Rating: PG
Runtime: 1 hour, 47 minutes
Director: Mike Mitchell
Quick Impressions:
I can’t believe it’s been five years since the first Lego Movie. To be honest, when the sequel began with a flashback followed by the segue, “Five years later,” I thought that was just a convenient gap for narrative purposes. I never dreamed the same young actor (Jadon Sand) was playing Finn (the human boy) in both films. Not until the closing credits did the real gap between the two movies actually sink in.
This explains why our oldest son seemed so vague and noncommittal when we asked the kids if they wanted to see this new Lego Movie back when it first opened. He loved the first one, yes, but he was eleven then, and he’s sixteen now, so…
Just like last time, we took our son and daughter to see the movie, but due to our teenager’s polite disinterest, we were forced to recast the role of our son with a noisy three-year-old who was mainly excited for the snacks.
This sequel is not quite as frenetically hilarious as the original, but our ten-year-old daughter enjoyed it, and our younger son had so many feelings, basically just an unending stream of passionate, ever changing reactions.
At one point (when two characters found unexpected romance), he blurted out in the most disgusted voice you can imagine, “This is a STUPID movie!” Half the theater burst out laughing.
At several moments, he winced, crawled up into one of our laps and complained fretfully, “This is not a good movie for kids.”
But as we left, he practically skipped out of the theater, proclaiming in delight, “That was such a great movie with our popcorn!”
Several times since then he has spontaneously exclaimed, “That Lego Movie was such a great movie!”
“What did you like the best about the movie?” I asked him.
“The first thing,” he told me, “is that great lava part. In the second place was the silly stuff. And third of all was that wonderful creature I call the Unikitty!” (Everybody calls her that, of course, and in this movie, the Alison Brie character sometimes transforms into Ultrakatty.)
For someone his age, that’s a pretty thorough answer, so I highly recommend the movie for young children. I enjoyed it, too. Not all of the jokes land, but that hardly even matters because the bright colors and geometrically pleasing shapes are so enchanting, and the story just zips along.
The Good:
Everybody’s back–except all the Star Wars and Marvel characters who are currently busy doing Meet-and-Greets at Disney Parks. On the way to the theater, my husband and I were breezily chatting about the possibility that eventually all the “old Hollywood” big name studios will roll up under Disney, kind of like how in that Sylvester Stallone movie Demolition Man, all restaurants have become Taco Bell. So we’ll have Disney (representing classic Hollywood) versus Amazon, Netflix, and a bunch of small, emerging studios rolled up into a few new power players. I don’t know if that will actually happen, but it does make me crave Taco Bell.
Anyway, the good news is, this movie is teeming which characters, which can make the Disney wary heave a sigh of relief that the Mouse does not own everything yet. We still have Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and the original Aquaman, and some generic astronaut named Benny (still voiced by Charlie Day). Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill reprise their near cameo roles as Superman and the Green Lantern. And, as in the first Lego Movie, Cobie Smulders voices Wonder Woman. (Troublingly, Gal Gadot just starred in Disney’s Wreck it Ralph, but try not to think about that.) Gandalf is here (then gone). The best new addition to the cameos is definitely Bruce Willis, a character if there ever was one. (He’s actually the star of one of my favorite visual jokes in the film–not the bald thing.)
Chris Pratt once again stars as Emmet Brickowski, who this time around teams up with a suspicious character called Rex Dangervest, whose backstory bafflingly alludes to Chris Pratt’s entire filmography. Elizabeth Banks is back as Lucy (Wyldstyle), whose backstory also comes into question as we learn a shocking secret at the salon. Banks is always funny. She needs more leading film roles in human form. Pratt already has plenty of leading roles since he’s the new face of every franchise, but he’s also very good playing Emmet (whose first name may yield a clue) (I’ll note esoterically).
My favorite character in these Lego movies is always Will Arnett’s Batman. His may be my favorite Batman. Okay, that’s not true. I love all the Batmans. I guess Batman is just a highly watchable character in any form, but Arnett makes Lego Batman so funny. (I was going to write that I’d watch a spinoff about just him, but then I realized that I’ve already done that. I think this entire review is just a way of admitting that the first few years after my son was born are really just a big blur for me.)
A number of new characters really worked for me. I loved the crew of Raptors (who speak in subtitles). As the self-proclaimed not-evil shape-shifter, Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi, Tiffany Haddish is fabulously recognizable (which is a quality I highly value when I’m watching an animated feature). She’s a great new addition to the world, and I hope they include her in future installments of the saga. I like her songs, too. Unfortunately, whenever I try to remember them, all I can call to mind is, “This song’s gonna get stuck inside your head!”
I did not recognize the voice of Stephanie Beatriz as General Mayhem, but I did like the character, and I love Beatriz on Brooklyn Nine-Nine (which we theoretically still watch, but since we watch it with our busy sixteen-year-old, it is usually impossible to find a time).
Like the first Lego Movie, this one has some live action portions. They’re not surprising this time around, but they are used to guide the viewer through the story, creating quite a bit of dramatic irony since (adult) audience members (should) know what’s going on long before the Lego characters do. As I mentioned, Jadon Sand is back as Finn, and Maya Rudolph steps in as the Mom to replace Will Ferrell’s Dad (who can still be heard yelling random stuff from various parts of the house). (I hate it when sequels do that.) After the film, I was surprised to learn that Finn’s sister Bianca is played by Brooklynn Prince, Moonee in The Florida Project. I didn’t recognize her, but I probably should have.
Like the first Lego Movie, this one is written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, but this time around the director is Mike Mitchell who also helmed Trolls (which my daughter obsessively loves) (more than Clue, so she says) (but slightly less than Bird Box?!!!) (Those are her three favorite films at the moment. Her tastes are still evolving.)
Best Scene:
If I am being one-hundred percent honest, my favorite part was the end credits, not because I wanted the movie to be over but because the song kept making me smile. My daughter also found its apt, jokey, self-aware lyrics hilarious. She kept making crazy, incredulous faces at me each time something silly and improbable was spoken/sung (which was constantly).
Apparently the song is “Super Cool” by Beck, but the rap within the song is The Lonely Island. Andy Samberg’s goofy humor usually amuses me, and the lyrics here are so unabashedly going for the laugh. They exist only to make the audience laugh.
Best Action Sequence:
My son absolutely loved “the lava part,” which is quite near the beginning if he and I are thinking of the same “lava part.” The best action of the movie does come early on, I agree. But I was also a fan of the moment when Emmet is surprised by what’s beneath the sidewalk. It’s like a sparkly Camazotz up there (except not really). (I’m referring to A Wrinkle in Time, not the Mesoamerican bat god.) (I actually never knew about the Mesoamerican bat god until I googled the word to double-check the spelling. But I’ll bet Madeleine L’Engle knew.)
Best Scene Visually:
The whole movie looks awesome. Legos are beautiful. One detail I love is the way Queen Watevra Wa’Nabihe continually transforms. The animation of that character is delightful, and Tiffany Haddish voices her perfectly. I also love the look of the sparkly vampire spa. What’s best about that sequence is the payoff later on, when Lucy learns something very surprising about her brainwashed companions. (That was actually one of my favorite revelations of the entire film, and certainly my favorite line, but I won’t spoil it.)
The Negatives:
This isn’t as good as the first Lego Movie. That’s really the only downside to the movie. It’s pretty hard to pull off the same magic twice. And since we go into this one knowing about the real world characters, the live action scenes lose some of their effect.
I could complain about other things. Emmet’s plot doesn’t entirely make sense. (But there’s another fictional Emmett in a film with a plot that is also a bit sketchy. Something doesn’t have to make sense to be entertaining.)
Also, Maya Rudolph is perfectly cast as the mom and does a fine job, but I always get annoyed when a character disappears from a sequel but can be heard yelling in the background. That just bugs me. It’s a pet peeve of mine. Either leave the dad out, or bring Will Ferrell in for like one afternoon. Perhaps his grueling shooting schedule on Holmes and Watson made that impossible. (But, like, what’s going on with his character? Wouldn’t he have something to say about a major plot point? I find it shifty that this isn’t addressed! Has the harsh reality of life just forced him to put away his childish things and move on? That’s sad! And why can’t he find his pants? Does she keep pants in a different place than he does? What secret does Maya Rudolph’s character know about storing pants?)
Not all of the jokes land, but that doesn’t matter. The movie gives us plenty of funny moments and abundant bright, shiny colors.
I’ve heard some people complain about the franchise, “The Lego Movie is only good if you have ADHD!” I’m not sure why that’s a bad thing. Lots of people do have ADHD, and they should get to enjoy movies, too.
I will say this. The Oscar nominated Wreck-It Ralph sequel did not work as well as this movie. Many times Ralph Breaks the Internet failed to keep my attention. I never felt bored by this movie, and I never wanted to look away. It was pleasant to watch, and I’d watch it again.
Overall:
Our ten-year-old daughter and three-and-a-half-year-old son loved The Lego Movie 2. The three-year-old is still raving about it, in fact, and he hasn’t seen the first one. He only agreed to go to this one after we promised him popcorn and first took him hiking in a park with peacocks. (Our kids can never agree on a weekend activity! Never!)
If you liked The Lego Movie, then you should enjoy its sequel, too. (I did!) It’s not quite as good as the first one, but everything can’t always be awesome, you know.
