When I saw the trailer for “The Lego Movie,” I assumed it was just another dumb movie for four-year-olds. Little did I know that I would come out of the theaters feeling the exact opposite.

“The Lego Movie” is built on the story of Emmet Brickowaski, a LEGO mini figure who lives an ordinary life as a construction worker in his city. By pure coincidence, Emmet is mistaken by a group of Master Builders to be a “Special,” the key to saving the universe. Despite his lack of intelligence and creativity, he consequently leads an extraordinary quest to save his world from Lord Business, a tyrant who wants to stop progress and make everything immoveable with Krazy Glue. Sure, the plot may sound cliché, but, under all the humor, it also sends out a strong message undermining the homogeneity in our society today.

Before I go into the extraordinary subtleties of the film, I must first say it was difficult watching moving LEGO pieces for nearly two hours. Yet, it was surprisingly pleasing to see that everything, literally, was a LEGO piece. It was as if I built the set myself: running water was portrayed as falling half bush pieces, explosions spewed out cross bricks and pillars of smoke, and even the plastic fire blowing out of a spaceship was a special-edition piece itself. The filmmakers did an impressive job of ensuring that every CGI effect was authentic; so realistic in fact that I felt like I was reliving my favorite childhood pastime with over three million LEGOs right in front of me.

But one thing more laudable than the animation was the humor that filled the theater with roaring laughter from both adults and children. The entire beginning of the movie was a satire itself, mocking the unexplainable routines and ridiculous uniformity that many of us unconsciously follow every day.

The movie also seemed to allude to classic film characters such as Batman, Superman, Gandalf, and even basketball legend Shaq O’Neil. Not only did the directors insert a remarkable number of cameos throughout the entire film, but they also ingeniously intertwined snippets of dialogues and iconic moments from other films into the movie’s captivating storyline. And speaking of a captivating storyline, no matter how well you can foresee into the future, you will be blown by the plot twist in the end.

The complexity of this movie is so overwhelming that I cannot possibly cover every layer of this LEGO masterpiece. Despite the unoriginal title, “The Lego Movie” is definitely more than a film for four-year-olds, and is actually perfect for adults and kids alike, or anyone who has fond memories of these colorful building blocks.

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