Directed by: Mike Mitchell
Written by: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Cast: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Tiffany Haddish
Swift shot: Everything is not awesome. We get it. You’ll hear this about umpteen million times in the first act. Much like with Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, this sequel to a better first movie, leaves much to be desired. The universe is now established, and I won’t go so far as to say this sequel should have gone directly to DVD, but it was close, if not for Rex Dangervest.
Emmet (Pratt) and Lucy (Banks) ended their first adventure with the invasion of the dreaded Lego DUPLO (blocks designed for toddlers) and when the fourth brick wall is broken, it’s established that our universe and their universe co-exist. Look, just go with it, it’s a kid’s movie. So, these Duplo blocks are being controlled by the creator’s toddler sister.
Thing is, whenever the minifigures of Bricksburg make a new colorful creation, it gets immediately destroyed by the Duplo invaders. So, their solution is to live in desolation, only protected by Batman (Arnett), and they rename their town Apocalypseburg. Fitting, as they remind us every twelve seconds that everything is now bleak and every single minifg, but one, spends most of their days brooding and being miserable. The lone holdout is, you guessed it, the ever affable and plucky optimist, Emmet.
Lucy really wants Emmet to change, right up until Emmet does change. But, I am getting ahead of the story. Speaking of story, The Second Part is heavy in the beginning and not very kid friendly. I don’t mean it’s got adult sequences or language, but it’s just not a story that younger kids will really be invested in. And they’ll get bored. I know I was getting close a few times. And, my God, they beat the brooding bit to death.
So, Emmet, ever the idealist, decides to surprise Lucy by building a nice, colorful house in the middle of the wasteland that is Apocalypseburg. Right on cue, it gets the attention of the enemy. But, now the enemy is different. As the alien ship dispatches everything the pitiful folk of Apocalypseburg can throw at it, it becomes obvious that a new threat is upon them.
The alien arsenal is now made up of hearts and stars that compliment you just before they kill you. Twisted, if you think about it. Imagine having the enemy toss an “I WUV YU” grenade at you. Still, while it was dark, if you think about it too much, it was just funny to the kids. So, now that I really think about it, yikes, these things are quite terrifying. Moving on.
The alien ship enters the sanctuary of the Batcave and we meet a new character, General Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz). She kidnaps, err, I mean “invites” five lucky figs to be part of the matrimonial nuptials of their planet’s queen. Lucy is on the guest list, Emmet is not, and he spends the rest of the movie trying to rescue Lucy from . . . a wedding. So, it’s like a bro-film at this point.
Remember I said this movie was saved by the introduction of the best minifigure sculpted out of Denmark, Rex Dangervest! He’s basically every Kurt Russell character ever played and then some. He’s the stereotypical ’80s movie badass anti-hero. I really loved his introduction, oh, and his ship is a giant flying fist crewed by nothing but raptors. Of course he is my favorite character of this movie.
While Rex and Emmet are navigating the unknown galaxy, the chosen five “guests” of the royal wedding are meeting the bride-to-be, Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi (Haddish) who doesn’t really have her own form. She constantly shifts shape and sings a song about how not evil she is . . . trust her.
Oh, speaking of songs, there are a ton of musical numbers in The Second Part. In fact, it’s almost a musical. Some of the songs were catchier than others. But none of them were as good as the permanent ear worm from The Lego Movie, “Everything is Awesome.”
The queen and her herald appeal to each of the five chosen guests’ whims, and one of the guests is destined to be the groom. Needless to say, he’s not thrilled with that. But a quick song from the Queen soon sets his heart upon her.
Now the film’s climax is all set, the wedding is the thing wherein we’ll learn the conscious of the queen. Emmet and Rex will have to save the others from an intergalactic, planetary prenuptial nightmare. But, there is a twist that I won’t ruin here.
Overall, the effects of The Second Part were good. I really enjoyed how they transitioned from our universe to Emmet’s universe and incorporated the kids. Sadly, there is little Will Ferrell but another SNL alumnus pulls the parental duty, Maya Rudolph plays the feuding kid’s mom.
While this was a fun film, in segments, when you put it all together it just doesn’t click as well as the original. So, it’s not quite awesome, but it was far from terrible. Will your kids like it? Only one way to find out, I guess.
