Jean-Paul’s Rating: 3/5 stars
Bottom Line: Fun, but not much of the magic of the original. Kids will still get a kick out of it, though.
Everything is no longer awesome in Legoland. It has become a wasteland where things are destroyed faster than they can be built. Alien Legos from space routinely come down to smash anything pretty that is built. Emmet (Chris Pratt) is still happy as can be, though. Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) is just trying to survive this apocalyptic Legoscape. They soon go off world to attempt to confront Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi (Tiffany Haddish).
It is very difficult to recapture something as magical as the first Lego Movie. It was pretty perfect and it spawned a series of less than perfect sub-genre movies. None of them were bad, per se, but neither could they capture the essence of the first. “The Lego Movie 2” is similar, though it should have a leg up on the others since it draws from the same delightful characters of the original. There is still fun to be had in the movie, but it is more just your average children’s movie fun versus genre busting fun and wonder.
Movie number two falls back on its catchy “Everything Is Awesome” song from the first movie to somewhat lackluster effect. There are a couple of new songs that are pretty good, thankfully. First is the wonderful Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi song “Not Evil” and the aptly named synth-dance song “Catchy Song”. In general, the whole soundtrack is pretty good, but those two stand out.
One weird thing that I’m sure has an explanation for it is the mysterious disappearance of Will Ferrell. His voice is still in the movie, both as President Business and as Dad, but Dad speaks from off camera all the time. The good news behind that is we are treated to the delightful Maya Rudolph as Mom in his place. I wonder if it was just a scheduling thing and Will could get to a sound studio but couldn’t get to the film studio.
Judging from the general audience reaction, kids will still like this movie despite its not living up to the first. It was a high bar to achieve and should not be faulted for not making it. It’s still a fun movie with a decent amount of delightful moments interspersed.