As you might have guessed, we’ve been so busy at Disney World lately that our movie nights have been few and far between. But now that we’re back from Florida, we are trying to catch up as best we can!
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part is a movie I’ve been looking forward to for a while. Picking up right where The LEGO Movie left off, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part follows Emmet (Chris Pratt), Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) and the rest of the Bricksburg gang (Will Arnett, Charlie Day, Nick Offerman and Alison Brie) as they battle against the DUPLO invaders. After five years of war, Bricksburg has become an apocalyptic wasteland (and aptly renamed Apocalypseburg). When a new type of invader drops out of the sky and kidnaps Emmet’s friends, Emmet blasts off to the Systar system in hot pursuit.
Sequels are often hard to critique, and I assume even harder to create. Stay too close to the first film and you risk feeling stale. But stray too far from the original and you might lose the magic that drew your audience to you in the first place. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who wrote the original, both return for The LEGO Movie 2 (bonus points to Lord for also writing the outstanding Into the Spider-Verse). Lord and Miller chose to stay close to the original, and the result is a comfortable ride through familiar territory with a (very) few new characters joining the existing gang. I think it’s the right choice.
The unique feeling of the first movie can’t be replicated, because this is now the 4th LEGO-ish movie, and because I had high expectations coming into the sequel (instead of my zero expectations heading into the original). But the charm, the wit, and the warmth remain. It’s nice to spend more time in the LEGO Movie world, because it’s the world I used to play in with my LEGO as a kid. Except way more professional looking, of course, but the feeling remains exactly right, where adventures are everywhere and where your own creations are more important than the original police station from which most of the blue pieces came.
That bottled nostalgia is the best thing about The LEGO Movie 2. And that’s saying a lot because it’s also smartly written, beautifully animated, and just a whole lot of fun. Sure, it’s not as “fresh” as the first time, but if that’s the only bad thing to be said about this movie, that says a lot.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
Many good thing coming from Denmark and among them LEGO ranks as the most profitable.
LikeLike
LEGO was my favourite toy as a kid and I still like looking at the 5,000 piece sets. The new Apocalypseburg one from this movie is particularly cool and has a $400 price tag. So yes, LEGO definitely knows how to make a profit!
LikeLike
WIll need to watch this one!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great review! I would agree with many of your points. One thing I kind of felt was that many of the jokes had quite a cyclical, repetitive nature to them. Many felt like re-runs of the sharper, more irreverent humour of the first movie, and a lot were just broad pop culture references which had already been done to death in other movies prior (not sure if you’d agree, maybe that’s me just being overly critical). Fortunately, the characters are charming, the animation’s great, and its got a big heart which won me over. 🙂
LikeLike
I don’t think you are being overly critical. The pop-culture jokes in this movie were pretty routine and I thought that was intentional to keep the movie accessible to the wide audience they were expecting. But it works as the movie clearly won both of us over with its charm, so for me it’s an easy one to recommend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well said! It doesn’t help that because of the other spin offs, this one kind of feels like at least the 5th sequel…
LikeLike
There is definitely fatigue here after LEGO Batman and LEGO Ninjago as well as a whole slew of LEGO videogames. But the LEGO Movie is still head and shoulders above the other ones and for me it was good enough to overcome that fatigue.
LikeLike
Absolutely! It wasn’t perfect but it’s miles better than the Ninjago movie.
LikeLike
Well put Sean, I liked the original and Batman, skipped Ninjago, will check this out.
LikeLike
Ninjago was definitely the weakest of the bunch. I liked Batman and the original as well. I would rank this one ahead of Batman but a bit behind LEGO Movie #1.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s high praise. Hope to check it out.
LikeLike
So many people love this franchise. I could not get through the first movie. In fact, I couldn’t make it through 20 minutes before I had to turn it off. Ah well. It looks like it found its audience.
LikeLike
“If you liked the first, you’ll like this one” and its corollary both apply here. This sequel is more of the same, for better or worse, so you’ll probably want to skip it.
LikeLike
This sounds like a potentially pleasant viewing, which gives me hope, because after seeing Wreck It Ralph Breaks the Internet the other night…..uugggghhh. SO disappointed……………
LikeLike
As you know, nobody saw fit to gift LEGOs to a bunch of girls (Systars?) when I was a kid, so we never touched the stuff. Still, I thought it was really cool to see how detailed the animation was – I love seeing the wear patterns on the plastic, the parts of Emmett’s vest that have rubbed off, the scratch marks in WS’s hair. Very cool. And what a riot to watch, the screen is just filled with visual delight.
LikeLike
Pingback: The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part — ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES – SEO