Thursday, February 14, 2019

The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) Review


Lucy: Emmet, you’ve got to stop pretending everything is awesome. It isn’t.

Emmet: Yeah, I get it. And that’s why I’ve cultivated a totally hard-edged side that’s super tough and, look, look, a shooting star! Make a wish!

     In 2014, the LEGO Movie defied all expectations and ended up being a delightful and colorful adventure for both children and adults. I expected it to be a cheap cash grab that was just going to be a toy advert, but what we got was a nostalgic magical film. In the five years since, we’ve gotten two spin-offs: the great LEGO BATMAN Movie and the forgettable LEGO NINJAGO movie. I enjoyed the LEGO BATMAN Movie more, but that’s because of my dry humor and I’m a major Batman fan. So after five years waiting and two spin-offs we finally got a direct sequel. So was it worth the wait?
  
    Well of course it was worth the wait. It doesn’t match the quality of the first film, but it comes close and does it justice. The first one focused on a father and son eventually bonding over LEGOs. Now this time it expands on the human characters as it centers on the brother and sister’s relationship as an analogy for what’s happening with Emmet and his friends. Emmet has to travel to the Systar System to save his friends and to prevent “Ourmomageddon”. The story was simple, but was rather satisfying and charming. It provided some heartwarming lessons that everyone could enjoy. These lessons include: sharing is caring, bridging the gaps among friends and family, respecting one another, and compromise.



  A big part of the success of this film is the voice cast. Chris Pratt returns as lovable Emmet. Will Arnett is of course Batman who is once again the scene-stealer. Most of the cast returns from the first one other than Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman. The new additions to the film are Jason Momoa that voices Aquaman, Margot Robbie voices Harley Quinn, Bruce Willis voices Bruce Willis, my spirit animal Richard Ayoade plays an ice cream cone, Noel Fielding plays a sparking Noel Fielding… I mean vampire, and Tiffany Haddish voices Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi. Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi and Batman stole the film for me. She wants to marry Batman, but as he tells her “I’m a bat-chelor!” The new supporting cast of characters are great, but actually one of my complaints about this film is that the supporting characters from the first film didn’t have much to do and were just wasted.



   The addicting catchy tune, “Everything is Awesome” returns along with a couple more addicting tunes. One of them being titled, “Catchy Song” where they repeat the lyric “this song is gonna get stuck inside your head.” Then there’s ‘Gotham City Guys’, which involves… yep you guessed it! Batman! The jokes are non stop and well written. The animation has improved quite a bit in five years.


    The LEGO Movie 2: the Second Part is in many ways like the original. It has the same dry humor, cast, and they even have a catchy song or two that’ll get stuck in your head. It’s an unconventional animated film for all ages. There are scenes made for children to laugh and then the humor for adults to pick up on. The animation is appealing. The film is definitely worth a watch. So if you want to have a fun time with lots of glitter, desolation, Apocalyptic Batman, Glittery Batman, Batman’s Wedding (take that Selina Kyle), an ice cream cone played by Richard Ayoade and a glittery vampire played by his buddy Noel Fielding… then this film is for you. One last thing, what kind of jobs do these parents in the film have? Because who can afford all those LEGOS. They’re super expensive even when they are on sale!

3.9 out of 5

No comments:

Post a Comment