessman-based tyrant of Bricksburg and the Lego universe, who is the company president of the Octan Corporation under the alias President Business The Man Upstairs, a Lego collector and Finn's father in the live-action scenes Will Arnett as Bruce Wayne / Batman, a DC Comics character who is one of the Master Builders, as well as Wyldstyle's boyfriend and an amateur musician Morgan Freeman as Vitruvius, a blind and elderly wizard who is the leader of the Master Builders and Emmet's mentor Elizabeth Banks as Lucy / Wyldstyle, a "tough as nails" and tech-savvy Master Builder and Emmet's love interest Nick Offerman as MetalBeard, a pirate Master Builder who seeks revenge on Lord Business for disassembling his body following an earlier encounter and forcing him to create a new body from scratch Alison Brie as Princess Unikitty, a unicorn-cat hybrid Master Builder and the ruler of Cloud Cuckoo Land Charlie Day as Benny, a "1980-something space guy" Master Builder who is obsessed with building spaceships. The character is based on minifigures from the line of Lego Space sets sold in the 1980s and his character design includes a broken chin strap on his helmet, a common defect of said sets at that time. Liam Neeson as: Bad Cop / Good Cop, a police officer with a two-sided head and a split personality who serves Lord Business as the commander of the Super Secret Police. The character's name and personality are based on the good cop, bad cop interrogation method. Pa Cop, a police officer who is Bad Cop's father Melissa Sturm as Ma Cop, Bad Cop's mother, and Gail, a construction worker Channing Tatum as Superman, a DC Comics character who is one of the Master Builders Jonah Hill as Green Lantern, a DC Comics character who is one of the Master Builders Cobie Smulders as Wonder Woman, a DC Comics character who is one of the Master Builders Jadon Sand as Finn, a young boy who is the son of "The Man Upstairs" in the live-action scenes
Additionally, Anthony Daniels, Keith Ferguson and Billy Dee Williams appear as C-3PO, Han Solo and Lando Calrissian from the Star Wars franchise. Other appearances from licensed Lego iterations of franchises include Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit franchises; Dumbledore from the Harry Potter franchise; The Flash and Aquaman from DC Comics; Milhouse Van Houten from The Simpsons; Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise and Speed Racer from the Lego tie-in sets released alongside the 2008 film adaptation of the eponymous animated television series.
Shaquille O'Neal portrays a Lego version of himself as a Master Builder alongside two generic members of the 2002 NBA All-Stars. Will Forte (credited as Orville Forte) portrays Abraham Lincoln (whom he had previously voiced on Clone High, another Lord/Miller production). Dave Franco, Jake Johnson and Keegan-Michael Key portray Emmet's co-workers Wally, Barry and Foreman Jim, respectively. Director Christopher Miller voices an announcer for the Octan comedy television series Where Are My Pants?; his son Graham Miller voices a Duplo alien.
Production
Development The development of The Lego Movie began in 2008, when Dan Lin and Roy Lee discussed it before Lin left Warner Bros. Pictures to form his own production company, Lin Pictures. Warner Bros. executive Kevin Tsujihara, who had recognized the value of the Lego franchise by engineering the studio's purchase of Lego video game licensee Traveller's Tales in 2007, thought the success of the Lego-based video games indicated a Lego-based film was a good idea, and reportedly "championed" the development of the film.
By August 2009, Dan and Kevin Hageman were writing the script described as "action adventure set in a Lego world". In 2008, Lin visited The Lego Group's headquarters in Denmark to pitch his vision for the film, later remarking uncertainty among executives. "They weren't rude or anything […] but they didn't feel they needed a movie. They were already a very successful brand. Why take the risk?" Nevertheless, Lego's vice president of licensing and entertainment Jill Wilfert responded positively to the Hagemans' treatment that Lin pitched. "Once we heard the pitch, how Dan felt he could bring the values of the brand to life, we started to think, 'This could be interesting.'"
In June 2010, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) writers and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were in talks to write and direct the film. Warner Bros. green-lit the film by November 2011, with a planned 2014 release date. Australian studio Animal Logic, who did the animation for previous Warner Bros. released animated films such as Happy Feet and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, was contracted to provide the animation, which was expected to comprise 80% of the film. By this time, animator Chris McKay, one of the directors, producers, and editors of Robot Chicken and Moral Orel, had joined Lord and Miller to co-direct. McKay explained that his role was to supervise the production in Australia once Lord and Miller temporarily left production to work on 22 Jump Street (2014). In March 2012, Lord and Miller revealed the film's working title, Lego: The Piece of Resistance, and a storyline.
Casting