The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part Movie Review

The following is a movie review “The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part” by Marc Primo.

Release date: February 8, 2019 (United States)

Director: Mike Mitchell

Language: English

Production companies: Warner Animation Group, Lego System A/S, Rideback, Lord Miller Productions, Vertigo Entertainment

Producers: Dan Lin, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Roy Lee, Jinko Gotoh

If you didn’t find the pun on the title redundant, then chances are you and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part are destined to click, so to speak.

The Second Part is a direct sequel to 2014’s surprise hit The Lego Movie, and is the fourth film in the Lego franchise that comes just two years after a double whammy in 2017 that saw the release of both The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie.

If the first film’s infectious “Everything is Awesome” anthem is still ringing in your ears five years later, then this sequel picks up on a grimmer note where the citizens of Bricksburg face an otherworldly threat in the form of Lego Duplo space invaders that have a penchant for wrecking everything quicker than they can be rebuilt.

It is up to our heroes Emmet (Chris Pratt), Lucy (Elizabeth Banks), and Batman (Will Arnett) to save the day and bring peace back to their idyllic world, while encountering all sorts of galactic misfits and musical galaxies along the way.

So here’s the long and short piece… The Second Part, like most sequels, doesn’t quite capture the novelty and freshness of its predecessor for obvious reasons: it’s already been seen and done before. Part twos always have big shoes to fill, especially in the case of this respectable offering that has to live up to critically acclaimed awesomeness.

Some may even find it an improvement on the first movie, with more detail and depth to the basic structure it was given to work with. That, however, would be a testament to the greatness of the original.

Without a solid framework to build on, it would have been child’s play to churn out a lazy follow up film that inflicts as much pain as stepping barefoot on a stray piece of those iconic plastic toys.