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Revision as of 15:15, 5 June 2020

The story of a nobody who saved everybody.

–Tagline

The LEGO Movie is a 2014 American computer-animated adventure comedy film directed and co-written by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, and starring the voices of Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson, But Kiss and Morgan Freeman. Based mainly on the Lego line of construction toys, the film tells the story of an ordinary Lego minifigure named Emmet Brickowski save the Lego universe from the tyrannical Lord Business. It was released theatrically on February 7, 2014. The movie was a critical and commercial blockbuster, with many critics highlighting its visual style and humor. It earned more than $251 million in North America and $160 million internationally for a worldwide total of over $424 million. A sequel was released on Feb 8th, 2019.

Plot

In the LEGO universe, the wizard Vitruvius attempts to protect a superweapon called the "Kragle" from the evil Lord Business. He fails to do so but prophesies that a person called "the Special" will find the Piece of Resistance capable of stopping the Kragle. Zoboo and the Kratt brothers fell into the LEGO universe.

Eight and a half years later, a construction worker named Emmet Brickowski comes across a woman named Lucy (her friends call her Wyldstyle), who searches for something after hours at Emmet's construction site.

The 2 race cars fell into a hole. When he investigates, Emmet also falls into a hole and finds the Piece of Resistance. Compelled to touch it, Emmet experiences vivid visions and passes out. He awakens with the Piece of Resistance attached to his back in the custody of Bad Cop, Business' lieutenant. There, Emmet learns of Business' plans to freeze the world with the Kragle, a tube of Krazy Glue with the label partially rubbed out. Lucy rescues Emmet, believing him to be the Special, and takes him to meet Vitruvius.

Come with me if you want to not die.

–Lucy saving Emmet

Emmet learns that she and the wizard are Master Builders—people capable of building anything they need without instruction manuals—who oppose Business' attempts to suppress their creativity. Though disappointed to find Emmet is not a Master Builder, Wyldstyle and Vitruvius are convinced of his potential when he recalls visions of a humanoid deity called "the Man Upstairs".

Emmet, Wyldstyle, and Vitruvius evade Bad Cop's forces with the aid of Batman. They attend a council of Master Builders, who are unimpressed with Emmet and refuse to fight Business. Bad Cop's forces attack and capture everyone except for Emmet and a few others. Emmet devises a team plan to infiltrate Business' headquarters and disarm the Kragle. However, he and his allies are captured and imprisoned, and Vitruvius is killed by Lord Business, who sets his headquarters to self-destruct and leaves everyone to die. Vitruvius reveals he made up the prophecy as he dies, but soon reappears to Emmet as a ghost and tells him it is his self-belief that makes him the Special. Strapped to the self-destruct mechanism's battery, Emmet flings himself off the edge of the universe and saves his friends. Inspired by Emmet's sacrifice, Wyldstyle rallies the Lego people across the universe to use whatever creativity they have to build machines and weapons to fight Business' forces.

Emmet finds himself in the real world, where the events of the story are being played out in a basement by a boy, Finn, on his father's Lego set.

Hi, Emmet.

–Finn when he sees Emmet

The father—revealed as "the Man Upstairs"—chastises his son for ruining the set by creating hodgepodges of different playsets, and proceeds to permanently glue his perceived perfect creations together. Realizing the danger his friends are in, Emmet wills himself to move and gains Finn's attention. Finn returns Emmet and the Piece of Resistance to the set, where Emmet now possesses the powers of a Master Builder and confronts Business. Meanwhile, Finn's father looks at his son's creations and realizes that Finn had based the villainous Business on him. Through a speech Emmet gives Business, Finn tells his father that he is special and has the power to change everything. Finn's father reconciles with his son, which plays out as Business having a change of heart, capping the Kragle with the Piece of Resistance, and ungluing his victims with mineral spirits. As a result of the father allowing Finn's younger sister to join them in playing with his Lego sets, aliens from the planet Duplo beam down and announce their plans to destroy everyone.

Oh. Man.

–Emmet

Cast

Additional Voices

Awards

  • Academy Awards: Best Original song (Nominated)
  • Golden Globes Awards: Best Animated Film (Nominated)
  • BAFTA Award: Best Animated Film (Winner)
  • Critic Choice awards: Best Animated Film (Winner) and Best Original song (Nominated)
  • Denver Film Critics Association: Best Animated Film (Winner) and Best Original song (Winner)
  • 3D Society Awards: Best Animated Film in 3D (Winner) 
  • Iowa film critics Association: Best Original Song (Winner)
  • Austin Film Critics Association: Best Animated Film (Winner)
  • Houston Film Critics Society Awards: Best Animated Film (Winner) and Best Original song (Winner)
  • Hollywood Music in Media Awards: Best Original Song (Winner) and Best Original score (Nominated)

Songs

Credits

The LEGO Movie/Credits

Trivia

  • Unlike other LEGO films which only aired on Cartoon Network, this movie also aired on other channels, such as Disney Channel, Disney XD, TBS, Freeform, and Nickelodeon, making this the first LEGO film to air on different TV channels other than Cartoon Network.
    • Turner channels and Freeform rate this film TV-PG-V as Nick and both Disneys (Channel and XD) rate it TV-PG respectively.
  • Despite it being a movie all about LEGO, the characters such as Emmet and Wyldstyle have never said "LEGO". The word was only mentioned after the end of the movie.
  • The term "Master Builder" is actually an official designation by the LEGO Company; per their website, "LEGO® Master Builders are the highly-trained and super-creative builders who design all of the official LEGO sets. Other LEGO Master Builders create giant, detailed sculptures out of LEGO bricks for LEGOLAND® Parks and special events all around the world."
  • Vitruvius' (Morgan Freeman's) staff is actually a chewed up lollipop, and in most cases, the stick of a lollipop will fit a minifigure's hand.
  • With the exception of unique pieces for the characters in the film (President Business's hair and evil helmet) every LEGO piece in the movie actually exists, and can even be used in sets.
  • Vitruvius was a Roman author and architect in the first century B.C., best known for his multi-volume work titled "De Architectura". Etymologically, the word "architect" derives from Greek words meaning "master" and "builder".
  • In order to add more realism to the movie, the LEGO bricks have scratches, fading, and even fingerprints to make the movie look like someone was manipulating real bricks in a stop-motion fashion. The bricks are also affected by their locations, with the bricks in The Old West realm being more dusty and faded from the sunlight.
  • Everything in the movie was designed to look as if built out of LEGO pieces. This even includes effects like water, fire, laser bolts, explosions, and smoke. For instance, the lasers are actually transparent LEGO rods (commonly known as "Lightsaber blades"), while smaller puffs of smoke are LEGO ice cream pieces. The fire seen in the crash of various police vehicles during the escape from Bricksburg are similarly LEGO pieces. This is in contrast with the direct-to-video LEGO movies and cartoon series, in which parts of the sceneries and most of the effects were made to look realistic.
  • Benny, a.k.a. the "1980-something space guy" (Charlie Day), a minifigure from LEGO's classic Space line, has a broken helmet and a worn-out, scuffed logo on his suit, similar to how many real-life Space minifigures look after being used. The helmet is even shown to be cracked at the same spot where the real-life LEGO piece would usually break.
  • This is the first animated film for both Morgan Freeman and Channing Tatum.
  • During the ending, when Emmet is explaining to President Business about the sets that the people have built, the LEGO videos playing on the televisions in the background are real LEGO stop-motion films (known as "Brickfilms") made by LEGO fans, and were not made by any of the filmmakers.
  • The creators deliberately tried to make the movie feel like stop-motion animation, and avoided making the computer-generated effects look too obvious. This was done, to make the movie look like it contained real LEGO.
  • An early script had many of the character's names different, R2-D2 and Indiana Jones being main characters, Emmet (Chris Pratt) still living with his elderly mother, who turns out to be "the most powerful woman in the universe", had Bad Cop (Liam Neeson) actually swear instead of saying "darn", Larry the Barista (Chris McKay) having a larger role, and Benny (Charlie Day) having a co-pilot that's an inanimate mop called Moppy.
  • The numbers seen with the pieces when Master Builders were assembling their free form models, are the official LEGO Element IDs (or part numbers) for each of the components used in each of the models.
  • Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian) reprised their roles from the original Star Wars trilogy. Daniels also provided C-3PO's voice in numerous Star Wars animated series, and previous LEGO Star Wars movie productions.
  • Morgan Freeman stated that Batman, in this film, is his favorite incarnation of the character of all time.
  • Upon first entering in Cloud Cuckoo Land, Batman (Will Arnett) is visibly annoyed by the place when two characters, a clown and a man in a lizard or dinosaur suit, are greeting him. These two figures are reminiscent of two of Batman's most formidable foes: The Joker and Killer Croc.
  • After the first "Everything is Awesome" sequence, the title card that says "5 Hours Later" in LEGO, is a photograph of real LEGO, and one of the few non-CGI LEGO shots in the movie. The ending credits are also real LEGO pieces, animated by stop-motion.
  • In Emmet's apartment, there is a poster for a movie called "Macho and the Nerd" which is the Russian title for a previous Phil Lord and Christopher Miller movie, 21 Jump Street (2012).
  • Metal Beard's, played by Nick Offerman, Five Laws of the Sea include; Never place your rear end on a pirate's face. Never release a Kraken. Never put ye hand in a clam's mouth. Always abandon a lost cause. Never wear a dress on Tuesday. Three of these tropes are actually shown in the movie:
    • Two robots that place their butts on his face get their asses blown up
    • Metal Beard abandons the lost cause as seen in Cloud Cuckoo Land when he leaves Emmet
    • The crowd that cheers when Lord Business says "who wants a tako" wears dresses.
    • Although not actually shown in the film, the "never release a Kraken" theme is referenced in Pirates of the Caribbean: Davy Jone's Locker.
  • No simulated motion blur was used in the film, to further give it the look of a stop-motion LEGO film. When scenes called for fast action, such as when Benny is building his spaceship, the animators constructed LEGO brick "streaks" the same colors as the characters.
  • When in the Octan tower, Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) goes off and tells them to wait for her signal. When she gives it, it's the "Super Secret" signal from Team America: World Police (2004).
  • There was originally going to be a shot of the diver-cops making out with mermaids while looking for the remains of the submarine, but it was cut as it was considered to be too racy.
  • The song that Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) is playing on the piano as Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) and Emmet (Chris Pratt) enter the saloon, is a ragtime version of "Everything Is Awesome", the movie's theme song.
  • In the chase in The Old West, the pig-drawn carriage gets blown into the sky. In the following shot from above, you can see objects crashing to the ground. At the top of the screen, one of the pigs hits the ground and explodes into sausages.
  • In The Birds by Aristophanes (414 B.C.), Mr. Trusting and Mr. Hopeful erect a perfect city in the clouds, to be named Cloud Cuckoo Land, an unrealistically idealistic state where everything is perfect. In the movie, Cloud Cuckoo Land is the home of Princess Unikitty, a land up in the clouds, where there are no rules and no limits.
  • When talking about the different LEGO worlds, a very quick slideshow plays as Wyldstyle says "a bunch of others we don't need to mention". This contains images of Fabuland, a storybook-style range aimed at young children that ran from 1979 to 1989, BIONICLE, LEGO's successful action-figure and multimedia franchise, 2001 to 2010, and 2015 to 2016, LEGO Friends, a theme aimed exclusively at girls, 2012-, and Speed Racer, based on the Speed Racer (2008) movie, all themes whose style didn't fit in with the movies, and couldn't be incorporated into its story. However, a Speed Racer Minifigure does appear later on as part of the pirate crew.
  • As Emmet is yelling at Wyldstyle to stop as they flee Bricksburg, the rotating street sign turbines of their improvised escape vehicle all momentary line up on "STOP".
  • The Middle Zealand world is a reference to the movies set in the fictional land of Middle Earth. These films were famously shot on-location in New Zealand.
  • Vitruvius can be seen wearing a tie-dye shirt and light blue jeans beneath his robe.
  • The film is dedicated to the memory of Executive Producer Kathleen Fleming, who passed away during production.
  • When Emmet jumps into the abyss near Lord Business' tower, and finds himself in the real world, he passes through a cardboard tube labelled "Magic Portal". This is a reference to The Magic Portal (1989), the first LEGO stop-motion animated film (or "Brickfilm").
  • Metal Beard's pirate crew is made up of the Flash (from DC comics), Michelangelo (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Speed Racer (from the franchise of the same name), Lady Pirate, the Pirate Captain, and another random pirate (from LEGO Pirates), Barry Smoothmoves a.k.a. "Disco Dude", the Magician, Medusa, the Mime, the Witch, and the Zookeeper (all from LEGO Minifigures).
  • Upon its release, this movie became the most commercially successful animated film made by Warner Brothers Pictures, besting Happy Feet (2006), as well as the most critically acclaimed animated film made by the studio since The Iron Giant (1999).
  • The map of the LEGO world has regions labelled: Bricksburg, The Old West, Middle Zealand, Cape Space, Pirate's Cove, Viking's Landing, Pharaoh's Quest, Dino Island, Atlantis, Vladek's Realm (Vladek was the main villain of the Knights' Kingdom II theme), Technic Mecha Mine. Forest of Obsolete Products. Octan HQ, All are references to various LEGO toy lines.
  • Four actors who had previously played Batman - Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, and Christian Bale - were all at one point considered to reprise the Dark Knight. Coincidentally, the next movie contains a song that talks about the names of all the previous Batman actors.
  • Emmet drives a modified 3177 Small Car, an actual set from LEGO City's 2010 lineup. The differences from the set are the curved front bumper and its side mirrors. The model was later released as a promotional set, called "Emmet's Car" or "Fly Car", made to look exactly as on film.
  • The appropriately named Blacktron Fan, a background character who was also included in one of the movie's tie-in sets, wears a Blacktron logo on his shirt. Blackthorn (2011) was the first unified "bad guy" subtheme of LEGO Space.
  • When the Master Builders are being brought to Lord Business (Will Ferrell) after Bad Cop (Liam Neeson) tracks Emmet (Chris Pratt), there is a shot of Wonder Woman (Cobie Smulders) being handcuffed, to which she replies sullenly. This may be a reference to her older comics, in which her established weakness is having her hands bound by a man. This weakness has been phased out of more recent comics.
  • Various LEGO characters, either original or from licensed properties, make cameos, or play bit parts. These include, among others: Johnny Thunder (from the Adventurers line), Lloyd Garmadon the Green Ninja (Ninjago), C-3PO, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian (Star Wars), the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Dumbledore (Harry Potter), Gandalf (Lord of the Rings), Shaquille O'Neal and the NBA All-Stars (Sports), Lion Knights (Castle), Milhouse Van Houten (The Simpsons (1989)), and many characters from the Minifigures series.
  • Batman (Will Arnett) frequently exclaims "Oh, come on!" during the film. This is the same catchphrase of Arnett's character Gob Bluth on Arrested Development (2003).
  • Some actual LEGO sets, including co-Director Christopher Miller's own Space Village set, were used for locations. This was succeeded through digital composition.
  • Cloud Cuckoo Land is represented in the real world by the box of pieces, with which Finn's (Jadon Sand's) father gave him to play. It says "Cloud Brothers Movers" on the side of the box.
  • Cobie Smulders voiced Wonder Woman in a cameo role. Coincidentally, Smulders had been considered to play a live-action Wonder Woman for a movie written by Joss Whedon, who cast her as Agent Maria Hill of DC Comics' rival company Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. LEGO happens to have licensing rights to both comic companies. Whedon coincidentally wrote the script for the first Avengers movie, in which six superheroes must fend off an alien invasion threatening the Earth.
  • This is the fourth film for Morgan Freeman, the third film for Liam Neeson and the second film for Billy Dee Williams to feature Batman. Morgan and Liam were in The Dark Knight trilogy, and Billy was in Batman (1989).
  • This is Wonder Woman's debut in a theatrical film. Likewise, this is also the first theatrical film to have Batman and Superman together, before the live-action Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), which featured the live-action theatrical debut of Wonder Woman.
  • The Octan Tower is based on the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) in Chicago.
  • Benny's spaceship is labelled "LL929", as a reference to the 1980s space LEGO model "Galaxy Explorer" (497), which was labelled "LL928".
  • The movie was made by Warner Brothers, and features several DC Comics heroes, as well as characters from Star Wars. Star Wars is owned by Disney, who also owns Marvel Comics, DC's biggest rival.
  • Wyldstyle's previous names as Vitruvius' insecure student are "Darkstorm", "Geminizzle", "Neversmile", "Freakface", and "Snazzypants".
  • The movie showed a couple of references to Fabuland, most notably on the shirts of a couple of Minifigures (possibly alluding to "throwback" shirts). Fabuland was LEGO's "transition" storybook line that existed from 1979 to 1989.
  • DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller): (dolphin): The dolphin call heard in every episode of Clone High (2002) is heard on when the characters are first introduced to Cloud Cuckoo Land.
  • Emmett and Benny are the only two characters in the film whose eyes are just black dots, every other character has a white dot in their eyes.
  • WILHELM SCREAM: Wyldstyle throws out a biker during the motorcycle chase scene.
  • In a scene inside the Octan tower, the robot army can be seen at work, typing on computers. However, upon closer inspection, it can be seen that every robot has the game "Solitaire" open. One of them even plays the game when Bad Cop interrogates Emmet. This is a common procrastination game in offices.
  • Lord Business constantly mispronounces popular products either intentionally or because of obscured letters (Nail Polish Remover is "the Poh-leesh Ree-mover of Nah-yield", X-Acto Knife is "The Sword of Ex-ak Ze-roh", and Krazy Glue is "Kragle" because of letters scratched off the tube. The Q-Tip is also called "Fleece Crested Sceptre of Queue-Teep" while a bandaid is called "Cloak of Band-Dye-aid". This is supposedly done to make his relics sound scary and awesome.
  • President Business' special cape is shaped like a giant necktie. This could be a nod to a previous Will Ferrell role. Ferrell, who plays the President, is well known for playing the fashion designer Mugatu in Zoolander (2001), where it is discovered he is the inventor of the "Piano Key" necktie.
  • UK showings were preceded by advertisements for BT Infinity and Confused.com that had been re-created in this movie.
  • The characters of Green Lantern, Superman, and Metal Beard are voiced by Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, and Nick Offerman, respectively, who also teamed up in 21 Jump Street (2012), also directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
  • Was the first animated feature film made by the newly reformed Warner Brothers feature animation studio, called "Warner Animation Group".
  • In this movie, Will Forte voiced Abraham Lincoln in a cameo role. This marks his second time portraying Lincoln since the short-lived animated sitcom Clone High (2002), Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's early television work.
  • Indiana Jones was originally going to be a central character. He can still be seen briefly building the secret tunnel out of Bricksburg, losing his hat in the process, and only grabbing it just in time (Indiana's signature move).
  • To promote the movie, the British television station ITV broadcasted a whole commercial break containing four different commercials, re-created by LEGO figures, ended with the official movie trailer. According to ITV and Warner Brothers, this project was a world premiere.
  • The main plot of the film takes place eight and a half years after the prologue, which is roughly the same age as Finn (Jadon Sand). It would imply that Vitruvius saw the prophecy when Finn was born.
  • When Wyldstyle first tells Emmet her name, he asks her if she is a D.J. There is a well-known European D.J. with the artist name "Wildstylez".
  • When the logo is being built, a cat can be seen in the first few seconds, standing on a few LEGO blocks.
  • "Emmet" is an archaic word for "ant", an insect well known for being a construction worker that works in a team. Similar Hebrew word: "Emeth" (Reality) is also known in pop culture as a magic word, written on the forehead of a doll in order for it to live as if it were a real man.
  • Emma Stone and Robert Downey Jr.. were considered for the leading roles.
  • "Pièce de résistance" is a French term, translated into English literally as "piece of (or for) resistance", referring to the best part or feature of something, as in a meal, a showpiece, or highlight.
  • In the scene where the citizens build various creations to fight Lord Business, the medieval citizens of Middle Zealand are seen building a giant wooden rabbit, a possible reference to the one built by King Arthur and his knights in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).
  • The story is similar to The Dark Tower series of books by Stephen King. Characters from different dimensions team up to search for a mystical artifact, which could save or destroy the universe. Some of the primary settings include analogues of Middle Earth, the Wild West, and modern America.
  • Bad Cop is briefly seen and heard singing the song "Danny Boy", a ballad written by English songwriter Frederic Weatherly, and is set to the Irish tune of "Londonderry Air". Bad Cop was portrayed by Liam Neeson, a well known Irish actor.
  • Lord Business' obsession with "tacos" has an interesting connection. "Tako", in Japanese, means "octopus". The micro-manager robots he uses bear more than a passing resemblance to octopi, some of the instruction bricks feature octopi, and Lord Business is head of the "Octan" company. Furthermore, "taco" is written phonetically as "tako" at several later stages.
  • The colorful alien bricks at the end of the film are part of the Duplo sets, which are oversized bricks for children ages three and younger.
  • On one of the digital computers, there's a picture of a Minion from Despicable Me (2010).
  • There is a statue of a skeleton with a cowboy hat atop a horse in the old west saloon with a plaque that says "Bob & Skelly", visible when Wyldstyle and Emmet first enter the saloon. This is a nod to the characters of Bones and Skelly from Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers (2010).
  • The minifigure used to represent Green Lantern was never released in any retail LEGO Set. The figure was given out with raffles at New York Comic-Con and San Diego Comic-Con in 2011, to coincide with the re-release of LEGO Superheroes. The figure is one of the most expensive LEGO minifigures on the market. The figure was also given out at the same events as the Comic-Con exclusive Batman suit, which is seen hanging in the Batcave as an alternate suit for Will Arnett's Batman in The LEGO Batman Movie (2017).
  • Elizabeth Banks also played a character nicknamed "Wild Style" on Modern Family (2009). In season four, episode seventeen, "Best Men", Mitchell, played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson, referred to her by the nickname in a toast.
  • Chris Pratt (Emmet) and Nick Offerman (Metal Beard) starred on Parks and Recreation (2009).
  • The real Vitruvius invented the first elevator.
  • The line that Virtuvius states at the beginning of the movie, "Cover your butt", is a reference to the line uttered by Samuel L. Jackson, playing the role of Ray Arnold in Jurassic Park (1993).
  • In early development, the movie was titled "LEGO: The Piece of Resistance", and had dozens of differences. One of which was that Emmet lived with his mother, Doris, who got kidnapped by robot ninjas.
  • This film makes Will Arnett the first Canadian-born actor to play Batman/Bruce Wayne in a motion picture.
  • Mark Mothersbaugh, who is solely credited for the music "Everything is Awesome" is a founding member and lead composer for the new wave group Devo.
  • The Lonely Island raps toward the end of "Everything is Awesome".
  • The hyperactive spaceman's name is appropriately "Benny", which is a slang abbreviation for Benzedrine, a commercial preparation of amphetamine.
  • Denzel Washington was considered to voice Vitruvius.
  • Emmet's name isn't said for the first twelve minutes of the film.
  • Metal Beard is based on Blackbeard the pirate.
  • Excluding follow-ups, this is the sixth film to use character cameos in this case with lego cameos, after Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) (cartoon character cameos), Toy Story (1995) (toy cameos), Shrek (2001) (fairy tale character cameos), Ice Age (2002) (prehistoric animal cameos), and Wreck it Ralph (2012) (video game character cameos).
  • The first animated film since Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) to win the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film without being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
  • When the film was released in New Zealand, it garnered controversy for the "Middle Zealand" joke, where people thought that the "poverty and illiteracy" parts in Vitruvius' description, were jabs at the country's Maori Inhabitants, it was then later explained by Warner Bros. that the "Middle Zealand" name was actually poking fun at the Lord of The Rings trilogy.
  • The voice acting debut for Keegan-Michael Key. Later every year following the release of this film he'd get to be in a film from Sony Animation, voicing Murray the Mummy in the Hotel Transylvania sequels replacing CeeLo Green since 2015, Judge Peckinpah in the Angry Birds Movie films, and Dave the Dove in The Star (2017). He'd also later go onto voice The Alpha Wolf in Storks (2016), Ducky in Toy Story 4 (2019), and Banzai the Hyena (renamed Kamari) in The Lion King (2019).
  • Was number one at the U.S. box-office for three straight weeks.
  • Will Ferrell's 3rd theatrically released animated film, after the first Curious George (2006) movie and Megamind (2010)
  • Will Ferrell (President Business/Lord Business) and Jonah Hill (Green Lantern) appeared in Megamind (2010).
  • Chris Pratt (Emmet) and Morgan Freeman (Vitruvius) appeared in Wanted (2008).
  • Jonah Hill voiced Green Lantern, a.k.a. Hal Jordan. He also voiced Hal Stewart/Titan in Megamind (2010), whose name was inspired from Green Lantern.
  • This is Will Ferrell and Will Arnett's second film since Blades of Glory (2007). Ferrell plays the hero in Blades of Glory (2007) and the villain in The Lego Movie (2014). Arnett was the villain in Blades of Glory and acted as the titular hero in The Lego Batman Movie (2017).
  • Morgan Freeman (Vitruvius) and Dave Franco (Wally) appeared in Now You See Me (2013) and Now You See Me 2 (2016).
  • The first animated film to use the CGI sketch, followed by Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie (2015), The Lego Batman Movie (2017), The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020). Speaking of the CGI sketch, the sketches were made in both 2.39:1 (scope version) and 1.37:1 (alternate flat version), just like the film itself.
  • Warner Bros.' twelfth theatrically released computer-animated film, after The Polar Express (2004), The Reef (2006), The Ant Bully (2006), Happy Feet (2006), TMNT (2007), Beowulf (2007), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), Astro Boy (2009), Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010), Animals United (2010), and Happy Feet Two (2011). It is also the first to not be made by Warner Bros. Animation as the studio closed down in 2012 and was replaced with Warner Animation Group in 2013 starting with this film released in 2014.
  • The second Warner Bros.' animated film to be released in February, after Clifford's Really Big Movie (2004).
  • The first theatrically released animated for Nick Offerman, Later he'd go onto voice Michael Loughran in Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015), Gavin the Dino Bird in Ice Age: Collision Course (2016), and Norman in the Sing films.
  • This is the first Warner Animation Group film to use the live-action sequences.
  • Melissa Sturm's first fully animated film that is not from Sony Animation.
  • This is Charlie Day's second animated film after Monsters University (2013).
  • In 2014 right before the release, everybody was saying was this film made with stop motion or CGI but the film is 98% CGI. But it has some shots made in live-action.
  • Third animated film for Will Forte, after Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013), all three of these were worked on by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
  • The film's directors were dismayed to learn that not all theaters were equipped to show a film in 2.39:1 widescreen. Consequently, while making the 2.39:1 version, another version of the film had to be made, this time in 1.37:1 aspect ratio. For this film, after a shot was completed for the scope version, another take had to be made for the flat version, as is the case with shooting The Robe (1953) twice, one for CinemaScope exhibition and another for spherical exhibition.
  • During production, the animators did alternative takes in both 2.35:1 widescreen, and 1.33:1 Academy format, on the assumption that not all theaters booking the film would rush to equip themselves with expensive wide screens and stereophonic sound-playback equipment, thought the film was initially released only in 2.35:1. For the Amazon Prime version with bonus features after the film, a matted 16:9 transfer from the 1.33:1-framed flat negative was played.
  • This film was created simultaneously in both a 2.39:1 "scope" widescreen version for theaters that had anamorphic lens projection equipment and a 1.37:1 "flat" Academy ratio version for theaters that used only spherical lens projection equipment.

Spoiler alert in these trivia

  • Lord Business (Will Ferrell) is President of Octan, a fictional gas station brand, that first appeared in 1992, and has since been featured in numerous Lego sets.
  • Vitruvius constantly gets confused about names of wizards, referring to "Gandalf" as "Dubbledore", and always failing to pronounce "Dumbledore" correctly.
  • The Kragle (Krazy-Glue) had to be shrunk down from its standard size, so it would fit the minifigure's hands more easily. Similarly, its cap was shrunk down to attach to Emmet's back.
  • In scenes depicting Bricksburg, there are Octan posters located throughout with slogans indicating Lord Business' heavy emphasis on order and following instructions. However, there are also a few rules that seem specific to come from a father figure, such as "Don't stay up all nite", and "Don't play in the street", foreshadowing his identity as The Man Upstairs. Towards the ending, you can also see warning messages "Hands off", "Do not touch" etc.
  • The mysterious device that Lord Business uses to blind Vitruvius, and uses to try and melt the Piece of Resistance off of Emmet's back, is a laser pointer keychain.
  • When the camera pans over the crowd of Bricksburg citizens and Master Builders celebrating, LEGO versions of Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller can be briefly seen.
  • When Batman says to Wyldstyle that she can be with Emmet at the ending, he says, "He is the hero you deserve", much like Commissioner Gordon said of Batman at the end of The Dark Knight (2008). Gordon said, "Because he is the hero Gotham deserves."
  • All of the superheroes in this movie are from the DC comic universe. This is probably because the distributor of the film is Warner Brothers, which is owned by Time Warner, which also owns DC Comics.
  • First time that Chris Pratt distracts his enemy by dancing and beat-boxing. He did it again as Star-lord (Peter Quill) during Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), in the ending fight with Ronan, played by Lee Pace.
  • When Lord Business betrays Bad Cop, he tells him "it's nothing personal, it's just business". This is a direct quote said to Liam Neeson's (Bad Cop's) character in Taken (2008).
  • Batman throws a total of fifteen batarangs at the red button before he finally exclaims, "First try!"
  • When passing through the "Magic Portal", several animated backgrounds pass behind Emmet, when he is falling from the tower, and returning to the LEGO World. The final effect of glowing white LEGO bricks one row wide flowing from a swirling blue vortex is only seen briefly, but is the same effect used in the game LEGO Dimensions when travelling between worlds. LEGO Dimensions prominently features Wyldstyle, Lord Business, and other LEGO Movie characters in its story, and features a stage based on this movie. The Lego Batman Movie (2017) briefly showed the endless void, into which Emmet falls, and also had a set made for LEGO Dimensions. Despite all of this, no indication has been made as to how the stories relate, if they do at all.

References to other media

  • The Terminator: "Come with me if you want to not die"
  • Lord of the Rings: Gandalf is part of the resistance fighters
  • Harry Potter: Dumbledore makes an appearance
  • Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman makes an appearance
  • Batman: Batman makes an appearance

Related Media

Spinoffs

Sequel

A sequel came out in 2019 called The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part.