The Lego Movie

Directors:  Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

Writers:  Dan & Kevin Hageman

PG, Warner Brothers

Rating:  *  (1 star out of 3 possible, "C")
             Recommended with Reservations

Audience:  8 year old boys and their fathers

I've never thought of myself as a sexist stereotypist.  However, this movie basically only appeals to boys who love Legos and their dads who wish they still had time to play with Legos.

Seriously, if you're a mom, stay home.  Or take your girls to Frozen.  (Never thought I'd say that.)

This movie had an obnoxious level of noise, violence and explosions.  The loosely strung plot was so full of non sequiturs and random cameos that it felt like it was constructed by 8 year olds.  Also, you will leave the theater with the song "Everything Is Awesome" pounding in your head.

After the first 30-40 minutes of the film, I pulled my hood up over my head and just tried to stop the sensory input.  I managed to fall asleep as the continuous explosions morphed into some sort of white noise within my subconscious.

Finally, is it just me, or is anyone else tired of Morgan Freeman narrating every movie in America?

Okay, that was probably mean.

There were a couple of bright spots to redeem this over-rated film.  One was the final appearance of a meaningful relationship between the live-actor father and son Lego team.  Turns out Dad (Will Ferrell) has a serious Lego obsession and won't let his son dismantle any of his awesome structures.  Son has a more creative bent and wishes Legos could be a little more fun.  A nice touch is added when baby sister arrives with her pastel Duplos after Dad learns his lesson.

This adds to the other bright spot of the movie:  the fact that teamwork benefits from both structure and creativity.

My daughters did find it funny when the super weapon KRGL turned out to be an old tube of Krazy Glue.  Other creatively pronounced relics were revealed to be Band-Aid, Q-Tip and Nail Polish.

Oh, and apparently the animation is great, too.

It is hard to redeem the movie's constant threat of violence with a few clever lines and a few star Lego people (1980-Something Space Guy, Batman, C-3PO), but the opportunity for male-bonding in your family probably makes it worth their while.