WesternAnimation Worse Than Okay
It either speaks highly of the film, or badly of all the others, that Lego Movie 2: The Second Part has been my most anticipated movie this year. Let me check... no, its the other movies. Few things this year give me as much joy as watching plastic products tell jokes about tween pop music. Lego 2 picks up after where the last left off, where our Lego heroes are on the cusp of a war with Duplo. The gag is that in the meta-story, a kid sister is allowed to start playing with Lego too, which is having a ruinous influence on the boy's own adventure stories.
The most fun part of the movie is seeing the show go all out with this idea that the story and creator are inseparable, wherein the heavily gendered Lego sets result in a surprisingly nuanced battle of the sexes, boiled down to a boy and a girl fighting over toys.Within the story itself though, beat by beat I wasn't having the best of times with the movie. There are buckets of jokes, and whilst plenty of these don't land, there's enough of them fired off per second to eventually get a laugh. Also this one has a lot more songs than the previous movie, which felt after a while like time-filler rather than stuff aimed at progressing the story. There's a mystery plot here, and the movie spends a little too long dancing (literally) around it.
Part of the problem is that the original Lego movie managed to defy so many expectations. The humour was often surprisingly dark, catching the adults off guard in the audience. Also the film deftly subverts generic hero's journey stories, rejecting the idea of one guy coming to save the day, and replacing it with something far more positive. All of those smart ideas made it stand above all other kids (and adult) movies, and the fact that it was all so unexpected sold it far more strongly. The sequel tries to do something similar in that it gives us a red herring, generic rescue plot, but we can guess the subversion coming this time around. Also the cartoon cynicism is now expected, and the meta-gags are part of the established universe. The twists and surprises aren't that surprising anymore, the big ideas are expected.
The result is a movie that continues a lot of the things that made the original good, but it isn't anywhere as fresh or exciting this time around. I didn't have a bad time, but I kind of felt like I wasn't really getting into it, just waiting for it to go through the motions. It's an okay movie, but for someone with so much anticipation, an okay movie is a big let down.
WesternAnimation This is what everyone expected the first movie would be
When The LEGO Movie was first announced, moviegoers everywhere rolled their eyes and braced themselves for a soulless, bland, corporate-driven diversion, and were brilliantly blindsided when it was anything but. As it turns out, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part is where all of the undesirable traits that weren't in the first film ended up.
Where The LEGO Movie was an imaginative, witty, surprising, and touching work of art, The LEGO Movie 2 is a predictable, by-the-numbers exercise that is as creative as marking boxes off of an executive's to-do list. If you've got a favorite character or gag or scene in TLM, it's guaranteed to show up in TLM2, even if the only reason to do so is to push your nostalgia buttons. The plot itself is notoriously predictable, but the lack of any real character development sucks away what little energy this movie has to begin with. Even the (multiple!) attempts to re-capture the popularity of "Everything is Awesome!" fall short, despite Tiffany Haddish's impressive vocals.
Granted, The LEGO Movie 2 is not a bad film per se, but it's simply an unnecessary and forgettable one. Like Incredibles 2 and Ralph Breaks the Internet, fans of the original are better off re-watching the original and relegating this to the memory hole.
WesternAnimation The shock factor's gone, but everything else stayed
(I'm going into this assuming that anyone how reads this knows about the whole Meta-story twist that was shown in the original.)
Theme: 5 years have passed, and Finn has turned Bricksburg into Apocalypseburg, after constant conflict with his younger sister Bianca. By now Finn is a teenager, so he tends to give his characters a tougher look; Unikitty is always grumpy, Scribble Cop is not happy, etc. But Emmet, the only remnant of his childhood left, remains a cheery guy who keeps insisting that everything is awesome. What happens when that sort of innocence finally flickers away has huge consequences for the story. I also admire the juxtaposition that occurs between Apocalypseburg and the Systar System, which shows Finn not trusting Bianca, and Bianca wanting to have that trust while holding the same childhood creativity that Finn gave her in the first place.
Comedy: The pop music references are tolerable, and I found it funny when a character becomes ashamed about floss dancing. There are also small references to the original movie that makes me chuckle a bit, such as the Man Upstairs asking for his pants, or when getting Kragled is mentioned.
The twist that we saw in the original is revealed so this sequel instead pokes fun at the implications, such as Armamageddon being an obvious Mondegreen of "Our Mama gets in." (Ok, really?) Emmet also blantantly jokes about his new friend Rex being his tougher side, which is not entirely true but serves as foreshadowing anyway.
I give this movie an 8/10 for attempting to be a good sequel.
WesternAnimation Enjoyable, but not as original as the first
Warning: Unmarked spoilers for the first movie
While Lego toys are something of a no-brainer when it comes to making a best-selling movie with merchandise, the original Lego Movie not only managed to make an entertaining film, but also one that managed to capture the spirit of building creatively with Legos. The sequel, while enjoyable in its own right, isn't quite as original as the first.
The plot takes place five years after the first movie, both inside the Lego universe and in the real world. Bricksburg has been invaded by toys from the Systar System (if you don't get it, read it out loud), who end up kidnapping some of Emmet's friends. Emmet then sets out for the Systar system to save his friends and prevent "Ourmamageddon" (again, read it out loud).
While the existence of human characters was a fairly surprising twist in the first one, the second one assumes you know about it already, so it's not as much of a surprise. If you've seen the previous film, you can probably guess what's going on in the real world even before the movie actually shows you. Furthermore, anyone familiar with the stock Be Yourself Aesop probably knows that the various characters putting pressure on Emmet to toughen up is not a good thing, even if it isn't immediately obvious how bad it is.
That said, the movie, like the previous one, is silly fun, loaded full of subtle references and jokes. A lot of the in-universe ideas and names sound like those that young kids would come up with, such as "Queen Watevra Wa'nabi" (once again, say it out loud) getting words wrong in her Villain Song.
The characters, both Lego and human, have changed a fair amount since the first one, and continue to change over this one. The change isn't always good, as it's shown that Finn's not entirely willing to share with his sister, and Emmet, as mentioned above, is tempted to cast aside his Nice Guy self to toughen up, but the development comes across as believable and organic.
In short, while the second Lego Movie is less original and more predictable than the first, it's still quite entertaining for the same reasons, so you should check it out if you enjoyed the first movie.
WesternAnimation Same old fun, story just fell short
Try, try again.
Max Gilardi of Brain Dump made a thoughtful video essay arguing that The Emoji Movie failed where the The Lego Movie succeeded because the former focused on popular culture, but the latter focused on beloved culture. The Lego Movie told the story of a cheerful Lego construction worker, Emmett, who is destined to save the world from the tyrant President Business. The twist is that the whole story was born from the imagination of a human boy, Finn, who is playing with Legos and trying to get through to his possessive dad that wants to superglue the Legos in place. It's brilliant, because it literally ties the entire narrative to the innate joy of creativity.
The Lego Movie 2 follows Finn struggling to get along with his sister Bianca, and their Lego creations reflect this struggle. This isn't a spoiler; it happens at the end of the first movie. But this new story holds less substance. The first film can be interpreted as a metaphor for lots of things: restraint vs. expression, conformity vs. creativity, control vs. freedom, etc. Or, if you prefer, it can just be a tale about a neurotic dad and his imaginative son playing with Legos. The sequel is about a teen who can't share his Legos with his sister. But with the latter pair, there isn't a clear clash of values between the two. There are a few brief references to Finn's loss of youthful imagination and poor communication between him and Bianca. But any potential ruminations on such things are forgone in the end for a generic lecture about caring and friendship.
If I may, I'd like to imagine a slightly different, better version of this movie. Remember how in the first one Finn's dad realizes his son's story is an allegory about them, and then has a heartfelt talk with his son where they reconcile? Well, what if Finn saw his sister's creations, appreciates her creativity but also realizes she was trying to look "tough" and "cool" to please him, and has a two-way heartfelt talk with her about what they each want? And then the Legos follow suit. Themes of self-expression, communication and maturity are delivered through a tale of siblings trying to relate to and understand each other.
The Lego settings and characters are still enjoyable, but feel recycled. The most striking exception to me was Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi, the shape-shifting ostensible villain who is hilariously hammy to watch. There's also Rex Dangervest, a space-explorer evil version of Emmett with pet raptors. He lampoons Chris Pratt's Hollywood endeavors; I only wish this film came out after the Mario movie.
If you just want a fun time with clever jokes, bouncy visuals and musical bangers, The Lego Movie 2 more than delivers. Having modest expectations, it was the most unexpected joy I've had with a movie in a while. As someone with six siblings, it also hit home in some ways. But as far as themes and story go, it falls shorter.