Darn, darn, darn, darny-darn! or What was I thinking?

by chuckofish

So we watched The Lego Movie (2014) the other night. One of my nephews reviewed it here back when it came out in February–you can read all about the plot etc. there. He thought it was “perfect” and I will not dispute that. I just think I am getting too old for this kind of movie. There were too many distracting cameos–I spent a lot of mental energy trying to hear whose voice was who–and too much whiz bang action.

I mean I get what the movie is about. We had lots of Lego when my children were growing up and we were not the kind of parents who insisted on keeping the sets whole and “glued,” as it were, together. We got that it’s about the child being creative and making its own world, usually after the Lego world has been mastered. I’m glad they made that clear in the  movie. And I like that they made a point of using Lego-friendly language, i.e darn, dang and oh my g.o.s.h. Isn’t it ironic, however, that it has a PG rating for “cartoon violence” and tense situations?

Anyway, it poked fun at the right things: terrible, mind-numbing theme songs, vulgar one-joke TV shows that are not funny, sports bars, and people who are known for just one thing. It is nice to know that there are still people (in Hollywood especially) who understand that our culture is all about being banal while asserting that everyone is “special.”

I think it is sad, however, that no one can make a movie this good for adults. Or is it that the adults, including the makers of this movie, don’t really want to be grown ups? They just want to be kids forever, making childish inside jokes about imaginary people and super heroes. When was the last time you saw a “new” movie about real people–not make-believe James Bond or Captain America people?

You haven’t, right? I thought so.

Yeah, I know, I’m turning into an old coot. Well, so be it.

Just for laughs I looked at a list on IMDB.com of the “Top 100 Movies of the Decade 2000-2010”. I found six movies that I liked: Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), Road to Perdition (2002), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Crash (2004), and The Hurt Locker (2008). I only own one of those movies–Road to Perdition. So I guess that’s my movie pick for this Friday!

I will refrain from making a joke about the title.