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| The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) |
Starting off, the visuals are just as impressive as they've ever been. I just love the Lego stop-motion style animation of these films; it just makes them stand out from basically any other animated or stop-motion movie. I've always professed it's about the little things, and with this being the first Lego Movie I've seen in cinemas, I just noticed even more. I mentioned the scratches in the plastic in the last review, but this time I could see fingerprints from where the Lego figures had been held or picked up, and I could swear they appeared in different positions on the same character throughout the movie. Those animators have a dedication to their craft that I just cannot relate to. The movie also visits a few less worlds than the previous movie, but what's great about that is how varied the movie still ends up being. I'd even say that this movie flows just that little bit better than the first, as it doesn't feel so segmented. You'll recall I mentioned that wasn't a huge problem for me before, but it is worth addressing here, since I'm soon to get into why this wasn't as good as the first, so it's nice to mention something this film had over the first.
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| Chris Pratt as Emmet |
The comedy is just as good as it's ever been. Lord and Miller remain my favourite comedy writers, and I think it's fair to say they've shaped my sense of humour as I've grown up. What's great about the Lord & Miller 'style' is how you can't really put it in a box. It's so varied with its jokes that you really can't predict it, which is great since it really is all about subversion with comedy. If you can see the joke coming, it's typically not as funny. I could predict maybe one or two jokes told in this movie, and most of them hit bullseyes. We had a relatively empty cinema, and we were laughing as much as an almost packed-house would have. I know from experience that's a rare feat. The movie also has its moments of heart and emotion, and I'll touch on those more later, but I feel like these moments weren't quite so strong. They were effective, and worked for what they wanted to do, but I was never hit in the gut with the feels like I was in the first one. It also felt a little forced at times, but I think that's just a by-product of this being a kids' film at the end of the day. I don't know, it's not as big a deal as I'm making it out to be, as it did work by the end, but it wasn't quite as seamless as it was the first time round.
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| Elizabeth Banks as Wyldstyle |
The characters are still as great as they've ever been. Chris Pratt is on top-form here, not only as Emmet, but as the new Rex Dangervest, who is a hilarious send-up to all of Chris Pratt's major roles. The two Chris Pratts have excellent chemistry with each other, and it's great fun watching them bounce off each other for the majority of the movie. Wyldstyle is fantastic in this story. I mention in the last review that I wished they'd done a little more with her character, and this gave me exactly that. Not just comedically, but we learn more about the character in general, and it's all great stuff. If I'm being honest, I wish the supporting cast from the first movie had a little more to do. Not Batman, he still gets a sufficient focus and he's as good as he's ever been, but Benny, Unikitty and MetalBeard really don't do much all things considered. They were so unique in the first movie, here they basically just get lumped together for the entire thing. For the story they're telling, it's not that big a deal, and the focus is definitely where it needs to be, but it did bug me that they didn't have much to do even towards the end. The new characters are great, but I can't really talk for too long about them without getting into spoilers, but suffice it to say, Tiffany Haddish and Stephanie Beatriz do great jobs as expected.
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| Chris Pratt as Rex Dangervest |
Okay, getting back to my question from the start: is it as good as the first? The answer is still no, but I'd argue it wasn't trying to be. The reason The Lego Movie was so good is because it was unexpected. We thought it was going to be a soulless cash-grab and it turned out to be really entertaining. Then we thought it was just going to be really entertaining, and then it whammied us straight in the gut with emotion. There really isn't a way to replicate that in this franchise anymore, since now everyone's expecting good things from this franchise. Thankfully, the movie knows this and doesn't try to replicate the exact same formula. It moves forward. It tells a new story that builds off of what the first movie did and does it extremely well. What's amazing about this, though, is that the film still found ways to surprise me. I expected story elements from the end of the first movie to be recurrent throughout this movie, and I got that, but what it does with it still really shocked me. Not hugely, but enough. These movies are all about family, and coming from a big family myself, I can say they nailed this story. It doesn't change the fact that the original story hit a lot harder. I can't say I teared up to this movie like I did to the first, but I can say it's still got enough heart in it that I appreciated what they were doing and really related to it enough to say it was great.
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| Stephanie Beatriz as General Mayhem |
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) is an excellent movie whether you compare it to its superior predecessor or not. If you liked the first one, you'll like this one, and I really hope these movies continue in the future, as they've been fairly consistent and original enough that I could watch them for decades to come. 9/10.
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