@TravMoody
Crazy to think that it took this guy — who spent a grand majority of his childhood building Tatooine and Middle-earth out of bricks on his mother’s dining room table — nearly 5-years to see The LEGO Movie. Well, that happened the night before my screening for The Second Part, Warner Bros’ sequel to its humongeous smash hit. I liked the first a lot, and I’d rate it “pretty awesome” (4/5). While The LEGO Movie 2 definitely has better parts, funnier moments, more epic action pieces, and great cameos, it doesn’t quite match the whirlwind of brick-laying fun the original add, feeling like a longer film with far longer “real/human” scenes. To be fair, I chuckled at many of the scenes filmed in Our-Ma-Gets-In despite being sorta taken out of Emmet (Chris Pratt) and Wyldstyle’s (Elizabeth Banks) more pressing matters in the LEGO world…
Of course, the sequel goes tenfold with the initial LEGO film’s cliffhanger ending and makes it the centerpiece to all block-building chaos. If, like me, you hadn’t seen the original, stop reading this and go download it at your favorite app store right now. I played the video game, so I thought I knew it all, but the The Lego Movie is a far funnier option. LEGO 2 opens up in a Mad Maxian postapocalyptic world, due to the real life “war” between Finn (Jadon Sand) and his “invading” sister Bianca (Brooklynn Prince). Not sure what Finn’s complaining about, cause my sister never wanted to mess with my toys–just the Bushwacker wrestling figures (yes, Luke and Butch). Their mom gets involved in one hell of a hilarious scene and shit in Legoland hits the fan.
While all of the voice acting is solid, it’s Pratt who carries this film and literally. It’s sort of a spoiler to say why, but he’s absolutely wonderful. If you’re a huge fan of his/Peter Quill’s, it’s enough reason to see this sequel. Will Arnett returns as Batman, despite some early teasing that LEGO Bruce is too busy off on his own solo mission (The LEGO Batman Movie) and Superman (Channing Tatum) would become the super in the spotlight. Nope. Despite having an integral part of the movie’s climax, we actually don’t see or hear too much of LEGO Clark. I mean, this is WB; the World’s Most Famous LEGO Detective is their cash cow and it’s understandable. Arnett is hilarious in the role, of course, but there’s just way too much dialogue for a man supposedly more comfortable lurking from the shadows. Wyldstyle plays the “Furiosa” of this world and her gung-ho leadership guise completely works.
Now, as if the hopping between the fantasy LEGO realm and humans playing with toys world wasn’t enough, the plot shifts from the those Fury LEGO Roads to.. where else.. space. This is where you get a whole lot of Pratt at his best, the jokes come at their most creative, and things also get a quite bit serious… almost too much. If you like sappy and kiddish stuff, you’ll like this film. One particular point of the movie shifted from an almost hard political slant to one that was more familial and domestic. Another moment has the film’s villain, Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi (a terrific Tiffany Haddish), sing a very fun and super thoughtful number on why she’s not evil, shutting down every trope in the book. While the tune may have overstayed its welcome, there’s no doubt Chris Miller and Phil Lord were at their A-game with the script.
While not everything is awesome in the bloated but booming The LEGO Movie 2, there’s certainly enough sturdy performances, imaginative designs and constructive scenes for the whole family to enjoy. 3.75/5 Brick Bibles.
WB’s The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part hits select theaters tonight and everywhere tomorrow.
-Travis Moody