Last week, I discussed the family movie The Croods, and I recommended the film even though its plot was somewhat unoriginal. I will honestly say that The Lego Movie has a pretty unoriginal plot, but the way it does it is so original, that it couldn’t help but become a surprise hit.

Generally, I don’t like films that are based on franchises, because I just can’t shake the feeling that they are only made for a guaranteed box-office draw. It is very clear that whoever wrote The Lego Movie knew this, and decided to make a film that was very self-satirical. This is why the film appeals to both the old and the young.

The film is everything that I would have probably would have done if I was given the task of writing a script to a Lego movie. It shows the hero’s journey, starting with an ordinary man named Emmet who is apparently the subject of a great prophecy. This prophecy is given by a guy who reminds me Obi-Wan Kenobi, and this prophecy is attempted to be thwarted by a guy named Lord Business who reminds me of Darth Vader. Emmet meets some allies along the way, including WyldStyle, a girl-power figure, and many more including Batman. Seriously, Batman is a side character in this thing.

Even though this story is pretty predictable, I appreciate the way the story is told. This could have easily have been another computer-animated 3D film, but the fact that it uses stop-and-go animation gives this film a terrific style. My only complaint of this film is that some of the shots are too fast, and I can tell a lot of Lego builders did a lot of work on the backgrounds that only appear for scant seconds. I really wanted time to appreciate the Lego building in this film.

One of the things that I like about The Lego Movie is that it actually discourages a practice that most Lego collectors do. Some builders just build the stuff on the instructions, but The Lego Movie shows that it is much better to just build creations, in spite of how impractical they would be in real life. For this reasons, much of the creations in the film look like something plucked directly from a child’s imagination, and this is why this film works.

This is one time that I am not going to spoil the film, but I will say that it takes a somewhat unexpected turn. In all honesty, the big reveal doesn’t feel forced or tacked-on. Instead, the film works up to it, and it is done so well.

In short, The Lego Movie is probably one of the original films that I have seen recently, and I have no doubt that its style will be imitated. In fact, I have heard that a Minecraft movie is being made.