The LEGO Movie

Emmet's Dream House / Rescue Rocket!

The little suburban house from the movie, and it flips into a rocket when the day goes sideways.

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 70831 · 2019

Pieces706

Minifigs3

Year2019

Set number70831

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The verdict

This is the one set that actually captures Emmet as a character, the tidy little guy with the double-decker couch dreams, and then it lets you tear the whole thing down and rebuild it into a rescue rocket.

Both builds are genuinely fun and the play value is high, so kids who loved the film will adore it. I do wish LEGO had printed more of the details instead of leaning on stickers, and a couple of the side builds feel like filler. For a movie fan or a younger builder, though, it hits.

Best for: LEGO Movie fans and 8-to-12 year olds who love a build-two-ways playset

The full review

What it is

The first time I built this I kept smiling at how well it nails Emmet. He is the small, cheerful, everything-is-awesome guy, and his dream house here is exactly that, a snug little suburban home with a porch, a kitchen, an attic, and enough tidy furniture to feel lived in. The whole thing opens flat so you can reach every room, and then, because this is The LEGO Movie 2 and nothing stays calm for long, you can pull it apart and rebuild the same bricks into a Rescue Rocket. That second build is the one that got me. It has spring-loaded shooters, adjustable engines, a cockpit with room for two, and a hidden compartment in the nose. Two real models from one box, both worth displaying, and that is not something most licensed sets pull off.

The catch

I will be straight with you about the caveats, because they are the difference between loving this and just liking it. At its 2019 launch price of around seventy dollars for 706 pieces, the value was fair rather than generous, and now that it is retired you are usually paying a collector premium north of a hundred to get one sealed. The bigger frustration for me is the stickers. The little portraits of Emmet, Lucy and Unikitty on the walls are stickers you apply to flat tiles, and on a set that is all about character and charm, printed pieces would have made it sing. There is one lovely printed E and L 4 EVA sign, which only made me wish the rest matched it. A couple of the small builds that sit beside the house also feel like leftover pieces given a job rather than a real part of the scene.

Who it's for

So here is who I would steer toward it. If you or the kid in your life loved the films, this is the set that best captures the spirit of the first one, and the rebuild feature gives it a second life that keeps it interesting long after the first afternoon. Eight to twelve is the sweet spot, and honestly plenty of grown fans will enjoy the swap-build too. If you are chasing pure parts value or a display centerpiece with crisp printed detail everywhere, this is not that set, and the sticker sheet may bug you. But as a playset with heart and a genuinely clever two-in-one hook, it earns its place.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building it is relaxed and quick, the kind of session you finish in an easy sitting without ever feeling lost. The house goes together in tidy sub-assemblies, room by room, and there is a satisfying moment when the walls fold out and you realize how much LEGO squeezed into the footprint. The rocket rebuild is the more rewarding of the two, with some neat angled engine work and the spring shooters that younger builders will fire endlessly. Nothing here is going to challenge an expert, but the pacing is friendly and the payoff of two finished models keeps it engaging.

On the parts front, the joy is in the printed E and L 4 EVA sign and the buildable Warrior Kitty, who has two swappable expressions and a real presence for a brick-built figure. The three minifigures are the draw, with Rex Dangervest being the standout pull since he only appears in a handful of sets. You get a friendly spread of everyday town elements, plates, tiles, arches and furniture pieces in cheerful colors, which makes this a decent little donor box for anyone building their own neighborhood. Just go in knowing the wall art relies on that sticker sheet rather than prints.

Fun facts

01The set is a true 2-in-1 build, using the same 706 pieces to make either Emmet's Dream House or the Rescue Rocket rather than including two separate parts pools.
02Rex Dangervest, voiced in the film by Chris Pratt as a raptor-training, galaxy-defending version of Emmet, is one of the harder minifigures to find and appears in only a few 2019 sets.
03Warrior Kitty is not a standard minifigure but a small brick-built figure with two different face options you can swap.
04Now retired, the set has climbed well past its original launch price on the secondary market, a common fate for The LEGO Movie 2 sets that undersold at retail.