10 Things You Completely Missed In The First Lego Movie

Now that The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part is in theaters, many fans need a refresher regarding the original LEGO Movie that was released in 2014. While 2017s The LEGO Batman Movie is still fresh in our minds, it's been a while since we've met up with Emmet, Lucy, and the rest of the gang; unless you've been keeping up with all of the many shorts in the series, from 2014s Chinese New Year to 2018s Emmet's Holiday Party.

Even if you watched the original film again, there's still a good chance you missed some cool hidden moments, LEGO Movie trivia, and Easter eggs.

It's Morgan Freeman's First Animated Feature

Cloud Cuckoo Land from The Lego Movie with Vitruvius and Unikitty

When Morgan Freeman remarked, "Ah, we gotta write all that down 'cause I'm not gonna remember any of it, but here we go," the words were his own, spoken in regards to being anxious about so many lines the film directors tossed his way. Funny enough, those lines weren't an actual piece of the dialogue, but directors loved it so much they just added it to the movie! It ended up being one of Vitruvius's funniest lines in the movie.

Since he'd never worked on an animated movie before, Freeman also had no idea he'd have to speak his lines alone without interacting with other actors.

It Has A Lot Of Parallels To The Matrix

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While it's difficult to create a completely unique idea and flesh it out into a film, The LEGO Movie definitely seems to have parallels to several different previously released films. One of the most obvious examples is The Matrix.

Not only is Emmett chosen by a wise old man and accompanied by a woman who believed that she was supposed to be the Chosen One, but it's also an example of a completely different version of reality. Emmett also finds himself in many of the same situations as Neo, such as when fighting many police officers during his adventure.

Each Lego Movie Redeems A Villain

Too many children's films feature the destruction of a bad guy in the end, often at the hands of the hero, which only makes the hero as bad as the villain he took out. The LEGO Movie and its successors opted for a more Studio Ghibli approach where the villains learn from their mistakes and grow from that knowledge instead of just being jailed or knocked off.

Lord Business frees the LEGO people, complicit in the failure of his own dastardly plan. And in The LEGO Batman Movie, Joker and many other rogues help to save the city. Even The LEGO Ninjago Movie includes a cathartic moment for Lloyd's father, Lord Garmadon.

Lord Business Has A Necktie For A Cape

Will Ferrell as The Man Upstairs playing with legos in The Lego Movie

It's not obvious unless you know what to look for, but Lord Business, who wears a pretty complicated costume as it is, sports a small necktie as his cape. This is an obvious play on his name as well as his parallel personality to The Man Upstairs.

The tie has to be from the wardrobe of Finn, the 8-year-old boy in The LEGO Movie who models the personality of Lord Business after his strict father. This only adds to the feels, enabling us to picture Finn not enjoying this stuffy accessory and re-purposing it, as builders do, into something else.

Nods To Actual LEGO Sets

Blink and you'll miss one of the many cameos in The LEGO Movie. These nods to the various LEGO sets were appreciated by fans who've constructed the LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme Shredder's Lair Rescue, or the 7,541-piece LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Millennium Falcon Building Kit.

Everyone's favorite nod to an actual LEGO set, of course, has to be Benny's spaceship, which isn't only an homage to the classic LEGOs but is also reminiscent of what just about every builder makes at some point. Who doesn't know a kid who snapped a couple of bricks together only to call it a spaceship?

Cameos Galore

What made The LEGO Movie cameos even more enjoyable were the various celebrities who played them, like Channing Tatum as Superman, Jonah Hill as Green Lantern, and Cobie Smulders as Wonder Woman. Did you also catch the real Lando Calrissian, Billy Dee Williams, or the real Shaquille O'Neal as themselves? Most people know that Lucy was voiced by Elizabeth Banks and Will Arnett as Batman, but did you know that Nick Offerman was the voice of Metal Beard?

Some other cameos you might have missed include Will Forte as Abraham Lincoln, Jake Johnson as Barry, Dave Franco as Wally, and Keegan-Michael Key as Foreman Jim. One of the film's directors, Christopher Miller, also made a cameo appearance as the TV presenter.

President Business's Workers Are Playing Solitaire

One of the funniest little nuggets about The LEGO Movie is that President Business's workers aren't very industrious. As we see them type in rows and rows of minifigs, it brings to mind the banality of working in an office. It's the perfect embodiment of the experience through the eyes of 8-year-old Finn.

If you look more closely, however, you'll see that the robotic workers are not actually accomplishing anything while on the clock. Instead, they mostly appear to be playing solitaire on their computers, which makes the image even more realistic and representative of real office workers in jobs they don't love.

Chris Pratt Isn't Always Emmet

For the fans who've followed every incarnation of The LEGO Movie along its journey, including its various games like The LEGO Movie Videogame, finding out that it's not always Chris Pratt's voice you hear might be surprising. Pratt doesn't even voice Emmet in The LEGO Movie: 4D — A New Adventure theme park ride. That honor goes to voice actor A.J. LoCascio.

LoCascio also voices Emmet in shorts like The LEGO Movie Characters present: Safety Video and The LEGO Movie: Masters of Flight. He mimics Chris Pratt so well that he even voices his character Owen Grady in the Jurassic World games.

There Are Lego Ninjago Easter Eggs

2017s The LEGO Ninjago Movie certainly didn't come out of left field, as the TV show had aired several years prior to the film. There are also tiny Easter eggs in The LEGO Movie universe that allude to it. LEGO Ninjago characters are briefly seen via cut-away during the original film, but owners of The LEGO Movie Blu-ray also know that there's an entire special feature including Lloyd from The LEGO Ninjago Movie.

The funniest inclusion of an Easter egg of The LEGO Ninjago Movie had to have been in The LEGO Batman Movie, since there were billboards promoting the film within the film. LEGOception, anyone?

There Are Real Lego Pieces In The Films

One of the coolest facts about The LEGO Movie and its successors is the fact that real LEGO pieces were used during the making of each movie. Anytime you catch a glimpse of bubbles in the movies, you're actually seeing ice cream scoop pieces.

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Not only does this really highlight the LEGOs as the central element of the film, but it also furthers the entire message about being a builder and creativity. LEGO builders know that pieces can be used for just about anything, from making almost unsolvable puzzle boxes to robots that actually move. Using real LEGOs in the films illustrates just how aware filmmakers were of this fact.