Review of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) by Szazomy — 14 Feb 2019

'Everything is not awesome... but that's okay', is one of the themes The Lego Movie 2 touches on in its story, and it's effectively an apt review of the film itself.

The first film was an unexpectedly engaging, entertaining adventure with enough laughs and enough heart to make the onslaught of references and 'spot the actor' cameos feel acceptable. By comparison, the second is far more stripped back of that same heart. Whilst it is loaded with laughs, some of which are clever or genuinely funny, many of the others fail to land, or come across as more obnoxious.

The songs are more annoying than catchy, the plot begins to really drag around the halfway point, and none of it has any of the superb coherency the first film had. Eventually it becomes so self-referential in places that it serves as more of a reminder of how good the first film was.

The Lego Movie 2 is by no means a bad film, and it has some undeniable charms. The voice acting is still brilliant, matched by stunning and colourful animation. You can't deny it the few good laughs it gives you, and some of the plot elements come together quite nicely in the end - even if the sagging middle makes it a chore to get there. Kids are bound to love it through and through, and you'll likely find something about it to praise, but this is a sequel that doesn't manage to capture lightning in a bottle the second time. It's likeable in enough ways to justify itself, but it follows a film that you could love by comparison.