No one would have ever expected that
something as simple as Legos would end up having a film based around them that
would have been considered one of the greatest animated films ever made. The
first LEGO Movie does an amazing job
of representing the property with its innovative animation, quick and detailed
sense of humor and a theme that’s not only powerful with the theming of Legos,
but also poignant in terms of themes with the idea of imagination and
creativity. A follow-up to something like this would be hard to do, however The
second part of The LEGO Movie while
does have into the trappings of an inferior follow up, still has the humor,
charm, and even sophistication that the original movie has despite not being as
good.
A
Movie that Gets Better as it Builds
LEGO Movie 2 takes place shortly after
the first with a bunch of weird alien creatures invading the world of LEGO and
leading Emmet and the others into an apocalyptic wasteland. The team is trying
to adjust to their new life, when one of the strange beings working with the
aliens captures Lucy(Aka Wildstyle) and some of the other friends to this
strange new world that may not be what it seems, so it’s up to Emmet to save
the day once again. The plot of the LEGO Movie
is straight forward once again and does contain some underlying themes in
the mix as the film goes on. What makes it not as good as the first however
really comes down to the first act, being just simply entertaining but nothing
fully new and amazing. The first LEGO
Movie had a wow factor with all the great detailed put into the jokes and
characters and still was impressive when re-watching it. This film however
doesn’t quite have the wow factor at first, with nothing that’s necessarily
bad, but you can more so predict how it plays out. The jokes are still funny
but nothing on the level of constantly laughing like the original as there are
some jokes that feel a bit outdated or out of place. The film does get progressively
better in its second act as not only do the jokes land much stronger this time
around with much more clever and self-aware writing, but the main theme of the
film is legitimately interesting. The
LEGO Movie had one of the most powerful themes about creativity and the
rejection of not sticking with social norms, so of course the second movie has
to have a different message and while not as though provoking, it still works
in the second for different reasons. The film does play out in a way that is
more predictable when it comes to what it is trying to say with a twist that is
fairly easy to guess, though how it comes to its conclusion and that twist is
what makes it fascinating. The film ends up being a commentary on toxic
masculinity and not done in a way that’s cringe worthy or pandering, but in a
way that’s fairly easy to understand and poignant. It’s not a big gender war
movie, but rather a discussion on maybe being fixated on growing up too much
could lead to being a more toxic person. It’s a very fascinating message to
teach to kids and the way it’s executed is done in a rather clever way. It
makes the LEGO Movie 2’s message not as strong as its first theme, but one that
creates for interesting discussion for sure.
Less
Characters Focused on but still just as Colorful
The
LEGO Movie introduced audiences to a colorful cast of characters both old
and new when it came to creating such an inventive world. The cast in this
still is great but some may feel disappointed in the lack of characters
returning to this sequel. Many of the side characters that left such an impact
on the first movie are either regulated to being a simple side character with
not a whole lot to do or nonexistent in this movie. The story mainly focuses on
Emmet and Lucy/Wildstyle in terms of returning characters, along with the lego
version of Batman having a lot of moments as well. While it is a little
disheartening that characters like Lord Business, UniKitty and Spaceman Benny
don’t have a whole lot of moments; the script is smart enough to give some good
focus onto Lucy and Emmet. Both leads are well fleshed out with Lucy giving
more of a backstory to her character and Emmet having a bit of a character arch
that goes in depth to the film’s main themes of being fixated on growing up,
giving him some complexities that are much needed for a simple character like
him. Batman in this film doesn’t have as many great moments as his solo outing
with LEGO Batman Movie, but still is
so much needed and well done comedic relief still voiced hilariously by Will
Arnett. As for some of the new additions, there are really only three with
Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi, General
Sweet Mayhem, and Rex Dangervest. Sweet Mayhem is a good side villain some
subtle comedic moments and Rex Dangervest is a fascinating character that helps
dive into the film’s theme of toxic masculinity much further. Watevra Wa-Nabi
might be the best new addition here as the character is so uniquely animated
even for a LEGO character, that she is just fascinating to watch and has a lot
of funny lines and moments. The only real issue with her character is that
there doesn’t feel like a presence to her as a character when it comes to her
being the film’s antagonist, but considering the where the film really goes
with its villain, what they actually do makes up for the lack of threatening
presence she has as a villain.
Arguably Better Constructed than the First
Visually
From a visual
perspective, The LEGO Movie is one of
the best looking animated movies out there with so much visual flare and
variety in terms of art direction; it was a spectacle to witness. The sequel is
still consistent with maintaining its visually stunning moments with the
characters still being animated like they’re stop motion along with the
detailed textures making them look like real LEGOS. Arguably the film may even
look better than the first with a lot of different art style changes at various
points for some fun moments that make the film not boring to look at. And as
mentioned earlier, the Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi is a visually impressive character
to watch with her movement making her anything she wants to be and even a part
of the background. It even adds for some impressive musical numbers which, this
film does have and they’re visually impressive from the animation and quite
funny with the actors and writing being very sporadic and Meta in terms of the clever sense of humor LEGO
Movie is known for.
Not
as Awesome as the First But Still Great
The
LEGO Movie 2 is a worthy follow-up to an already hard to follow up film. It
doesn’t quite have the wit and genius the first movie had to offer but with the
help of some fantastic animation and really smart writing that still dives into
a lot of fascinating themes, LEGO Movie 2
still manages to be a blast to watch. It may not be the first movie nor it is
as funny as The LEGO Batman movie,
but is still an enjoyable time with some complexity added into the mix.
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