The Lego Movie: The Second Part...Is Just As Great
[Mild plot spoilers are present in this review.]
AH! I just wanna scream from the rooftops HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS FILM.
Being a sequel is tough and scary, but The Lego Movie 2 pulled it off! Watching The Lego Movie back in 2014 felt magical. The gimmick of the Lego animation was done extraordinarily well, but more significantly, it was equally enjoyable, funny, and action-packed for adults and kiddos both. There was a surprise ending, and an all-star cast. It was a smash success that seemed hard to believe they could do it again...and yet they did.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part did Mad Max better than Mad Max did Mad Max, they did musicals better than musicals do musicals, and they pulled off a giant cast better than Rom-Coms pull off giant casts.
Keeping the core team together was the only way to do the Lego Movie franchise justice. Directors and writers for the first film, Phil Lloyd and Christopher Miller, return as the writers of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. The heart, the wit, the references all feel genuinely consistent to the first. Music legend Mark Mothersbaugh rejoins the crew to do music for the second film as well. If the 1st was enjoyable for you, run, don’t walk to see The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. The film reaches audiences in a new way, opens a dialogue for such important themes as sharing, sibling rivalry, depression, loneliness, and the excruciating pain that comes with stepping on a lego. If there is a chief complaint I have about the film, it would be the complexity of the plot. It’s a bit hard to explain; it’s a musical, it has Lego scenes and real-world scenes, it has time travel, and it has a master breaker in lieu of a master builder. I’m really curious to see how actual children will react to the film. My initial thought is that many of the main themes will stay strong-- everything is not always awesome --but some other important takeaways might be lost on younger viewers. At the end of The Lego Movie we found out that the Legos are being used by a young boy Finn, played by Jadon Sand. Fast forward 5 years later and your heart will swell to learn Finn is still playing with his Legos, and so is his little sister Bianca (played by the ever wonderful and outrageously talented Brooklyn Perce). Bianca wants to play with her brother but always breaks or steals his toys. This causes the madness inside the world of the Legos. These scary, glittery, cutesy legos are always attacking, and our friends Wildstyle and Emmet can’t fight back much longer. The movie is bonkers, complicated, a bit messy, but thoroughly packed with fun. The Lego Movie 2 made me feel like a kid again, convinced me of the magic of Legos and left me smiling the first hour and a half. Then out of nowhere, opposite of the first film, the last 15 minutes stabbed me in the chest and had me sobbing all alone in the theater. The themes of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part are more understanding of our world in 2019. It’s more applicable and easier to discuss with your kids, but just make sure they’re a bit older so you can have these conversations with them. Everything isn’t awesome, and that’s okay. And please, please stay for the credits. All of them. Not because anything happens, mind you, but because the credits song tells you to. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences could learn a thing or two. In the words of Beck, Robyn, and the Lonely Island song “Super Cool”... It's the credits, yeah that's the best part
When the movie ends and the reading starts
You can keep your adventure and all that action
'Cause the credits of the film are the main attraction
And don't even think about tryna leave
Or you might miss a name like Pam and Steve
Both incredible names so let's stay in our seats
And read incredible lists of their incredible feats