Movie Review: Lego Movie 2 The Second Part (2019)

Summary: It’s been five years since everything was awesome and the citizens are facing a huge new threat: Lego Duplo invaders from outer space, wrecking everything faster than they can rebuild.

Pros:

Cast and Characters.

• Chris Pratt as Emmet Brickowski. He is an everyman, construction worker and inexperienced Master Builder from Bricksburg. He’s just an awkward kind of guy but he has a heart of gold and he’s a likable guy. I don’t always find Chris Pratt that great but I think his voice over work is great. His Emmet is innocent and earnest and it really works. He also plays another character in the movie, who I figured out what his role would be early on but I liked that character as well. I also love the little nods to some of his other characters.

• Elizabeth Banks as Lucy / Wyldstyle. She is a Master Builder and very broody and intense. I like her a lot, she’s funny and I think the movie also is a lot about her and her ideas of what is important. She’s really trying hard to not be optimistic about things but you learn a lot about her as the film goes on and I like her little arc in the film. Characters like her, are always so badass but have to remember where they came from. Elizabeth Banks is great in this role, her delivery of coming off too dramatic but a little deadpan at the same time really works.

• Will Arnett as Bruce Wayne / Batman. He was great! He is a DC Comics superhero who is a Master Builder and he has some great one-liners! I love the scenes he has with Queen Watevra and some of the stuff he says is just so ridiculous that it really works. His role isn’t that huge in this one but his scenes are funny.

• Tiffany Haddish as Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi. She was probably my favorite in this film compared to her being Secret Life of Pets 2, which she annoyed me, but I liked her in this. She is the shape-shifting alien queen of the Systar System. Our first meeting with her makes you wonder if she’s good or not and throughout the film you wonder if she’s a villain or not. I like that it keeps you guessing because the movie doesn’t make it obvious. She has the best songs in the movie and I love her delivery because it comes off like “Supervillain!” but in the next scene you’re like “Sooo are you a bad guy or not?” lol it’s great and it really keeps you on your toes. Great job Tiffany Haddish, I think she was great in this voice over role, the animation really worked for her voice and she was really great in this role. I didn’t think “Tiffany Haddish” while watching, I started to forget it was her and then I’d go “Wow, that’s awesome”.

The Animation. The lego animation is great. It’s really cool to see how they do certain things with legos! Like how the explosions are little legos! Or anything that’s water is lego! It’s super cool. I never was into legos like that as a kid so it’s really cool to see how all of this stuff was put together by kids and then you have this big imaginary world based on what they created. Plus, Queen Watevra being a shape shifter, her shifting is really seamless and pretty dope. It’s really cool and unique, very impressive.

Fun Story. I like that this story picks up from the last one, five years later, but right after really. I don’t want to spoil anything but I like the lego stories coincide with what’s going on in the human world and how certain things have a connection like the “Systar System” talks about the little boy from the first movie’s little sister. That’s so cute. Everything that happens has a double meaning, it has its meaning for Emmet and Lucy and the other characters but it’s also for Finn and Bianca. I really loved it. Plus, I can relate to it.

So Funny. I don’t think I laughed as much when I watched the first one, in fact, I think the first one kind of annoyed me. It was good and cute but I liked this one way better. I laughed a lot more, and I thought the humor was handled better too. I liked a lot of the side characters humor. The banana was hilarious and I really liked Queen Watevra, she had some great moments and lines.

Great Message. At the end of the day, the message is about family, particularly between a brother and sister and how important it is to maintain that relationship between siblings. I love that. I have 5 siblings and while we may not always get along, I love them more than anything. I would kick ass for my brothers and sisters. So, I think this movie does a great job at talking about that and how siblings play with toys. Not to mention, the things that Emmet and even Lucy have to learn. I love it.

The Songs. This movie has some great songs, I particularly like Queen Watevra’s songs and I thought Tiffany Haddish did a great job performing them. “Not Evil” and “Gotham City Boys” was great! I was like yasss! That “Everything is Awesome” song is such an ear worm and I have a love/hate relationship with it. But the songs in this one I didn’t dislike from the beginning lol.

Cons:

Doesn’t explain. Some things they don’t explain and I needed an explanation. I don’t want to spoil anything but I wish they would have explained how the legos are able to move on their own. You’ll know what I mean when you see it. Rex, I get but I just wish they would have gone into that more.

The Real World. I also don’t think they should have cut to the real world as much as they did. It was a great surprise in the first one to see what the legos were actually being controlled by people and we know that going in, unless you haven’t seen it, but I think they showed it to us way too much. Just a few times before the big climax at the end where we get to see way more. Leave a little more to the imagination in terms of that.

Overall, I really liked this movie way more than I thought I would. I liked this one way more than the first one. It’s just so good. The characters are still great and I liked them a bit more in this one, the voice acting is great and I really have to give to Tiffany Haddish. I love the animation because it’s soo cool, I love the lego stuff and it’s so impressive. I also think the movie is really funny, I laughed and I thought it was charming and I liked how it connected to the real world. Also, the songs are awesome! I really liked the two songs Queen Watevra got to sing, plus her name is awesome. My only issues is that I wish the movie explained more about the legos in the real-world thing when it came to them talking or being sentient. Not to mention, the amount of times they showed the human stuff, it could have been cut down a bit more. But I think this movie is great! I really liked it and it’s a great fun movie.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Have you seen The Lego Movie 2: The Second Act? What are your thoughts? Is it better than the first?

Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!

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