Why it could have been awful: To get a good idea of the initial reaction to the announcement of The LEGO Movie you only need to look at the more recent reaction to news of an upcoming Tetris movie - how on earth can a toy or game with no narrative core whatsoever be made into an entertaining and coherent feature film? The expectations for a quality LEGO movie before its January release were about as low as you can imagine, and critics went into their screenings prepared to use the running time to sneak in a quick nap. Why it's great: Without a doubt one of the most surprisingly good films of the year, The LEGO Movie triumphed precisely because the toy is so open-ended - it's a champion of the creative spirit, both in the message it delivers and the manner in which it is presented. Easily one of the best looking movies of 2014, the animation - made up of countless digital LEGO bricks - is some of the best ever seen on the big screen. It's also frequently hilarious, with visual gags the kids would love sitting alongside satirical jokes only the adults will understand in much the same way as Pixar at its best. Which potentially awful 2014 movies did you think turned out to be great? Why not post a comment below and let us know.
