An Infectiously Entertaining Return to Bricksburg
By J.T. Kolness
There are few cinematic surprises as genuine as 2014's The Lego Movie. The fact that it was good was a miracle, the fact that it was one of the best films of its year was astounding, but now here we are, five years later, and that film is now considered the Toy Story of its generation. Shepherded by writer-directors Phil Lord & Christopher Miller (the kings of turning bad ideas into genuinely great films), The Lego Movie inspired filmgoers young and old to dream and build big and love bigger. Oozing with nonstop hilarity, eye-popping visuals, and a crisp and wild pace, the film was a sugar-coated candy shop of earnest positivity and that care and attention was carried over into The Lego Batman Movie (to mostly successful results) and The Lego Ninjago Movie (to less than successful results), both released three years later in 2017. Two years later, Lord & Miller return to write the sequel, directed by Trolls' Mike Mitchell, and thankfully, the magic is back.
Of course no film in this hopefully forever-continuing franchise is going to topple the lightning-in-a-bottle, instant classic original, but as long as the humor remains intact, the characters remain engaging and joyous to watch, and the story has just enough weight to stand on its own, audiences can be satisfied to take another round of this colorful joyride of infectious enthusiasm. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, mostly, checks all of these boxes.
The story involves our lovable protagonist, the humble and positive Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt), his newfound love Lucy aka "Wyldstyle" (Elizabeth Banks), and their friends including Will Arnett's hysterically brooding Batman, dealing with a hellish Mad Max-style apocalypse after the events of the original film. Emmet finds himself split up from the crew and joining forces with the rogue galaxy-defending, archaeologist, cowboy, and raptor trainer, Rex Dangervest (also voiced by Chris Pratt, doing his best 80's Kurt Russell impression and getting the chance to poke fun at his own previous blockbuster roles). Lucy and crew wind up captured by a Captain Phasma-like stormtrooper of the Systar System, General Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz) and in the hands of the shape-shifting Queen Whatevra Wa-Nabi (the vivacious Tiffany Haddish, who gets to flex her singing voice).
There is a catch to this story, as there was in the original, and that element gets far more screentime in this installment (mostly due to the fact that the secret is out) yet has less impact this time out. The film also decides to dip its toes into more musical territory than the original, which works more often than it doesn't (probably an element carried over from Mitchell's previous film Trolls), but the few moments where it doesn't does occasionally stall the pace of the film and skew the tone. Most of the jokes range from chuckles to genuine laughs, but the laugh ratio is down a notch from the first film (and even Lego Batman). Queen Whatevra Wa-Nabi some of the time even feels more like a character from Trolls than The Lego Movie. It's also an unfortunate loss when missing the original's brilliantly-used Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, and Will Ferrell (who only comes back in brief vocal cameos). But despite it missing a few beats and some star power, the film still manages to surprise in the story department with Lord & Miller clearly using every tool at their disposal to find brilliant moments of humor and heart and, of course, pure creativity.
It's hard to come out of The Lego Movie 2 without a smile, despite a few shortcomings. It's heart is in the right place as it always was, the story feels like a true extension of the original rather than a forced companion piece, and it's pure innocence is as infectious as ever. Four installments in and what was originally an idea for a film that could never work is now a franchise that could gleefully continue forever, and we're all the better for it.
"The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part", a Warner Bros Animation release, is rated PG for mild action and rude humor. Running time: 106 minutes. Three stars out of four.
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