

But in The Lego Movie, the tug of war between individuality and conformity is one with the Lego. Most animated films deliver their third-act homilies about the value of friendship or the strength of family to the 8-year-olds in the audience seemingly for their parents’ sake these tacked-on messages of socially redeeming value do little but dilute the cartoony insanity that precedes them.

Smart and savvy, it takes the classic dilemma of every Lego owner – to follow the instructions or not to follow? – and constructs a wild-ride fantasy of colorful, interlocking plastic bricks only to deconstruct it in the most amazing way possible. Let’s go out on a critical limb, shall we? The Lego Movie is the best thing to come along since that other toy-centric movie revolutionized animated films about 20 years ago.
