I am glad that I took the time to watch A Lego Brickumentary on Amazon Prime a few months back. It is not only a very well made documentary about the world of Lego but it is also very accessible for any age. The narrator, Jason Bateman, is even acted out by a fun little stop-motion Lego guy. If you are a fan of The Lego Movie, this is a great companion film.
Much of the film is achieved through stop-motion storytelling and amazing time lapse sequences. What is really great is that the expected part of the movie, the history of the Lego brick and the Lego Company, is only the start of the documentary. The rest of the film really shows how the fans of the toy changed not only the world, but the company's perspective on their own product. It really is amazing to see how the toy company learned to evolve with their fans. It is also cool to see how the adult fan community grew and really made a difference. There are some pretty amazing people who grew up loving Legos and that sparked awesome evolutions in to their innovative careers in architecture, science, art and even therapy. The film bookends all of this nicely by culminating in the Art of the Brick exhibit in Times Square, NYC.
Since much of the film centers on the fandom that has evolved around Legos, we see how the communities online and at conventions have created their own celebrities. These big names are considered Master Builders and some have even broken through and are now working for Lego. I love how the documentary even touches on issues of gender and building! There are some women who are in the creme of the crop in the Master Builder tournaments.
An interesting off-shoot in the fan world is how there are groups that manufacture accessories for collectors that the Lego Company will not make. Apparently Lego has strict rules against creating realistic weapons. There are now people that manufacture these weapons in order to meet the needs of the military recreation builders out there. Some fans focus on using Legos to recreate historical and military moments.
Another interesting controversy in the Lego universe is centered around the debate between kit builders and freeform builders. Kit builders stick to the directions. They buy a kit, say a Star Wars or Harry Potter Lego boxed kit, and build exactly what is on the cover. Freeform builders can't be bothered with the rules and just make whatever their heart tells them to. This is apparently a hard distinction for fans. Lego even banked too hard on the importance of kit building and turned away from the freeform faction in the early 2000s. Their ability to learn from their fans and adapt to what is in demand is what saved the company.
It is crazy to see the effect Lego has had on the fields of math and science. It has even made an impact on NASA. Its also fun to see what celebrities are huge fans, collectors and builders. Lego really has touched every industry and walk of life you can think of.
All in all, I think this is a great documentary that almost anyone can enjoy. It really is good for pretty much any age (just like the toy) except maybe really little kids who have no attention span.
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