I have read that the Lego movie was a box office success over the weekend. February is not noted for blockbuster movies, and children’s movies don’t always fare well at the awards ceremonies, but perhaps this one will set a new trend. Actually, I haven’t seen the movie. I watched the trailer, so I have a bit of a sense of what the movie might look like. Using computer animations to move the mouths and make other facial changes to the minifigures seems clever. And any movie with both Batman and Superman is bound to appeal to a certain demographic.

The truth is that I don’t know much about movies at all. I rarely watch them. I prefer reading to looking at things. All of that visual and sound stimulation just seems too tense to make the experience a truly relaxing scenario for me. I probably would have been perfectly happy living in a generation before movies were invented.

But I do know a little bit about Lego.

Lego wasn’t popular in the United States until after I had already moved from American Bricks (a definitely inferior product) to Erector sets. So I never had any Lego of my own. My brother who is 2 1/2 years younger, however, was the Lego kid in our family, so I got to play with the bricks when I was growing up.

But I didn’t really understand Lego until I became the dad of a Lego kid. So if you aren’t really into Lego, I guess I should start with a little bit of vocabulary so that you can grasp a bit of the culture.

First of all, the plural of Lego is Lego. For serious aficionados of the toy, saying “Legos” is definitely a faux pas.

Individual Lego pieces are called bricks. If you call them blocks you are making reference to toys that don’t interlock in the clever way that Lego pieces are designed to stay together until you are ready to take them apart.

Lego characters are called minifigures. Perhaps Playmobile has people, but Leog has minifigures. And it is all one word, despite what your spell checker tries to do when you write it.

Duplo is the name for the bricks that are exactly twice as long and twice as high as the corresponding Lego. Duplo is designed for younger children, but you can use Duplo and Lego together in the same construction.

A couple of cultural realities in the Lego world: First of all, there are all kinds of buckets, bins and cases designed to store Lego. All are fine for putting the bricks away, but the only real way to find the exact brick that you want when you want it is to dump out the entire container. Sorry, dads who hate the painful sensation of stepping son a brick. Sorry, moms who hate the sound of a brick caught in the vacuum cleaner brushes. That’s just the way it is. We ended up making a 4’ x 8’ Lego table for our son with edges on it so that the bricks didn’t easily spill over onto the floor. It helped, but wasn’t a perfect solution. Lego creations can’t be contained to a single room. After you finish making it, the creation needs to be transported around the house and shown off. That means that there is always the risk of a brick ending up in a different room.

Secondly, you never outgrow Lego. The Lego Architecture series are kits specifically designed for adults. You can create a model of the White House, The Empire State Building, The Seattle Space Needle or the Leaning Tower of Pisa Those kits range from $20 and up. If you want to go above $100, how about making a model of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Fallingwater? It isn’t that expensive when you compare it with actually owning an architectural landmark. If you aren’t into buildings, you could try the Lego Volkswagen T1 Camper Van.

If you are really into Lego, now is the time to start planning for you vacation to Legoland, Denmark’s most famous amusement park. If that is too pricy for you, a real Lego fan won’t be disappointed with the Lego store in the Mall of America. It features two wonderful levels with lots of bricks and baseplates to play with while you are considering which sets to purchase and take home.

Now about the movie. The plot begins with an evil mastermind bent on destroying the world. There is, however, a prophecy about a chosen one who will save the world. Somehow Emmet, who is in reality just another average Lego minifigure in the big Lego city going about his average Lego day, gets mistaken for the chosen one. And that is where the adventure begins. But to enjoy the movie, you have to understand a little bit about Lego laws of physics. When you ride a horse its legs stay frozen even at a gallop. Your head can spin all the way around - even around and around and around again. And, don’t forget this basic principle: Krazy Glue spells immobilizing doom!

There is a law enforcement pair: The Good Cop and the Bad Cop, but I think that they are really the same character with two voices. There is a size Lego wizard for those who still love the castle Lego sets and, of course, Badman, who in the movie is, I hear, a bit self-absorbed. Probably not as cheesy as the old Batman television series, however.

I bet it is a really good movie. What’s not to like about a 3D animated Lego movie?

But the truth is that I probably won’t go to the movie. That is, unless I can go with my son. Now that would be an adventure worth having. He is the real Lego expert in our house.

When you go to a movie, it is always good to have someone with you who can explain the jokes that you don’t get.

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