Film Review: ‘The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part’

“The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part” is a beautifully animated and hilarious sequel that kids and parents will both enjoy!

General Mayhem invading Apocalypseburg.
Picture Credit: IMDb

Following the events of the first movie, strange creatures made from Duplo blocks appeared in the city and quickly started to wreak havoc.  After years of invasions and abducting people past the “Stair-gate”, the remaining survivors live in Apocalypseburg, a dystopian, Mad Max-ian world.  Emmet (Chris Pratt) continues to have a positive and kind perspective on life, even while everyone else has turned to a life of chewing nails and wearing spikey leather jackets; something Wyldstyle, or Lucy (Elizabeth Banks), is starting to get tired of.  One day, another alien, General Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz) invades, abducting Lucy, Batman (Will Arnett), Metalbeard (Nick Offerman), Unikitty (Alison Brie), and Benny (Charlie Day).  Determined to save his friends, Emmet builds a spaceship and travels through the “Stair-gate”, a region many heroes have tried to traverse, including the Justice League, and

Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi and her guards singing a song to convince everyone she isn’t evil.
Picture Credit: IMDb

have failed to come back.  In the uncharted space, Emmet encounters Rex Dangervest (also Chris Pratt), a tough, dangerous, guy who lives life on the edge and has a bunch of raptor friends on his ship.  Together, they travel to the “Sistar system” to save Emmet’s friends from the ominous Queen Watevera Wa’Nabi (Tiffany Haddish)- who is totally not a villain- and the looming threat of “Our-mom-aggedon”.

Rex Dangervest and Emmet Brickowski on a strange planet in the “Sistar system”
Picture Credit: IMDb

The story, without spoiling too much, was really well done.  After being told that he isn’t tough enough to be a hero, Emmet looks up to his new friend Rex Dangervest, someone he thinks he should be for Lucy.  Rex represents what is expected of Emmet to become through his “coming to age” adventure, but it also isn’t who Emmet is.  At the same time, the sibling conflicts between the real world Finn and his younger sister Bianca threaten the continued existence of LEGO World.  If they don’t learn to get along, Mom will unleash, “Our-mom-aggedon” on the LEGO world.  Despite all of the danger and urgency in this rescue quest, the creators were still able to add some really touching moments, both in the LEGO world and the real-life one.  The movie focuses on returning characters that everyone loved, like Batman, all of whom were hilarious once again. The new additions like Rex and Queen Watevera Wa’Nabi were interesting and funny, but I would have also liked to see General Mayhem fleshed out a bit more.

As a comedy, “The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part” had a few shining moments for me.  The banana and all of the unfortunate things that happen to that poor thing had me cracking up, and all of the real world references and quips were a nice touch and consistent from the first film.  At the same time, they also leaned more into children’s comedy than the first movie, which isn’t a bad thing.  During the screening of the movie, many people brought their kids to see the movie, and they were all laughing hysterically.  However, I felt that the first movie did have a better balance of serving

Rex, Emmet, and a Raptor on a space ship.
Picture Credit: IMDb

both the young and old audiences.

The animation in this movie is incredible once again.  From the dusty, barren wasteland of Apocolypseburg to the colorful worlds of the “Sistar system”, having everything displayed as LEGO pieces is really fun and imaginative, while still being dynamic.  Coming off the reveal of the first movie (that the world and all of its characters were really just a young kid using his imagination to play) there are points in the movie where they shift to the real world, following Finn and Bianca, the kids of the real-life version of President Business (Will Ferrell).  In the real world, you can see how the kids are the directors of LEGO world life, with recreations of sets from the LEGO world and actions of the kids and the LEGO characters paralleling each other.  However, there are points when the LEGO characters are hilariously animated in the real world, blurring reality and making you wonder if they really only exist in the kids’ imagination, or if they really are alive.

“The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part” is an excellent sequel, full of laughs, action, and touching moments.  The movie is out now, so If you and your kids loved the first movie (and really, who didn’t?), I definitely recommend checking this one out.