The LEGO Movies in order: The full animated universe guide

Some movies you expect to be good, others sneak up, throw a bucket of colorful bricks in your face, and suddenly, LEGO has taken over your weekend! When The LEGO Movie dropped in 2014, people thought it’d be a harmless, maybe-funny kids’ flick.

Instead, we got a film that was sharp, witty, weirdly emotional, and just downright fun. It proved you could take something as simple as toy bricks and turn it into a full-blown cinematic universe that people of all ages would actually care about.

And once that landed...boom! A whole little LEGO movie-verse was born. We got spin-offs, sequels, even a ninja epic. Some leaned hard into meta-humor, others just went wild with action scenes that looked like a ten-year-old dumped their toy box and said, “Let’s make this happen.”

The tone was always playful, and the jokes were rapid-fire, sometimes so quick you catch a new one with every rewatch.

If you’ve never seen them, or you want to marathon them properly, there’s a simple way to go: watch them in the order they came out. It’s not like there’s a deep, tangled timeline here...this isn’t Marvel, but the release order keeps the references and tone shifts feeling natural.

So let’s stack these brick-by-brick and run through the whole LEGO movie lineup!

The ultimate LEGO movie guide, in perfect watch order

1. The LEGO Movie (2014)

Meet Emmet; he’s as average as a minifigure can get: follows the rules, buys overpriced coffee, sings along to “Everything Is Awesome” without irony. Then he’s mistaken for “The Special,” a legendary hero who’s supposed to save the LEGO world from Lord Business, an uptight villain with a thing for superglue.

The real trick here is that the film works for kids and adults. The animation style is pure eye candy; it looks like stop-motion even though it’s CGI, and the jokes land fast. Plus, there’s a twist that suddenly turns a goofy comedy into something...surprisingly heartfelt.

Also, Batman shows up, steals every scene, and somehow makes “dark and brooding” hilarious.

2. The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

LEGO Batman was too good in the first movie to not get his own film. This is basically a mash-up of every Batman ever: campy, gritty, self-serious, you name it, and it’s constantly poking fun at itself.

Here, Batman’s problem isn’t the Joker, it’s his ego. He refuses to work with anyone, then ends up accidentally adopting a kid (Robin) and teaming up with Barbara Gordon to stop a massive villain mash-up.

We’re talking lots of wild cameos, including non-DC pop-culture figures. It’s ridiculous in the best way, and under all the chaos, it’s secretly a story about letting people in.

3. The LEGO Ninjago Movie (2017)

Released the same year as LEGO Batman, this one shifts gears. Forget superheroes, this is a mix of ninjas, giant robots, and one very awkward family dynamic. Lloyd, a teenage ninja, has to protect his city from Garmadon...who also happens to be his dad.

It’s loosely connected to the long-running Ninjago TV series, but you don’t need to know a thing going in. The tone’s goofier, the action’s big and flashy, and the father-son banter carries most of the comedy.

Not as universally loved as the first two LEGO films, but still a solid watch if you like your animated movies loud, silly, and full of mech battles.

4. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)

Five years after the first film, Bricksburg is basically a wasteland. The DUPLO invaders from the end of The LEGO Movie wrecked the place, turning it into a Mad Max-style nightmare. Everyone’s adapted to the grim new world, except Emmet, who’s still happily optimistic.

Then aliens kidnap his friends, and he heads out on a rescue mission that gets weirder by the minute. Along the way, he meets Rex Dangervest, a rugged, too-cool adventurer who’s basically Chris Pratt parodying himself.

The film leans heavily into musical numbers and wraps up the emotional threads from the first film. More space, more chaos, more Batman...what’s not to like?

Bonus round: LEGO specials and side quests

Outside the big four, LEGO has a ton of TV specials and shorts. There’s The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special (a goofy send-up of the galaxy far, far away), LEGO Marvel Avengers: Climate Conundrum, and even some LEGO Jurassic World episodes.

They’re shorter, looser, and often more absurd, think Darth Vader dealing with awkward small talk or superheroes arguing over who gets to drive the jet. None of these are essential, but if you just want a quick LEGO fix without committing to a whole movie, they’re perfect.

How to watch them in the best way

If you’re gonna watch the LEGO movies, honestly, just do it in the order they came out. No big mystery there. Start with The LEGO Movie from 2014, because that’s the one that kicks everything off and gives you all the inside jokes you’ll see popping up later.

After that, jump into The LEGO Batman Movie (2017), which is basically LEGO going “What if Batman was an egomaniac with great one-liners?” and it totally works. Then comes The LEGO Ninjago Movie, also 2017, which changes gears completely: ninjas, giant robots, and a father-son feud that’s more awkward than a family WhatsApp group.

And then you wrap it all up with The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019), which throws in space travel, overly catchy songs, and somehow manages to tie the whole thing together. Watching them this way keeps the jokes landing the way they were meant to and stops the tone from feeling all over the place.

Why these work better than they should

Toy-based movies can feel like long commercials, but the LEGO films avoid that by being...well, actually good. The animators go all-in on making the worlds look like something you could build yourself, right down to tiny scratches on the bricks.

The humor works on multiple levels; kids laugh at the slapstick, adults catch the meta jokes and pop culture nods.

And then there’s the heart: each movie, no matter how silly, sneaks in a story about friendship, family, or just being okay with not being “the special.” They embrace chaos, celebrate imagination, and never take themselves too seriously.

The LEGO movies aren’t trying to be a massive, interconnected saga. They’re here to make you laugh, throw in a few feels, and remind you that anything, pirates, ninjas, Batman, can fit together if you’ve got the right bricks. Watch them in the right order, and yeah...everything really is awesome!