2. The Last 15 Minutes
Without going too far into spoilers, The LEGO Movie goes somewhere during its third act that quite frankly, no one could have expected it to go. There is a decision made here that could have easily crushed the film immediately, slaughtering all the goodwill it had created up until this point. Astonishingly, it was a brilliant idea that separates The LEGO Movie from a good movie with great fun, into an unforgettable masterpiece that will assuredly go down in history as one of the greatest animated films ever.
SPOILERS follow:
Towards the end of the film – for reasons I won’t spoil – it is revealed that the events of the film are the imagination of a child who considers himself to be Emmett, and his father Lord Business. This is also where the motivation for Business begins to make sense, and connect into a much broader and more emotional story. The father doesn’t fancy his child wanting to play around with his meticulously set up LEGO environments. He wants them as they are, or in the case of Lord Business’ nefarious motivations, glued to the ground.
The son has a creative mind and wants to do interesting things with the toys. One could even argue that he wants to play with LEGOs as they were intended to be played with, which is something his father doesn’t understand. Without giving away the entire ending, just understand that viewers of all ages can learn a thing or two from such a weighty, meaningful climax. When people say that The LEGO Movie isn’t just another animated film worth some cheap entertainment, guaranteeing a much deeper message involved, this is the symbolic ending they are referring to.
Major kudos also has to go to Will Ferrell and young Jadon Sand for beautifully illustrating this point.