I know I’m late to the party, but I don’t care, I want to do this and I’m going to put forward my thoughts on The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.
I remember how excited I was when they announced the first Lego Movie back in 2013 and I remember my friend and I were very much obsessed with Lego at the time. When it came out I remember how happy we were that it was better than we could have anticipated. I also played the Lego Movie Video Game that same day, so overall it was one of my best movie experiences.
Five years later and I’m over Lego in general. I am now a lone moody internet critic with a very big chip on his shoulder who was curious enough to see what the second Lego Movie had to offer. So is this a worthy sequel?
Lego Movie 2 is kind of like the Incredibles 2 (when I think about it, like most of the Pixar sequels). It’s a competent follow-up movie but doesn’t really have the extra flavor to make it stand out over its older brother.
I want to start with what I do like as I’m more for than against. Just like the first movie, and The Lego Batman movie, (I haven’t seen Lego Ninjago but I bet it’s the same) the animation is amazing. Not as outstanding as when the first movie did it but it still looks good. The movie looks gorgeous which is an improvement over the first one. It’s a lot more colourful and it looks more cinematic. The creativity is still there as we get interesting looking character designs and impressive looking worlds. It’s just on a grander scale this time.
The voice acting was really good just like with the first one. Elizabeth Banks was probably the best and then maybe Chris Pratt after that. Emmet and Lucy/Wyldstyle are the best part of the movie and everyone else is just kind of there. If you got bored of Everything is Awesome from the first movie there are some interesting new songs which I did like for the most part but it also leads into my negatives where it gets too much in your face.
The first Lego Movie was amazing because of how clever it’s messages were and how it subtly referenced how stupid the movie is. This one was in overdrive mode where every five minutes they referenced how stupid the movie is. Especially with the 4th wall/movie self-references which I enjoyed but after a while it was too much. I know it’s cleverly self-aware but at times it feels kind of lazy and cheap.
From here I’m going to talk about the third act and the ending so if you want to be unspoiled then just skip ahead a bit and you’ll see my overall thoughts.
Spoilers
Just like with the first movie we get another plot twist which I feel very mixed on. I like the idea of the big brother with his cool Lego stuff being invaded by his little sister with her odd Duplo creations although I don’t understand why he turned his creations into a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It makes sense in the Lego land but not the real world. I guess he just recently watched Mad Max or something? So the whole movie is about Lucy and friends being held captive by the evil Duplo aliens while Emmet and Owen Grady go and save them. Along the way Emmet and Owen Grady discover this super happy town where the Justice League live and they clearly looked brainwashed. Lucy’s friends all turn into pop obsessed weirdos and they try to convert Lucy too. Also Batman is getting married to the queen alien and he’s obesely just a pawn in her master plan.
I wanted to bring that up because I was so confused when we find out that the Duplo aliens don’t want to rule the world but want to friends?? It’s revealed that the aliens really suck at communicating their non-hostile intentions which is imitated with the real life relationship between the little sister and her brother. For me it just felt too stupid for me to take seriously. It also doesn’t explain that weird city of brainwashed people and I’m not sure how I’m ever going to view the We’re not Evil song again with this new viewpoint.
The other big reveal is that Owen Grady is Emmet (well, duh!) but he’s also evil. Him turning out to be the bad guy didn’t really bother me as much as the reveal that the weird aliens were not brainwashing people. I did like the reveal of the Armageddon meaning Mum gets involved and ruins all of the fun. That was pretty cool. The ending just felt a little bit too rushed for my liking, especially with the brother and sister immediately getting back together. Overall the twists here are okay, not as interesting and thought provoking as the first movie, but not bad.
Spoiler Free
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is a pretty good time. There is a lot to like and also some bits to be annoyed about. I’m going with 7 to 8 out of 10. If you liked the first movie then you’ll probably enjoy this one too. Kids can still watch it but I think it’s more for adults who will more likely get more of the in-jokes and especially those who have seen enough movies to familiar with movie structures and common tropes.
That’s the end of another Blog Complainer post. If you didn’t know just yesterday I made 100 posts and released my first short story called Mortal Life. I’ll be linking that in every post until I make another one and I’ll putting it in the menu select at the top if you’re interested. More reviews are coming as I have a schedule now but until then, I have been The Blog Complainer, Signing Out.
The Blog Complainer 