The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
Year: 2019
Director: Mike Mitchell
Starring: Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Tiffany Haddish & Chris Pratt
Runtime: 107 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 21/09/22
Director: Mike Mitchell
Starring: Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Tiffany Haddish & Chris Pratt
Runtime: 107 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 21/09/22
The Lego Movie was such a surprise hit in 2014 that Warner Bros. rushed into production three sequels, two of which I’ve already covered. Two spin-off films in 2017 (The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie), and a proper sequel in 2019, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. Despite the success of 2014’s The Lego Movie, each sequel seemed to have smaller and smaller returns for Warner Bros., with critics and audiences growing tired of the samey formula that the films employed (a side effect of jumping the gun with three films in the span of two years). So, The Lego Movie 2 marks the end of the Warner Animation era of Lego movies, and for the time being, the end of my Lego review series. But does The Lego Movie 2 manage to recapture any of what made the original film so amazing and beloved?
Five years have passed since Taco Tuesday and the arrival of the aliens from the planet Duplo, the aliens destroyed everything nice and shiny and so Bricksburg has changed to Apocalypseburg, a rough and tough wasteland where nice things are discarded out of fear of attracting the aliens. But when Emmet (Chris Pratt) builds a house for himself and Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) he attracts the attention of the aliens once again. To form an alliance between their people through marriage, Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabi (Tiffany Haddish) seeks to marry Batman (Will Arnett). Suspicious of her motives Emmet joins forces with Rex Dangervest (also Chris Pratt) to stop the wedding and prevent ‘Armamageddon’, whilst Wyldstyle battles with the Queen’s guard General Sweet Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz).
Five years have passed since Taco Tuesday and the arrival of the aliens from the planet Duplo, the aliens destroyed everything nice and shiny and so Bricksburg has changed to Apocalypseburg, a rough and tough wasteland where nice things are discarded out of fear of attracting the aliens. But when Emmet (Chris Pratt) builds a house for himself and Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) he attracts the attention of the aliens once again. To form an alliance between their people through marriage, Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabi (Tiffany Haddish) seeks to marry Batman (Will Arnett). Suspicious of her motives Emmet joins forces with Rex Dangervest (also Chris Pratt) to stop the wedding and prevent ‘Armamageddon’, whilst Wyldstyle battles with the Queen’s guard General Sweet Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz).
Where The Lego Movie was a film about embracing childhood and creativity, The Lego Movie 2 is about learning how and when you should grow up. With everything having taken a gritty and ‘super mature’ turn in Apocalypseburg, Emmet’s naïve optimism is out of place and Wyldstyle is desperately trying to get him to grow up. But growing up is about more than just being brooding and serious all the time, and throughout The Lego Movie 2 most of our characters begin to realise that real maturity is learning to accept others for what they are.
This plays into the original film’s revelation that the story is actually taking place in the imagination of a child (Jason Sand), who returns for this film alongside his younger sister (Brooklynn Prince), and their mother (Maya Rudolph). Will Ferrell does make a cameo appearance as their father/President Business, but the live action sections primarily focus on the tense relationship the siblings have and the tension caused within the household because of the Lego toy sets. These live action sections are far greater in number than they were in the original film, and The Lego Movie 2 suffers as a result. Where the original film really allowed the animated story tell the tale of a father & son’s strained relationship through the eyes of a child playing with Lego, The Lego Movie 2 feels as though the animated and live action stories aren’t quite as tightly connected.
That’s not to say that The Lego Movie 2 is all bad though, because it’s definitely not. It may not be as strong as the first entry but it’s still a lot of fun. I loved Batman in this film, and it was a real return to form for this version of the character following The Lego Batman Movie, there’s even a subtle dig at how audiences felt about his character in his solo film thrown in for good measure.
The majority of the cast also provide fantastic performances, particularly Haddish. But once again the star of the show is the superb visuals. Whilst the WB Lego Movies may be criticised for their lack of innovation, there’s something that really should be said about how visually spectacular they are, and just how creative the animators are in making the world feel convincingly like Lego. A nice touch that The Lego Movie 2 has is that returning characters look noticeably more worn than they did in the first film with more paint chips and dents in their plastic from years of play. Initially it feels like it’s done just to match the rougher aesthetic the film opens with, but once you put two and two together that these characters are actually toys then the world feels so much more lived in.
The Lego Movie 2 also has a number of songs, much to the dismay of parents across the globe. Yes, it seems that ‘Everything is Awesome’ was not enough and so make way for songs like ‘Catchy Song’ which is specifically designed to get stuck in your head and drive you nuts. That being said I feel like the songs that are present in The Lego Movie 2 are all pretty good, and the credits song ‘Super Cool’ stands out as a highlight.
This plays into the original film’s revelation that the story is actually taking place in the imagination of a child (Jason Sand), who returns for this film alongside his younger sister (Brooklynn Prince), and their mother (Maya Rudolph). Will Ferrell does make a cameo appearance as their father/President Business, but the live action sections primarily focus on the tense relationship the siblings have and the tension caused within the household because of the Lego toy sets. These live action sections are far greater in number than they were in the original film, and The Lego Movie 2 suffers as a result. Where the original film really allowed the animated story tell the tale of a father & son’s strained relationship through the eyes of a child playing with Lego, The Lego Movie 2 feels as though the animated and live action stories aren’t quite as tightly connected.
That’s not to say that The Lego Movie 2 is all bad though, because it’s definitely not. It may not be as strong as the first entry but it’s still a lot of fun. I loved Batman in this film, and it was a real return to form for this version of the character following The Lego Batman Movie, there’s even a subtle dig at how audiences felt about his character in his solo film thrown in for good measure.
The majority of the cast also provide fantastic performances, particularly Haddish. But once again the star of the show is the superb visuals. Whilst the WB Lego Movies may be criticised for their lack of innovation, there’s something that really should be said about how visually spectacular they are, and just how creative the animators are in making the world feel convincingly like Lego. A nice touch that The Lego Movie 2 has is that returning characters look noticeably more worn than they did in the first film with more paint chips and dents in their plastic from years of play. Initially it feels like it’s done just to match the rougher aesthetic the film opens with, but once you put two and two together that these characters are actually toys then the world feels so much more lived in.
The Lego Movie 2 also has a number of songs, much to the dismay of parents across the globe. Yes, it seems that ‘Everything is Awesome’ was not enough and so make way for songs like ‘Catchy Song’ which is specifically designed to get stuck in your head and drive you nuts. That being said I feel like the songs that are present in The Lego Movie 2 are all pretty good, and the credits song ‘Super Cool’ stands out as a highlight.
But before I close this review out I do want to address Rex Dangervest, and more specifically how this character is arguably the film’s Achilles heel.
Rex’s character doesn’t make an awful lot of sense and I think that the writers Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Matthew Fogel knew it. The end of Act 2 contains a ‘twist’ revealing the true nature of Armamageddon and that Rex was actually in on it all along, becoming the film’s main antagonist. The twist itself is horrendously telegraphed from the outset and it seems like that was intentional…but it means that the plot is entirely predictable as a result. Then when Rex is revealed to be the big bad, his justification for being such is just confusing and nonsensical, even Emmet then makes a joke about how it doesn’t make any sense and it’s just brushed aside.
It doesn’t help that Chris Pratt’s performance also wasn’t as great as it was in the original film. Perhaps it was because he’s voicing two characters, but it felt like a lot of what made Emmet such a great character, and the dialogue that Pratt could really sink himself into weren’t present in this film. Then because Rex is such a cliché and poorly written character he never gets the chance to make it work.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is on the whole a good film, and fans of the first Lego Movie will likely enjoy what it offers up. It does lack the originality that the first film had, and that’s really what made it such a runaway success, but the sequel was always going to have impossibly big boots to fill due to insurmountable expectations. Whilst the story may not be The Lego movie 2’s strongest asset, it is bolstered by great performances from the majority of the voice cast, and once again showcases Warner Animation Group’s incredible skills and creativity when it comes to crafting a film about interlocking plastic bricks. As stated in the reprisal of Everything is Awesome:
Rex’s character doesn’t make an awful lot of sense and I think that the writers Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Matthew Fogel knew it. The end of Act 2 contains a ‘twist’ revealing the true nature of Armamageddon and that Rex was actually in on it all along, becoming the film’s main antagonist. The twist itself is horrendously telegraphed from the outset and it seems like that was intentional…but it means that the plot is entirely predictable as a result. Then when Rex is revealed to be the big bad, his justification for being such is just confusing and nonsensical, even Emmet then makes a joke about how it doesn’t make any sense and it’s just brushed aside.
It doesn’t help that Chris Pratt’s performance also wasn’t as great as it was in the original film. Perhaps it was because he’s voicing two characters, but it felt like a lot of what made Emmet such a great character, and the dialogue that Pratt could really sink himself into weren’t present in this film. Then because Rex is such a cliché and poorly written character he never gets the chance to make it work.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is on the whole a good film, and fans of the first Lego Movie will likely enjoy what it offers up. It does lack the originality that the first film had, and that’s really what made it such a runaway success, but the sequel was always going to have impossibly big boots to fill due to insurmountable expectations. Whilst the story may not be The Lego movie 2’s strongest asset, it is bolstered by great performances from the majority of the voice cast, and once again showcases Warner Animation Group’s incredible skills and creativity when it comes to crafting a film about interlocking plastic bricks. As stated in the reprisal of Everything is Awesome:
‘Everything’s not awesome
Things can’t be awesome all of the time
It’s an unrealistic expectation
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.'
Things can’t be awesome all of the time
It’s an unrealistic expectation
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.'