Kids go through phases of Legomania which keeps them off Grand Theft Auto and bankrupts their parents.<\/p>\n
In product placement terms, an animated film with the client\u2019s name in its title is the equivalent of three lemons in a row every time you yank the bandit\u2019s one arm.<\/p>\n
The characters may be members of the Lego family and the monsters\/buildings\/weapons\/vehicles made from Lego pieces, but the script is radical on-it and in no way the creation of an advertiser\u2019s think tank.<\/p>\n
The language is honed on the games room\u2019s sofa where concepts of world domination reflect a simplistic cartoonish cynicism where chaos theory thrives and B-movie sci-fi is respected for its tacky trash can sensibility.<\/p>\n
Critics complain of Hollywood\u2019s fear of ideas and the banality of blockbusters.<\/p>\n
Funnily \u2013 and it is funny because they are so expensive to make \u2013 animated films have been allowed to be experimental and imaginative.<\/p>\n
The Lego Movie is a perfect example. If Abed from the sitcom Community had been asked to write a screenplay for toys this would have been it. Likewise a couple of techno savvy 14-year-olds who live inside a TV screen would have done as well.<\/p>\n
With characters such as President Business, Bad Cop and Wild (\u201cAre you a DJ?\u201d) Style this is George Orwell on acid. The pace is frantic, the colours electrifying and the storyline zippedy-who-dah.<\/p>\n
Emmett is the most ordinary Legomite in the box. He can\u2019t step outside without consulting his How To book on social behaviour. Somehow, probably by mistake, he is chosen as a born again saviour who can bring down the evil dictator and put a stop, and a top, to his deathly tube of glue.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut the thing on the other thing and save the universe,\u201d he is told.<\/p>\n
Right…