Film of the Week: The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

Making any sequel to a film is difficult work, even more so when the first was a monumental hit for all families across the world. With two spin-offs, Lego Batman and Lego Ninjago, whether we saw it or not, there was some pressure to get the sequel to the Lego Movie right enough to not dampen what had come before.

The sequel is as entertaining as the first, as well as expanding what we had before, by incorporating more of what Lego is all about. The sequel also features more of the human world than the previous, a concept that only but cameoed right at the end – as well as musical numbers, time travel elements, and a shocking twist right at the end which you certainly won’t see coming until it’s revealed. There’s a lot going on in this movie, more so than the previous, and at times wondered if there was too much for a child to follow without getting disinterested.

The truth is, no, they won’t get bored. The sequel is fun, full of funny one-liners, play on words which are emphasised by the visuals, and a story with a strong moral message throughout. Whilst the first was thought of as just a feature-length advert with a good story, this swaps that format is has a good story that is a feature-length advert, and that’s OK.

There are certain moments which needed to be refined just a little bit, just as the transitioning between the music numbers, which felt a little clunky. Once the musical numbers were in full swing, however, they were decent, toe-tapping pieces, but how they were featured along with a fourth-wall break – of which there does seem to be plenty – those moments made the overall movie not flow as smoothly as the first one did. Whilst you could technically say the human world is this film’s version of a fourth-wall break – that’s all that was needed, not any of the characters to make passing reference that they’re within a movie, because those lines felt like they could have been taken out with no ill-effect to the scene in question.

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part doesn’t prevail over the first instalment nor The Lego Batman Movie, but it was definitely entertaining seeing certain well-known characters in situations never before seen, which provided a fresh take on those characters.

But does this review really matter? I’m an adult; I don’t even have a family. This is a family-friendly film purely created for the entertainment of your children and their parents who are dragged to the cinema. A child isn’t going to write an extensive critical analysis of the film, are they? They’re going to sit in their chairs, and be bewildered by the clear colours, epic actions scenes, dance to the musical numbers, be joyfully confused with the time travel element… or is this review needed for the adults to see if they actually want to take their child to a good film or a bad film. Well, how many poor parents had to see The Emoji Movie because their children kicked up a storm? Good or bad, parents would be watching it regardless, so I can say with confidence that The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is entertaining to the dads who have been dragged to the cinema whilst the mum’s go shopping, or to the mums who is keeping their children entertained whilst their dad works this one-off weekend, or to both parents who thought it would be a good day out for the whole family.

There are certainly worse films you could be seeing.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)