In 2014, the last movie anyone expected to turn out to be any good was The LEGO Movie - the title alone seemed to make it painfully obvious that this would be a predictably shallow, bland corporate movie tie-in for a product which has no conceivable narrative function. Against all the odds, The LEGO Movie turned out to be pretty damn good by anyone's standards. The lack of narrative potential for a toy which has no backstory turned out to be a huge help rather than a hindrance, allowing the filmmakers to use the endless possibilities of LEGO bricks to build an equally imaginative universe, while the film retained a cheeky, irreverent attitude towards the very corporate blandness many feared it would itself exhibit. It is fair to say that this commentary on creativity left a bitter taste in some critics' mouths, who saw it as hypocritical for a film about a toy which rakes in countless millions a year in profits to berate - albeit subtly - corporations similar to itself. Still, it's impossible to deny that The LEGO Movie is a whole lot of fun full of witty humour and knowing references of a higher calibre than many other animated movies aimed at kids.