The idea of making an entire movie about Lego toy building blocks seemed far-fetched and a bald-faced marketing ploy. It didn't appear to have much of a chance at success. Who would watch it? And after a movie about Legos, what next? Maybe a movie about toothpaste ("The Colgate Movie") or toaster ovens? With the expectation bar set pretty low, the reviews came in.
Rotten Tomatoes, a website with aggregated movie ratings, reported the reviews to be 96% positive. For movie reviews, that is almost impossible. If there are only two reviews, it is possible to get a 100% positive rating since there are only two reviews. But with a larger number, there always will be enough curmudgeons to drive the percentage down. Maybe reviewers responded to anything positive on the screen because the movie's premise was so profoundly unlikely. One review called it the best movie ever made.