The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part Reviews

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, finds a familiar bricked story in the plastic technicolor comfort zone continued from the first film, thanks to writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and director Mike Mitchell (Trolls) who bring equally hilarious puns, boisterous musical numbers and action-packed characters. The story takes place mostly in Bricksburg, the happy town where Emmet (Chris Pratt) went from construction worker to heroic master builder. Five years have passed and Bricksburg is now more of a post-apocalyptic hell. However, Emmet maintains his cheery outlook with his trusted friend Wyldstyle/ Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) who finds herself well-suited to the new environment. Also included in their gang for this journey are: Unikitty (Alison Brie), Benny (Charlie Day) and MetalBeard (Nick Offerman). Quickly the threat of this story is revealed to be shapeshifting DUPLO Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi (Tiffany Haddish) who hijacks the gang to attend her wedding to a very reluctant Batman (Will Arnett). Lucy is kidnapped and must be saved, which lends way to the introduction of some new characters such as Rex Dangervest (Chris Pratt), the macho opposite of Emmet. In the live-action aspect of this movie, siblings Finn (Jadon Sand) and his sister Bianca (Brooklynn Prince) are gamers at each other’s throats. They have brief cameos along with their mom (Maya Rudolph) that are intended to teach real-life lessons. The children’s bickering creates trouble in the play world, until Finn learns the lesson of being kind to his kid sister. Overall the humor is fast and sharp, and the animation is superb. Although it is not as colorful and well composed as the first Lego movie, it’s still incredibly entertaining. It would have been great if Batman had more screen time due to Arnett’s superb performance. Also, Wyldstyle has a stronger role in this film; advocating on behalf of little girls being just as strong as boys and fully capable of being master builders in any world. Be prepared to have a new soundtrack of catchy tunes trapped in your head just as “Everything is Awesome” was in the first installment. Overall, this is an enjoyable film in what hopefully will be a long line of Lego-themed adventures with belly rolling jokes.