Review of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) by Davrosdaleks1 — 10 Feb 2019

Though it's not quite as good as the its predecessor, Lego Movie 2: the Second Part is a very enjoyable film. I'd put it in a tie with Lego Batman for the second best installment in the franchise.

This is a natural progression from the first one as we see LEGOs go against DUPLO and the girl audience-style LEGOs. Considering that they're the two other biggest brands of LEGOs, it just makes sense. It is also an interesting viewpoint on conflicting styles on imagination based on age and gender.

Though you couldn't really top the surprising twist from the first film, this one does contain a couple pretty effective reveals which like the first really support the emotional beats of the film.

LM2 is also a bit of a light musical. Due to the success of "Everything is Awesome," they added on the songs here and they work pretty well. The two best musical numbers hands down go to the ones sung by Tiffany Haddish's Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi. The comedian/actress is a surprisingly good singer. The songs are even catchier than the "Catchy Song," which was the movie's attempt to match "EiA." (I mean it's catchy but only short-term catchy.).

The movie looks great. The new universe of the Systar System is really well designed and colorful. The scenes that take place in the "other dimenson" are really well lit and have a very 80's/90's feel to them. The constantly shape-shifting Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi is an impressive bit of animation. (Though it still doesn't match the amount of effort that went into the form-changing Greedy scene from Raggedy Ann & Andy: a Musical Adventure. Check it out, it's really impressive.).

As mentioned, this doesn't quite match the first, which in fairness is a high bar to reach considering how everything worked almost flawlessly. There are many funny jokes here, but not the rapid succession that were in the first. Pacing isn't as fluid either. The likes of Benny, Ultrakitty, and Metalbeard are present throughout and have some nice lines, but they really don't contribute much. Basically, the writers were trying to include the whole cast, but since they were telling a more personal story between leads Emmett and Wildfire, they didn't seem to know what to do with everyone else.

Nitpicks aside this is a film that I think the whole family will like.