From the director of “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,” “Shrek Forever After” and “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” with a story from the writer of “Big Momma’s: Like Father, Like Son,” comes a sequel to a movie that was made to sell toys, only it’s a lot better than you would think.
“The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” takes place five years after the original film. The world from the first film has turned into a post apocalyptic nightmare with Emmet (Chris Pratt) being the only character left unaffected. Then one day, their world is invaded by aliens that kidnap Lucy (Elizabeth Banks), Batman (Will Arnett), Princess Unikitty (Alison Brie), MetalBeard (Nick Offerman) and Benny (Charlie Day). Emmet must now team up with a space adventurer named Rex Dangervest (Pratt) in order to save his friends from the aliens. Or does he?
When I was younger I loved Legos. I spent more time building cars, spaceships and city streets in my basement than I’ll ever admit. Even some of the first short films I ever made I did using Lego stop motion. So saying those little plastic components were a big part of my childhood is an understatement.
Did I enjoy the movie? Without a doubt, yes. Will people that don’t have a big connection with the Lego brand enjoy the movie? Well, let’s get into that.
Returning writers Phil Lord and Chris Miller bring the same charm, imagination and humor that they did to the first film.
This is a movie with cameos and references done right. The cameos in this movie felt like cameos and references that the people making the film wanted to do.
The main cast of characters from the first film return, except for Will Ferrell’s Lord Business who only makes a few, small appearances. We see more of the relationship between Emmet and Lucy that was set up at the end of the first film with the two of them having a lot of good scenes together and each of them learning a little more about themselves and each other.
Like in the first film and in his spinoff film, Batman gets in a lot of funny lines; his character arc feels like an expansion on what we saw in his spinoff film. Unikitty, Benny and MetalBeard are there too. They all have a couple funny lines but aren’t given much to do overall.
Among the new cast members is General Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz) who seemed somewhat cool but I feel wasn’t given much to do. Rex Dangervest was another fun, new character with some funny lines. I liked the fact that Chris Pratt was willing to poke fun at the type of characters that he has been playing since the release of the first “Lego Movie.”
By far, my favorite new character was Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi (Tiffany Haddish) who was just a creative and imaginative character who was constantly changing form.
When it comes to the story, there isn’t a lot of things that I can talk about without spoiling the plot. If you know about the big reveal at the end of the first film, they do a lot more with that, but are able to turn it around and then use it to have a good message for kids at the end. And if you are the type of person that thought “Everything is Awesome” was annoying, well this movie has a new song that will definitely get stuck in your head. Which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on the type of person you are.
I may be biased due to my background in Lego stop motion but I loved the animation in this film. It is very much a “Lego” movie through and through, possibly even more than the previous Lego films. Everything in the universe is made of Lego (for the most part) and the animators at Animal Logic take full advantage of this. The characters of Unikitty and Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi are both characters that continuously change shape due to them being made of bricks instead of being minifigures and the designs that are made for the characters are about as creative as they can get. One scene that really stood out to me though was a musical number that Watevra Wa’Nabi had with Batman where the animators took full advantage of her character changing shape to match the song.
While it wasn’t as good as the first movie, it wasn’t bad to watch. It’s a fun movie and has a good message for kids. Overall, I would recommend you see it, especially if you love Lego as much as I do.