The Lego Movie 3D ****

A surprise hit when it opened Feb 7, "The Lego Movie" has continued to dominate the U.S. box office through this weekend. And with good reason. It's a wonderfully inventive, fast-paced animated movie entirely constructed of Legos that cracks wise while skewering pop icons and delivering a message extolling creativity over conformity. Clearly there's much more than needed to keep the little ones interested, and reports are surfacing on Facebook of twenty-somethings seeing it multiple times. Yes, it's fine for the kids, but it's the adults who will laugh loudest.

Among a host of good voice work, I particularly liked the unmistakeable cadences of Morgan Freeman as the godlike prophet Vitruvius, Liam Neeson as the Good Cop/Bad Cop, and Will Farrell as President Business. Animation props go to the huge crew that put it all together, especially the impressive water surfaces, and to the directing team, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who also brought us "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and "21 Jump Street." I saw the version in 3D, which was consistently well used.

The topical, historical, and pop culture references came so fast and furious, it was difficult to catch them all. Now that I consider it, I might have to see it again.