The LEGO Movie is one of my most-anticipated films of 2014 because I'm pretty much on board with anything directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller are going to do since I adore their first two movies, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street.  For The LEGO Movie, the plot focuses on Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt), a construction worker who finds himself anointed "The Special", a master builder who will lead a band of rebels to save the world.  Naturally, Emmet is not only completely inept, there's nothing special about him.  "We like the challenge of a story around the most generic, forgettable man in the universe," says Lord.

Hit the jump for new images from the film and to learn more about the characters.  Click here for Steve's interview with Lord and Miller from Comic-Con.  The film also features the voices of Elizabeth Banks, Will Arentt, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, and Will FerrellThe LEGO Movie opens in 3D on February 7, 2014.

Via USA Today.

THE LEGO MOVIE

THE LEGO MOVIE

THE LEGO MOVIE

THE LEGO MOVIE

THE LEGO MOVIE

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Image via Warner Bros.

THE LEGO MOVIE

Although there may not be anything special when it comes to Emmet's abilities, he makes up for it in spirit.  Pratt tells USA Today:

"Emmet's enthusiasm is something we share," says Pratt. "I seem to be really enthusiastic about things as well in life. Maybe more so than I should be. It's probably why (directors) Chris and Phil had me in mind when they created the character."

Emmet's incompetence will also be counterbalanced by the highly competent Wyldstyle (Banks):

The free-spirited Master Builder has an independent streak as wild as the color streaks in her plastic hair. She's a car-building specialist, tough and respected. "She's definitely on equal footing with the guys," says Banks. "She is real sassy. She overcomes all obstacles, including that she's a tiny Lego."

Banks says "Wyldstyle is very much me in two-inch form. I brought as much of my sass and attitude that I could get into her."

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Emmet, Wyldstyle, and the rest of the rebellion will be facing off against the villain President Business (Ferrell), whose true identity is "Lord Business" (awesome), who is overseeing a robot militia so he can take over the LEGO world:

"The ruler of this universe wants everything to stay exactly where he put it and every piece to be in its place," says Lord. "Innovators like Master Builders drive him crazy."

Ferrell is a good fit to voice both characters "since he can get really frustrated in a really funny way," says Miller.

I'll be interested to see how President/Lord business differs from Ferrell's most famous villain, Mugatu ("I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!").

Every good villain needs a good henchman and Lord Business gets half of one in Good Cop/Bad Cop (Neeson).  The schizophrenic character has a good face drawn on one side of his head and a bad face on the other:

"We would have Liam do a scene where he would have this friendly, high-pitched voice for Good Cop and then a mean, deep voice for Bad Cop," says Miller. "He was really good at it."

The voice of the Bad Cop side isn't too surprising but it was delightful to hear Neeson do a high-pitched voice in the Comic-Con trailer.

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Circling back to the good guys, Emmet will be helped by the Gandalf-like Vitruvius. The character is voiced by Freeman, which would seem fairly obvious to have him be the voice of wisdom except there's a fun twist:

"We thought he should look like Gandalf, and it would be so funny if we had this voice that everyone trusts," says Lord. "And then we gave him the most ridiculous things to say."

Finally, while there are original characters in the movie, Lord and Miller will be taking advantage of LEGO's licensed properties.  There will be cameos throughout the movie, but it looks like Batman will be getting a featured role.  However, this is obviously a more comic Dark Knight:

"He does have a few shortcomings. He might not be the greatest Batman," says Will Arnett. "But he's the baddest character in the movie. And he's a good guy."