'The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part' Is Not as Awesome as the Original; an Enjoyable, Worthwhile Sequel Nonetheless

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (the title seems redundant, isn’t it?) is the sequel to the surprise animated hit of 2014.  It follows the events of the first film – which, if you can remember, ended with the father (Will Ferrell) deciding to also allow his daughter Bianca (Brooklyn Prince) to play with his LEGO collection along with his son Finn (Jadon Sand), resulting to Duplo aliens invading the LEGO world.  Five years later, due to the aliens’ regular attacks, the LEGO world has transformed into a Mad Max-like post-apocalyptic wasteland in which everyone has become hardened and gritty – everyone except for Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt) that is, who remains as jolly and sanguine as ever.  When Lucy (Elizabeth Banks), Batman (Will Arnett), and his other friends are abducted and taken by the aliens to their mysterious, bizarre homeworld, Emmet must gives pursuit to not only rescue them, but also prevent an impending cataclysmic event known as “Armamageddon.”

The film succeeds in being a worthwhile followup to the original.  But as far as its place in the franchise is concerned, it’s just third place – sandwiched between The Lego Ninjago Movie below, and The Lego Batman Movie above.

As a sequel, it no longer has the advantage of surprising through a meta-narrative angle.  The audience is already aware that such a feature is in place.  The script does make an attempt to surprise with a major plot twist that is designed to make you look at the story differently.  But in general, the narrative is predictable (I even managed to guess the final twist about Lucy’s past).

Moreover, I just couldn’t totally buy into this plot twist.  It did mostly make sense, but it still left me with some uneasiness.  This twist is intended to make the other side sympathetic, and is supposedly enough to retroactively justify – or, at least, rationalize – certain unsettling deeds or characteristics shown earlier in the movie.  However, it didn’t completely sit well with me, as it felt to me like an “ends justify the means” thing.  Nevertheless, I admit that the narrative outcome of which still gave me the feels.

I was also a bit disappointed with the amount and quality of cameos.  It felt like they already used up all of the great cameos available to them in The Lego Movie.  The laughs and thrills that I got from seeing Lego versions of IPs are significantly less this time around.  Actually, there were only three that gave me a pleased tingle: Velma (but I’d rather see a new Lego Scooby-Doo movie), Bruce Willis (but this was spoiled already by the trailers), and DCEU Aquaman (voiced by Jason Momoa himself!  I now want a sequel to the Lego Aquaman movie, wherein the eponymous character had undergone a makeover, transforming into Momoa’s DCEU version.  I can imagine the jokes regarding his change of appearance are going to be gold!).

In the end, I enjoyed The Lego Movie 2.  It’s a funny, delightful, heartwarming animated film that will appeal to audiences of all ages.