The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part follows the story of the previous film. Weird Duplo monsters have invaded Bricksburg, transforming the world into a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Five years later, and things are not awesome. Everyone is struggling to stay alive… except for Emmett, who is blissfully ignorant of the strife that is happening around him. However, when his friends get kidnapped, he must toughen up and get them back, all while trying to figure out what the Duplo characters are up to.
The Lego Movie is one of the biggest surprises of the decade. What should have been a terrible, pointless commercial turned into a beautifully animated, cleverly written, and overall hysterical movie. The Lego Batman Movie was also a lot of fun, even if it started to get tiring by the end. The Lego Ninjago Movie is okay, but pointless and not as clever as the previous two films. Now, we have the true direct sequel to the first film; The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, and while it’s not as good as the first one or Lego Batman, it’s still a lot of fun, and has a large amount of humor, action, and wit that will tide the whole family over.
I will say that this film doesn’t start off all that great. The first third of the film is awkwardly paced with several meta jokes not sticking much of a landing. There are some funny moments, including a joke about why no Marvel characters appear in these movies, but most of the humor in the beginning leg of the film falls flat. However, as it keeps going, it gets a lot better. The writing grows sharper and wittier, the storytelling gets a lot more compelling, and the way the story handles the “twist villain” cliché is well done. It never gets to the quality of The Lego Movie or The Lego Batman Movie, but there is a lot of great writing here, and this film, especially the second half, is highly entertaining.
There are some aspects from the first Lego Movie that carry over to this sequel. The animation is as gorgeous as ever. The colors are beautiful, the visuals are creative and fun, and the fact that it looks stop motion is very charming. All the characters move like Lego figures would, and the moments where the film intentionally breaks the animation rules are hysterical.
The characters are still highly entertaining. Emmett is wonderfully optimistic and fun to watch, Wyldstyle is a great foil to Emmett, and Batman is hilarious. Plus, the new additions are enjoyable. Rex Dangervest has a great connection to Emmett, and his story is fascinating to watch unfold on screen. Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi is not only fun to watch, but also wonderfully designed. The way her entire physical form morphs with every line of dialogue is very creative. All the characters are great, and the stellar performances makes them even better.
However, with all the beautiful animation and great humor in mind, my favorite aspect of this film is, surprisingly enough, the message. Messages in movies are not why I watch movies, but I found the message for The Lego Movie 2 to be quite profound. From what I could tell, the message is that life is not awesome all the time, but by surrounding ourselves with friends and supporters, the bad moments won’t seem so bad. It’s a message of optimism and community that I completely agree with. It’s the kind of message that kids should learn, and adults can get something out of it as well.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is a lot of fun. It has sharp humor, beautiful animation, likeable characters, and great writing. It doesn’t reach the comedic or story heights of the first Lego Movie or Lego Batman, but I still enjoyed this sequel immensely. Plus, it’s a lot better than The Lego Ninjago Movie. If you’re a fan of the Lego films, then I highly recommend it. Everything is awesome.
Final score: 7/10 (Good)
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