When my 9-year-old self saw Emmett (Chris Pratt) become “The Special” and join the ranks of the greatest master builders to defeat Lord Business’s (Will Ferrell) regime, I thought it was one of the greatest movies of all time. Ten years later, I hold a similar opinion. Having recently rewatched “The Lego Movie” for old time’s sake, I realized that the film should not be taken at face value.
Yes, being able to create a spaceship out of spare Lego parts is a superpower I wish I had, but the creativity to develop these spectacular, yet somewhat outlandish designs is a quality we all possess – from the simple construction worker to the all-powerful “man upstairs.”
From its opening week, the film was a success. According to IMDb, “The Lego Movie” garnered almost $70 million at the box office as audiences could not get enough of Emmett’s relentless optimism, Batman’s (Will Arnett) love of black – and occasionally “very very dark grey” – or Vitruvius’s (Morgan Freeman) cat poster motivation. Belief, the subject of said cat poster, is the metaphorical piéce de resistance that protagonist Emmett carries with him through the film. However, he does not know how to use its power to his advantage. His doubts about his master-building abilities seem reasonable: how could a law-abiding, instruction-following construction worker drop everything and go against the constructs of his society and morals? “Bricksburg” and the entire Lego universe is eventually restored, but was its preservation due to Emmett sacrificing himself off the infinitieth floor of the Octan building, or were there other forces at play? I believe there were.
After coming face to face with The Man Upstairs (Will Ferrell) and the all-inspiring cat poster, Emmett gains a completely different perspective about his world under siege: it is not Bricksburg that is in danger of being locked in a transparent chrysalis of Kragle but creativity. More specifically, Finn’s (Jadon Sand) creativity. Since he is the true master builder behind the plot line of the film, the inability for Finn’s creativity to flourish means destruction to Emmett’s entire universe. Lord Business is not to be feared by Emmett; what must be feared is Emmett not tapping into his true potential as a master builder to stop Lord Business. Thus, Emmett must not fight fire with fire, but Kragle with creativity.
Both Finn and Emmett defeat their biggest foes through the knowledge, nay, the belief, that life is not always about following instructions. Rather, what makes all of us so special is our ability to think outside the box and be creative. Any attempts to hamper this superpower we all have will be hurtful to society, not beneficial. Emmett’s confrontation with Lord Business tugs on his inflexible heartstrings, which is enough for him to see past the mirage of micromanaging power and call off Taco Tuesday. Likewise, Finn’s conversation with his dad makes his father realize that a set of Legos is better off in creative, and not corporate hands.
The battle of Bricksburg ends in a victory for the master builders, the resurgence of creativity and a father-son bond now restored. It seems like all the pieces have fallen into place, until Lego Duplo crashes the celebration.
Nevertheless, 9-year-old me had no doubt that Emmett could handle any challenge thrown his way with belief and creativity in his tool belt. And once the credits rolled, present-day me smiled, sat back in my chair and thought, “With a little bit of creativity, everything is awesome.”
