“Freedom Friday”. That’s right, I saw the Lego Movie.

“Freedom Friday!”

Yesterday we took one of my nephews to the movies to watch his request, The Lego Movie.  I really didn’t expect much and with my lack of tv watching, I am lucky that I even watched a preview for it.  None the less, I was at the mercy of the 3.5 year old again.  We loaded up on our expensive popcorn and settled in for some previews.  Little did I know about an hour later I would shed a tear over this movie.

So many kids movies are inspiring yet I usually find them a bit cheesy, but this one did the trick for me.  With many big name stars in the movie such as Will Ferrell and Morgan Freeman, I presume they all fell in love with the storyline as it seemed very heartfelt throughout.  Without giving too much away in the movie, I’ll explain a bit of why I felt inspired yet empty as I left the theater.

“Lord Business” in the movie, played by Will Ferrell, has taken over the lego world and made all the lego people follow his rules, sing his songs, watch his tv shows, and buy overpriced coffee.  The movie is basically a play on our real world.  We follow rules, watch what the media tells us, and of course buy over priced coffee all the time.  Throughout the movie Lord Business is getting his Kragle ready to end the lego world.  The makers of the movie were so creative with their intertwining our real world with a kid’s imagination.  The Kragle, you come to find out, is a tube of Krazy Glue that is missing a few letters.  They did this with numerous other items to make the movie more realistic but also make the audience think twice about our own lives.

The hero of the story is a regular guy.  He’s surrounded by all the famous super heroes but ultimately he has to find it within himself to bring out his “special”.  The movie encourages individuality and really pushes for the hero to be creative and break out from the rules.  What a great message right?!  The tears came as one of the supporting characters, WyldStyle, made a plea to everyone in lego land to bring out their special, stop being mindless, and be creative.  Wyldstyle brings everyone to life by announcing the day as “Freedom Friday”.  The day they stop following the rules and use their own talents to build anything they want to defend themselves against the Kragle.  It just hit me that I want this for myself and everyone in the world.

I love that we send this message to kids.  But shouldn’t we send it to teens and adults too?  A few weeks ago, I found myself at the movies again but this time it was an adult movie with a much different message, The Wolf of Wall Street.  Although the Wolf of Wall Street overall has a message that the gluttony and greed of this world ultimately leaves you empty, the out of your mind success and over the top craziness is something that people long for.  Maybe we should all just watch the kids movies and not the adult ones?  The Wolf of Wall Street was a good movie, I just wonder how many people left the theater thinking, “I want that life!”  I left the movie thinking, good movie, great acting, but wow wow wow wow wow, I can’t unsee what I just saw.

So, I choose the Lego Movie.  Let’s send more of that message.

Let’s leave mass everything behind and search within yourself to find your own journey to happiness and what your success means to you.   But that may also mean not going to the movie theater.

FREEDOM FRIDAY!