Movie Review - The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

This is the sequel to The Lego Movie (2014), which in my review I compared to Toy Story (1995). Except, directors and co-writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller infused way more manic humor that bombarded the screen with tons of pop culture references and jokes. The action was also done at a breakneck pace. This sequel still features Lord and Miller as writers, but, Mike Mitchell (Trolls and Shrek Forever After) takes over as director. He picks things up and tries to keep the ball rolling, but, that breakneck pace has been slowed down somewhat. There's still a quick energy to the way things move here but it's not the bombardment that the previous feature was. This is something I appreciate. Yet, as I also pointed out in my review of the 2014 film, it's still an amalgam or a mix of other films jumbled together here.

It's a bit better of an amalgam or mix simply because the point is to comment or satirize on those other films, specifically the films of Chris Pratt who voices the main character here. Since Pratt starred in the 2014 movie, he has gone on to do a bunch of big-budget action films, including Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Jurassic World (2015). As a result, people talked about Pratt as possibly being the next Harrison Ford. People were even wanting Pratt to take on Ford's iconic character of Indiana Jones. While that character is iconic, it represents a kind of masculinity and a kind of bravado and toughness that leans more toward the toxic realm. This movie deconstructs and dismisses that kind of masculinity in a way that is simplistic but still appreciable.

What also helps is that this film gives more shine to the female performances at play. Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect and The Hunger Games) reprises her role of Lucy aka Wyldstyle, a warrior not unlike Charlize Theron's character in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). The opening sequence of this film through a bit of the first act is in fact a homage to that 2015 Oscar-winner. Wyldstyle has in effect taken on a bit of that toxic masculinity herself and even wants to spread it to Pratt's Emmet, a sweetheart and too much of an optimist. Wyldstyle's hardness might be justified given the post-apocalyptic landscape the movie starts them in, but the question is whether she can let go of what could also be described as cynicism and be more trusting, as Emmet himself will also be faced with that same question.

Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip and Night School) co-stars as Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi, a Lego Duplo, shape-shifting monarch. She rules on a planetary system very far away from where Emmet lives. Wa'Nabi sends a bounty hunter to kidnap Emmet's friends, including Wyldstyle, and bring them to her planetary system. Therefore, Emmet believes he has to toughen up and become more of a man in order to rescue his friends. He sets out in a self-made spaceship to follow them to Wa'Nabi's planetary system where Wa'Nabi wants them all to participate in her wedding. Wa'Nabi is determined to have the wedding no matter what.

Emmet meets another Lego character who looks like him called Rex Dangervest. Rex tells Emmet that if Wa'Nabi's wedding concludes, something bad will happen. Rex convinces Emmet that he has to stop the wedding. When Emmet arrives, he sees that all his friends are happy and are willing to participate in the wedding. Rex tells him that his friends are brainwashed. Emmet doesn't believe this so-called happiness is real, so he has to stop the wedding by basically destroying it.

The result of which is actually an interesting idea and conclusion, which goes back to that initial idea of deconstructing that tough, masculine archetype. Along the way, some silly songs are concocted that are fun and funny. There's also another element that's more prominent here than in the previous feature. The ending of the previous feature revealed an aspect that could be considered a kind of spoiler. I would have preferred more of that element here than what we get, but what little we get is effective. Through it, we get some delightful scenes with Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live), as well as child actors Jadon Sand (The Affair) and Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project).

There's a rather on-the-nose identification of a theme, which is one character saying, "It's all just the expression of the death of imagination in the subconscious of an adolescent." It all leads to a broader theme of sibling rivalry being ultimately unproductive, which some might be able to apply to even broader themes involving the political rhetoric and discourse in this country. The scene of specific, sibling rivalry also was reminiscent of the ending of Toy Story 3 (2010). Yet, this film knowingly makes nods to other classic films, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Back to the Future (1985), as well as some not-so-classic films like Twilight (2008). While all these references might seem like too much, this film finds a balance, which again I appreciated.

Rated PG for mild action and rude humor.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 47 mins.

Available on DVD / VOD.