A LEGO Brickumentary movie review (2015)
Hosted by a LEGO-ized version of Jason Bateman (presumably a preview of the upcoming "It's Your Move" set), "A LEGO Brickumentary" takes viewers on a guided tour of all aspects of the LEGO story (while presumably breaking the record for the use of the word "LEGO" in a movie) starting with their humble beginnings in 1957 as the brainchild of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Denmark-based businessman whose factories had a mysterious tendency to go up in flames through today, where they are the second-biggest toy manufacturer in the world (despite having but one single product to sell) and where there are allegedly 100 LEGO pieces out there for every single person on the planet. There are behind-the-scenes looks at the production process where we get to see the designers and master builders who create and develop the seemingly endless array of new products as well as a detailed look at the creation of an enormous X-Wing that is said to be the biggest LEGO creation ever built.
The toy's enormous fan base of all ages is covered at great length as well from the woman who built an insanely detailed replica of Rivendell from "The Lord of the Rings" to celebrity testimonials from the likes of Ed Sheeran and Trey Parker, who admits that he now finds following the instructions of the themed sets he once poo-poohed to be highly therapeutic after a long day of making decisions at the "South Park" offices. We also learn of some of the more educational aspects of LEGOs, such as how one doctor has used them as a way of reaching out to autistic children and how one fan finds his design for a replica of the Mars Curiosity Rover being manufactured by the company officially after winning a contest through a website dedicated to the vast LEGO community.
Most of this is interesting enough, although a little too self-congratulatory at times, but "A LEGO Brickumentary" never really goes much deeper than that, presumably because of filmmakers Daniel Junge and Kief Davidson not wanting to rock the boat too much lest they upset the LEGO overlords. For example, I would have liked to see a little more debate about the aspect that Parker hinted at in his interview—the clash between the old approach to LEGO-building, in which one got a bunch of bricks and let their imaginations go, and the new, in which one gets a specific kit, often licensed from some popular franchise, and builds them according to their instructions so that they look exactly right. While the film does briefly mention it, I would have liked to have seen a little more about the period in the late 90's when the company began ignoring the wishes of their fanbase by over-specializing their output and nearly destroyed themselves in the process. And while I realize that it would have jeopardized the family-friendly approach that the filmmakers have chosen to adopt, it would have been fun to see more of the more adult-oriented uses that people have made of the toys over the years, ranging from stop-motion recreations of films like "Psycho" to. . .well, LEGO porn.
