What do the NBA’s Dwight Howard, Grammy-winner Ed Sheeran and South Park co-creator Trey Parker have in common with JPL scientists, sculptors, artists and filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller – not mention millions of kids of all ages?
If you guessed LEGO, you’d be right – which is kind of the point of Beyond the Brick: A LEGO Brickumentary.
When I was a kid, the best construction toy we had was Tinker Toy – so I feel a bit envious of generations who came just after me and got to discover LEGO. Beyond the Brick only exacerbates that envy.
The film – written by Daniel Junge, Davis Coombe and Kief Davidson – gives us a short, whimsical look at LEGO’s history and then explores how the toy has invaded (in the friendliest possible way) the lives of hundreds of millions kids and adults. It travels to Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Taiwan, Holland, Denmark (the toy’s birthplace and home to the company to this day) and, of course, America.
In terms of presentation, Beyond the Brick breaks no new ground – it’s a collection of talking heads and scenes of people using LEGO for play, work and art. What makes it special is the way it shows the development of the toy and the way that it’s become part of our lives in ways we might never have guessed.
Here are just tidbits you can expect to find in the film: a mathematician who has worked out the number of possible combinations to be constructed with five, six and seven LEGO bricks (and finds the possibilities to be effectively infinite); the construction and display of a life-sized LEGO X-Wing Starfighter; LEGO as a therapeutic tool for autistic children; a model of a Frank Lloyd Wright building; original art and sculpture in a New York gallery showing; why there are three very specific LEGO mini-figures aboard the Juno spacecraft that was launched to study Jupiter, and how the LEGO rebounded from near bankruptcy by opening itself up to input from the toy’s fans.
Beyond the Brick is not the in-depth documentary that will satisfy the hardcore AFOL (Adult Fan of LEG), but it’s not intended to be. Rather, it’s a glimpse into the history of the toy and ways in which it has become a part of our lives – from kids playing in the livingroom, to scientists using LEGO to create concept models to see if their ideas are workable, to the millions of people (fans and non-fans alike) who were charmed by The LEGO Movie.
I could bore you with names and places, but most of them really wouldn’t mean anything to you unless you were an AFOL – like Jamie Berard, a kid who turned his love of LEGO into a position as an actual LEGO designer, or Alice Finch – who built a gigantic LEGO model of Rivendell (as seen in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies).
I’m not sure if it’s coincidental that the film, narrated by Jason Bateman, comes out a mere week before The Gift – in which he plays against his genial Everyman persona. Whatever the case, it’s an interesting juxtaposition.
At times, Beyond the Brick can seem like a feature-length promotional film for LEGO, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t – at the same time – be a real eye-opener as to just how extensively the toy has infiltrated our lives and on how many levels. The score, by John Jennings Boyd, can lean a little too heavily on the whimsy, but it’s nicely offset by the use of some clever original animation by Tommy Williamson and James Morr – as well as giving us glimpses of some inventive fan animations.
Whether you’re a kid, an AFOL, an artist or a scientist, the main point of the film is that LEGO is a toy that facilitates creativity – and that’s something we can all celebrate.
Final Grade: B+