Review of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) by Colginator — 10 Feb 2019

When the original Lego Movie was first announced there was a resounding groan from a lot of audience members, with people worried that it would end up being some weak corporate cash grab, just like the Emoji movie ended up being three years later. But to the surprise of many, it ended up being one of the most wholesome hits of 2014, one that was so good people were annoyed to see it absent from the 2014 Oscar nominations for best animated feature. Seeing franchise potential, Warner Bros quickly released a spin-off with Lego Batman, which received similar acclaim, and announced that a sequel following on from where the first left off was now being developed. (There was also a Lego Ninjago movie at some point, but I'm not sure if anyone saw or even remembers that one.).

Now five years after the events of the original Lego Movie, Emmet and his friends are now living in a Mad Max style world, where all the characters have become dark and brooding, apart from Emmet who is still jollily singing about how Everything Is Awesome. But Duplar invaders from the Sis-star system invade and end up taking Lucy, Batman and all of Emmet's other friends leaving Emmet to find a way to save his friends to stop Armomageddon.

On his journey to the Sis-star system, Emmet teams up with Rex Dangervest, a galaxy defending archaeologist cowboy and raptor who's basically an amalgamation of Pratt's post-Lego career in a hilarious duel performance from Pratt. It's kind of like seeing Parks & Rec Chris Pratt meet blockbuster superstar Chris Pratt.

We're also introduced to a whole new batch of characters from the Sis-star system, including a sparkly DJ vampire, an awkward ice cream cone and their queen Watevra Wa'nabi a character made out of blocks who can transform into anything she wants. The queen also has a very helpful introduction through the song "Not Evil" where she goes on to explain that she doesn't have any evil plans and no ulterior motives. It's very nice when a kidnapper can be very open about how very not evil they are.

There are actually quite a few songs in this one, following on from the success of Everything is Awesome. Somehow these songs seem even more self aware, including a song which literally has the lyrics "This song is gonna get stuck inside your head" and possibly one of the best end credits songs I've heard. Some of these songs differ in quality and there's probably one music sequence too many, but there's definitely enough songs here for kids to irritate their parents with on a loop. At least until the end of the year when Frozen 2 comes out.

Just like the previous films, Miller and Lord go all in on their own brand of meta humour, ranging from characters being self aware of their own roles in the film to cameos from a Ruth Bader Ginsburg figure and Bruce Willis, which includes a voice over cameo which is depressingly his best performance since Looper. There's also another real world lesson mirroring the events in the film, this time involving sibling rivalry and learning to play nicely with one another. But whilst this is definitely a really enjoyable second outing, the film does lack the same spark of originality that the original Lego Movie had. But anyone who enjoyed the fast paced wholesome quality of the first Lego Movie will not be disappointed by this entertaining follow up.