This past weekend I finally made it out to the theaters and got to see one of the films I was looking forward to: The Lego Movie. I played with these as a kid, although my brothers were more invested in the toy than I was. But I thought the film looked interesting, not to mention hilarious. I love Chris Pratt’s comedy and couldn’t wait to see the movie.
I don’t want to say I was disappointed, I really did love the movie. But I wasn’t overly impressed either. I guess the film met my expectations and that’s about it. A lot of the jokes that I’d seen in the trailers were there, and they were still funny. And I liked how the film dealt with not only Lego characters, but also the people who play with them. It seemed to categorize the types of people who play with Legos into two groups: those who follow instructions, and those who invent as they see fit to make their own creations. The film did a good job of showing the pros and cons of both. The characters who invented as they wished were often fighting with the other characters, trying to say their creation was the best, while the characters who only followed instructions were able to work together and accomplish bigger things as a team. But sometimes creativity was really needed, and being able to improvise instead of following specific instructions was especially useful.
If there was one thing I would complain about, it was the action shots. I had trouble keeping up with what was happening in these scenes. Maybe the camera angles were too wide and there was too much information, so I didn’t know what to focus on. Or maybe the “blockyness” of Legos made it harder for my eyes to understand what was what. In any case, several of the action scenes seemed to blow past me in a blur of motion.
But the biggest thing I liked from the movie was showing how much each person, even a blocky Lego character, wants to be special. The whole premiss of the movie is that “The Special” will save the Lego world. I think all of us long to be significant, and hope that our lives mean something. Not only our hero in the movie, but even side characters, longed to be special. And ultimately, this is how our hero, Emmit, saves the day. He realizes his own “specialness” and tells the villain that he is important too, that he is special.
This reminds me of what I have been learning in church recently; that God created each person uniquely with a specific way of reflecting His glory and a purpose that goes beyond themselves to affect others. I think this is something we all need to remember and be able to tell others around us. We all have a purpose, we all are “special” and we shouldn’t look down on others or ourselves as unimportant. We should encourage and remind each other that we all have value, we all are important, because we are all made in the image of God.
NovelSisters 