Re "message provided by the hero, is that it's okay to be a cog in the machine." Well that's kind of true to life - a lot of people do fine in regular corporate jobs and a lot of creative types have problems. Many of the best movies show some part the world that's mucked up eg. the top three movies on imdb are about a corrupt prison system and the mafia. You can like a movie without it saying everything is rainbows. Maybe that's why the Lego movie is more enjoyable for adults than most of the kiddie pap.