The concept of an official, theatrically released LEGO® feature sounds lucrative enough that it is surprising it took so long to make. More surprising still is that it is not a flat, empty-headed, kiddie-pandering trifle, but something much more substantial and sublime. Incorporating a gaggle of prominent characters in cinema—many of them science-fiction, fantasy and comic book icons—within a bold world made entirely out of LEGO products, writer-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (2012's "21 Jump Street") surpass expectations while constantly thinking invigoratingly outside the box. Combining satire with slapstick while, most emphatically, building a reverberatingly emotional core, "The LEGO Movie" features no shortage of energy even as the 100-minute running time does finally overextend itself. Kids will be in paradise, while adults will appreciate it on multiple other levels sure to go over the little ones' heads. It's a four-quadrant entertainment that never feels as if it is aiming to please. It just does.
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