A Lego Brickumentary (2014)

A look at the global culture and appeal of the LEGO building-block toys.

Directors:

Kief Davidson, Daniel Junge

Writers:

Daniel Junge, Davis Coombe

Stars:

Jason Bateman, Jamie Berard, Bryan Bonahoom

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jason Bateman	...	Narrator (voice)
Jamie Berard	...	Himself
Bryan Bonahoom	...	Himself
Alice Finch	...	Herself
Bret Harris	...	Himself
Dwight Howard	...	Himself
Cody Hughes	...	Himself
G.W. Krauss	...	Himself
Dan Legoff	...	Himself
David Pagano	...	Himself
Nathan Sawaya	...	Himself
Jeff Viens	...	Himself
Brian Whitaker	...	Himself

Storyline

Of all the toys arising from the 20th century, there has never been one like Lego bricks. This film covers the history of this product of Denmark and how it arose from a toy company with an owning family that refused to let either hard times or multiple fiery disasters get them down. Furthermore, we also explore the various aficionados of the product like the collectors, hobbyists, artists, architects, engineers, scientists and doctors who have found uses for this classic construction toy that go far beyond children's playtime.

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Plot Keywords:

toy | lego | denmark | artist | toy company | 

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Taglines:

If you thought you knew the world of Lego, YOU DON'T KNOW BRICK!

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Denmark USA

Language:

English Portuguese

Release Date:

31 July 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Beyond the Brick: A Lego Brickumentary

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$43,285, 2 August 2015, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$100,240, 23 August 2015

Company Credits

Production Co:

Global Emerging Markets (GEM), HeLo

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

References The Matrix (1999)

User Reviews

A Vision

A Lego Brickumentary, also known as Beyond the Brick: A Lego Brickumentary is a very interestingly done documentary that looks at the global culture, appeal, and history of the Lego Company and its building block toys. The documentary borders on mockumentary at times, and it features some rather confusing scenes, but overall, it's worth a watch, especially if you're a huge fan of the popular brick company. The film shows the audience the origin of Legos through its country of origin, Denmark, to modern day. The film goes through both the accomplishments and struggles of the company, and how it almost went bankrupt around 1999. The film shows how the company changed with the times, as well as, footage of Lego conventions, and various fans using their Legos in very creative ways. Creative use of Legos included a person who built an entire house out of Lego bricks, and another person who built an actual car using Legos. Both examples are crazily creative. The movie even contains scenes showing how Legos are improving the world, with some psychiatrist using Legos to help their patients, and one boy, named Adrian Pitt, who is using Legos to help with his speech problem.

The documentary is narrated by Jason Bateman, playing a fictional Lego, who appears sometimes in well-done stop-motion sequences and tells the audience about an aspect of Legos. What I appreciated about these particular sequences was the amount of creativity that went into them. It must have taken the filmmakers hours just to make one sequence. We even get to see some behind the scenes footage of the making of the recent The Lego Movie.

The film contains interviews with various people who work at Lego, as well as, entertainers such as Ed Sheeran, Trey Parker, and Dwight Howard, all of whom relate their personal experiences and appreciation for Legos. These sequences are nice, as we get to see that Lego fans go well-beyond supposed children or even nerds.

In spite of all of the praise I've given this film, I can't say it's perfect. One thing, a Brickumentary falls apart in, is it's a lack of focus. While all the various Lego stories are interesting, much of the material that happens at the actual Lego studios left me uninterested. Maybe I'm just not into the actual behind the scenes aspects of the company, but I did find the actual Lego creative stories more eventful, and thankfully, they do make up the bulk of the film.

That major flaw aside, A Lego Brickumentary is a fairly well-made, well-done documentary that serves as a good look at the history and success of one of the world's biggest toy companies, who got popular simply off one product, and not many companies can say that.