Am I just a face in the crowd, is that all I'll ever be?

Also among the movies we've seen recently was The Lego Movie, which I was mildly interested in on the strength of its advertisements, which seemed pretty amusing enough, and got more interested in when I started hearing the good reviews it was getting. The movie's deserving of those good notices: besides the movie in the main being done with a lighthearted humor and considerable energy, as well as being awfully good at animating Legos so they still look roughly like they're moving the ways Lego blocks might, the movie puts in the effort to try being something meaningful instead of being a pastiche of movies rendered in Lego block form. It also shows fine moments such as just naming Cloud Cuckoo-Land, before a third-act development which makes sensible not just how the movie's based on a ``chosen one'' storyline that can't help feeling old but also turns the coincidence-driven plot points from earlier in the film into more than just funny scenes.

The movie concludes with what ought to be a nice bit of refutation of the idea that there are some specially-chosen, privileged characters whose place in the world is just more important than everyone else's: in the Lego world mythos there are Master Builders who have the talent for ingenious creation; but, the climax comes when all the characters, all the extras, are exhorted to build just whatever they heck they want, and it doesn't matter if anyone else thinks it's any good or even if everybody else thinks it's the stupidest thing they ever saw. This proves key to saving the day, for everybody to do what they like.

My quibble is that the movie holds this up as arguing that everyone is special, and I guess I'm just cranky enough to argue that this isn't really so. Everyone is, or at least can be, special to themselves, and to their loved ones, and that seems like it's enough to me. And it seems to better fit the spirit of this climax, with everyone creating things that are important just because they're creating the things they like. I just feel like people should understand that being special is a contextual thing.

Loose nagging end that I wondered about after leaving the theater: the movie opens with a prelude and then a title card made of Legos comes up to declare ``8 1/2 Years Later''. If we trust that's accurate then ... I'm actually not quite sure how the villain could take that long while leaving the MacGuffin unused. Ah well; the important thing is the closing credits include Batman's song without any dialogue over it, so you can hear all the very important and dark poetry of his lyrics.

Trivia: After Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, died in November 1200, England's King John kept the see vacant until July 1202, which netted the crown a profit of £2,649.
Source: 1215: The Year Of Magna Carta, Danny Danziger, John Gillingham.

Currently Reading: Up Ship! A History of the US Navy's Rigid Airships 1919 - 1935, Douglas Hill Robinson.