The LEGO Movie - If you build it...

We've had a tradition in our little family for a long time. When any of our kids (natural, adoptive or foster) gets all A's and B's on  a report card they get some special time with a parent. It used to be that they could pick a movie to watch together from Blockbuster, but that store no longer exists. So when our 8 y/o daughter got good grades on her most recent report card she asked if I could take her to see the LEGO Movie. I'm not one to turn down an opportunity to go to the movies, so off we went.

First, let me show off my nerd side. LEGO is the shortened form of a Danish word that means "play well." I learned that a few years ago when I did a sermon series on the toys we played with as kids. This movie lives up to the background of its namesake toy. It plays well. It's fast-paced, colorful and funny. My daughter loved it. For a pop culture guy like me, there are so many references and gags about things in popular culture in this film, I might have to go see it again just to try to catch them all. For example: there is an early battle between LEGO Batman and a bad guy character called Good Cop/Bad Cop. the cop character is voiced by actor Liam Neeson, who plays Ras Al Ghul, the man who trains Bruce Wayne in martial arts so that he can become... Batman. There are also several cameo voice appearances that are tons of fun for an old school sci-fi like me as well. I won't say anymore so that I'm not giving away some of the stuff that you might really enjoy. Suffice it to say that there's plenty in this film for kids and adults.

There's also a nice spiritual side to this film as well. The conflict in this movie revolves around President Business (voiced by Will Farrell) wanting everything in the LEGO world to be perfect - no mixing of worlds or concepts. He plans to accomplish this by using a creativity destroying tool called "the KraGl." Our heroes, including super ordinary Emmitt, plan to stop him by applying the "Piece of Resistance," a mystical relic said to have the power to prevent the KraGl from working at all. Emmitt's challenge is that he is just an ordinary builder who only knows how to follow the directions and he is surrounded by master builders who can create anything from the plastic blocks. Yet everyone expects Emmitt to save the world because he's considered to be "the special," the one who discovered the piece of resistance.

Obviously, there are themes of creativity vs conformity and imagination vs following directions here. But the most overtly spiritual perspective in this movie has to do with perfectionism vs individuality.

President Business wants everything to be perfect according to the directions and to stay that way. But God says that no one is perfect, no one is sinless and because of that all of creation is broken (Romans 3:23). In fact, not realizing that we are not perfect and instead trying to make everything that we do live up to a perfect standard denies the grace of God.

Emmitt realizes this toward the film's climax in a final scene with President Business. With echoes of "The Incredibles" and the motivation of its villain Syndrome, Emmitt tells President Business that every person is special and that now it's the bad guy's turn. One needs to recognize that Emmitt doesn't seem to be advocating and "everyone's special so no one is special" world like Syndrome does. Rather he seems to be saying that each is special in their own way, stressing uniqueness over conformity. As a theologian, I'd add that we are each special in that God loves us for who and what we are right now, but loves us enough to not allow us to continue to be the broken vessels that we recognize ourselves to be. God's grace is that unmerited favor that saves us, raises us, grows us and perfects us in love, a great thought for February 15.

So go enjoy this fun movie, and if you see some of those pop culture references that maybe I missed, let me know!

PD