In 2014, Warner Bros. (WB for short) released an animated film called, “The Lego Movie” directed by Phil Lord & Chris Miller. (21 Jump Street, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse) It received critical acclaim from critics and movie goers alike. Plus, it made money at the box office. As result of huge success, WB produced spin-offs titled, “The Lego Batman Movie” & “The Lego Ninjago Movie.” A sequel to The Lego Movie was in development since 2014, because of a busy a schedule, Phil & Chris along with a few cast members were working on their own projects. The directors filmed “Solo: A Star Wars Story” until Disney/Lucasfilm boot them out replaced by Ron Howard. Chris Pratt headlined “Jurassic World,” “The Magnificent Seven,” “Passengers,” “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2,” “Avengers: Infinity War” & “Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom.”
After a five year gap of pre-production, writing, storyboards, animating, post-production, editing, ADR recording & polishing a few details. “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” finally distributed worldwide.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is out in theaters worldwide. It received positive reviews from critics and its currently making revenue at the box office.
In addition sharing my real thoughts on the sequel, Phil & Chris’ Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse is nominated for “Best Animated Feature” at “The 91st Academy Awards” airing on February 24th.
Today’s review doesn’t contain any crucial SPOILERS. If you haven’t seen the first Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie & the second entry, feel free to read my non-spoiler review.
Positive & Negative Elements
Positive: The Main Cast from the first film reprise their roles and they all did a fantastic job for their respective performances.
Newcomers to the sequel such as Tiffany Haddish, Stephanie Beatriz & a familiar actress from “Bridesmaids” all did a good job for their respective performances.
Phil Lord & Chris Miller return and both did a great job writing & co-producing the sequel.
Mike Mitchell (Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalo, Sky High) takes over the director’s chair. He did a good job.
Animation retains its unique style of computer animation for the characters, environment, detail, world, action etc.
Humor retains its style of comedy consisting with inside-jokes involving DC Films, Chris Pratt’s career, characterization of the main heroes & parodies of post-apocalyptic action films. Each one made me laugh my butt off.
Besides Chris Pratt’s career, the sequel did a few jabs at the DC Films such as Batman’s upcoming trilogy directed by Matt Reeves, Lex Luthor behaving way too happy, a reference to Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal in “Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice,” Superman claims that his S logo stands for “silly,” a joke about Henry Cavill’s “Man Of Steel” when he said the S logo stands for “hope” & Green Lantern continues to be a punchline as a result of Ryan Reynolds’ biggest regret as Hal Jordan.
Songs are very memorable they’ll get stuck in your head in a good way.
Character Development involving Emmett. I can’t tell you, because my review is a non-spoiler article.
Many Lego characters and a surprise appearance from an action star have cameos.
The sequel satirizes second installments of a certain franchise transitioning to a darker tone.
If you remember seeing previews of Batman doing “The Backpack Kid Dance,” Billy Batson/Shazam also did the exact same dance move from a trailer for his upcoming film.
A romance between two characters felt unique. It’s justified if you remember the plot twist from the first movie.
The film opens immediately after The Lego Movie ended on a cliffhanger.
The movie got away with a Quentin Tarantino reference with a coffee shop named after one his movies.
Rex Dangervest is parody of Chris Pratt’s characters Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Owen Grady (from Jurassic World) & Josh Faraday. (from The Magnificent Seven remake) Emmet on the other hand is similar to Andy Dwyer (from Parks & Recreation) taking too much happy pills. To put the icing on the cake, they made a fat joke about Chris’ weight, because he used to be chubby.
Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi (that’s really her name) has an interesting backstory.
The Main Antagonist’s motivation made perfect sense. I can’t tell you what it is you’re gonna have to see for yourself to find out why.
A Plot Twist reveals the true nature of the story.
Negative: Without giving too much away, The Moral of the film was kinda similar to the first one.
The Final Verdict: A-
The Lego Movie 2 isn’t actually on the same grade as The Lego Movie. The first film is an A For Apex. I’m not saying the second installment is bad, but the entrainment value is very high to keep you on your seat. If you’re interested in seeing The Lego Movie 2, I highly recommend it for you and your kids. I can’t wait to see Shazam & Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker movie. Bravo WB, you’re still on a roll.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 