Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Charlie Day, Nick Offerman, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Tiffany Haddish, and Stephanie Beatriz in The Lego Movie 2- The Second Part

Review by JD Piche, RCRs Producer and Pop Culture expert, follow him on Twitter at @misadventurer

Its been 5 years since the first LEGO Movie, a film no one seemed to ask for, which won over audiences with its own brand of humor, thanks to Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who seem to be able to make any kind of Studio mandated film into something special. However, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, doesn’t quite land.

The film does still tick all the same boxes that past Lord & Miller fare cover; Catchy songs, plot twists, likable characters in unlikely scenarios, some deep cut jokes and references to other Lord & Miller fare, however, it’s “Catchy Song” didn’t live up to its repeated lyrical promise of “this song will get stuck inside your head.” Without getting into spoilers, the story’s ‘Your enemy is not who they appear to be’ does have some more sophistication than the earlier film’s seemingly anti-capitalist message with Lord Business being the clear and omnipresent antagonist of the society of Bricksburg.

In The Second Part, time has passed in the real world as young Finn takes over the Lego kingdom in the basement from his father, and has to play with his young sister, who represents chaos, as her enthusiasm ends up destroying Bricksburg. Finn’s sister Bianca gets to take some Lego for her own, and in the Lego world, her coming is depicted as an alien kidnapping people and destroying what is now known as Apocalypseburg. A Mad Max-esque heck-scape. Where the film slips is a time travel subplot which gets messier the more you think about the ramifications. Much like how the time travel sullied the ending stakes of Deadpool 2.

There seemed to be more jokes for parents than kids in the film, as the lovable Emmett spends much of the movie with his own Tyler Durden in Rex Dangervest, both characters voiced by Chris Pratt, who, since the first film has become a spacefaring raptor trainer, the producers decided to make commentary on how much people change and grow over the years, which is an attempt at being the ‘message’ of the movie, but that gets thrown out under the dryer for a ‘play nice’ narrative instead. Pratt channels his Guardians 2 father, Kurt Russell while voicing the multi-hyphenated Dangervest, which is itself a deeper homage to John Wayne and Elvis. Adding to the cast is the mercurial Queen Watevra Wa’Nab, voiced by Tiffany Haddish and a muffled Stephanie Beatriz as General Mayhem, the Queen’s right hand. Elizabeth Banks’s Wildstyle / Lucy is left with little to do aside from run from her past and apologize for being a person of action who yet sits supplicated to Emmett, who really didn’t do too much comparatively in the first film, as the filmmakers point out about a shortsighted character arc. Will Arnett’s Batman falls victim to his own vanity during Queen Watevra’s song about Gotham Guys not being as good as Kryptonians.

The film is still very enjoyable, and benefits from additional viewing to catch more easter eggs.

The LEGO Movie 2 will be in theaters February 8th 2019

Film Grade) B

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