After watching “The Lego Movie” twice in a row, I have to say it’s probably the best movie of 2014 so far. That’s not really saying much at this point in the year, but it’s still a fantastic movie. It manages to be more than just a kid’s movie as it is filled with subtle jokes and themes that toy with the normal idea of what a kid’s animation is.

The first time I saw the movie was with my nine year old cousin, and the theater was mainly filled with kids about his age. Even though this audience of children enjoyed it, in the second time I watched it, there was definitely a larger audience reaction to all the subtle jokes, and that was with a group of adults. In other words, this is definitely one of those movies everyone can enjoy, but the audience that it’s aiming for is obvious: Lego lovers. I had the opportunity to watch this movie with a devout fan of Lego, and he appreciated it even more than I could. This is saying a lot because he can be very critical on his fandoms.

The first thing this movie kicks off with and then uses for the rest of the film are quick one-liners that continually work despite their childlike sensibility. It is actually because of this that they it works so well. It’s one of those movies where it seems like the makers of the movie were just told to make a Lego movie, gave them a bunch of money and let them loose. They definitely didn’t disappoint.

What’s probably the best part about this movie that they were able to cram some many Lego cameos, the best being Batman. He basically steals the show when he comes swooping in to save the day in his bat-wing and proceeds to fly into the sun. It’s also refreshing to see a version of Batman that isn’t the dark and hardened one from the Christopher Nolan trilogy, but rather as a conceited hero who is completely aware of how awesome he is. Of course, they couldn’t have picked a better voice actor to portray Batman as the over confident narcissist than Will Arnett.

It is obvious that the creators put a lot of effort into this movie, especially with the visual effects and plot elements, and the fact that they are able to so easily make jokes about themselves with ironically cheesy effects, like “vroom” noises with the mouth, and an almost too cliché theme. This only adds to the humor of the movie, though.

While there are several great cameos, like Anthony Daniels (now I’ve said too much), all of the performances in this movie are great. Voice actors like Morgan Freeman and Will Ferrell are already relatively familiar as it is, but they are able to really fit into the roles they play in very funny ways. Liam Neeson, who is now probably more recognized for his works in serious action movies, has an incredibly funny part as a literal good cop/bad cop.

I could keep going on and on about how great this movie is, but you really have to see it for yourself. While not everyone may not catch all the subtle (or not subtle) references throughout the movie, it is still simply just a fun movie to watch. It has great special effects that can just be stunning during intense action scenes or just for something as simple as water. It is fast paced and surprisingly engaging for what it is. In general, it’s just awesome.