Well, Everything’s Not as Awesome.
I love 2014’s The Lego Movie. Absolutely love it. It’s funny, well-paced, and most of all, it has a ton of heart. The directing/writing team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller showed that you can turn what looks like a shameless branding cash grab into one of the best animated movies ever made.
Then The Lego Batman Movie received critical acclaim, but a lower box office return than The Lego Movie indicating that audiences may not be fully onboard for a Lego Movie shared universe (because studios believe they need shared universes to make money and keep up with Marvel). Seven months later, The Lego Ninjago Movie was met with a mixed-at-best critical reception and was a commercial disappointment. Next up was The Lego Movie 2. It had to be great, right? Lord and Miller were coming back to write and produce (but not direct). Then the film got delayed nine months because the original director, Rob Schrab, left the project due to creative differences and Lord and Miller were re-writing the script. Keep in mind that Lord and Miller were also writing and producing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse at the same time.
So, my expectations were tempered. I liked the first trailer they released, but when they did not come out with any more trailers for an extended period, I lost almost all faith in the movie.
Then The Lego Batman Movie received critical acclaim, but a lower box office return than The Lego Movie indicating that audiences may not be fully onboard for a Lego Movie shared universe (because studios believe they need shared universes to make money and keep up with Marvel). Seven months later, The Lego Ninjago Movie was met with a mixed-at-best critical reception and was a commercial disappointment. Next up was The Lego Movie 2. It had to be great, right? Lord and Miller were coming back to write and produce (but not direct). Then the film got delayed nine months because the original director, Rob Schrab, left the project due to creative differences and Lord and Miller were re-writing the script. Keep in mind that Lord and Miller were also writing and producing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse at the same time.
So, my expectations were tempered. I liked the first trailer they released, but when they did not come out with any more trailers for an extended period, I lost almost all faith in the movie.
*****SPOILERS AHEAD******
To be clear, The Lego Movie 2 is not a bad movie on its own. However, as a follow up to the first film, it is both disappointing and boring at times. I checked the clock on my phone about 35-40 minutes into the movie. The film doesn’t bring anything new to the franchise. The additions of the Duplo bricks provide a few humorous moments, but they become annoying after a while. Tiffany Haddish plays Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi (just Tiffany Haddish as herself) and has three or four musical numbers in the film. That’s not a joke. The first one is okay but you will probably just tune the other ones out while you wait for the movie to get back on track.
There are some flashes of what made the first film so great though. Christ Pratt is still fantastic as Emmett Brickowski, our bubbly hero. Bruce Willis is only in two scenes as himself and both scenes got the biggest laughs from the audience. The cast is still on point but the story just cannot hold the same energy that the original did.
The film loses the element of surprise that the first film had when dealing with the real-life characters. In the first film, we learn rather late in the film that a father does not want his son, Finn, playing with the Lego pieces because he creates these wildly imaginative objects and people with them while the father wants the Lego sets to only be on display and look as close to real-life as possible. The Lego Movie does not want you to lose your imagination as you get older.
To be clear, The Lego Movie 2 is not a bad movie on its own. However, as a follow up to the first film, it is both disappointing and boring at times. I checked the clock on my phone about 35-40 minutes into the movie. The film doesn’t bring anything new to the franchise. The additions of the Duplo bricks provide a few humorous moments, but they become annoying after a while. Tiffany Haddish plays Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi (just Tiffany Haddish as herself) and has three or four musical numbers in the film. That’s not a joke. The first one is okay but you will probably just tune the other ones out while you wait for the movie to get back on track.
There are some flashes of what made the first film so great though. Christ Pratt is still fantastic as Emmett Brickowski, our bubbly hero. Bruce Willis is only in two scenes as himself and both scenes got the biggest laughs from the audience. The cast is still on point but the story just cannot hold the same energy that the original did.
The film loses the element of surprise that the first film had when dealing with the real-life characters. In the first film, we learn rather late in the film that a father does not want his son, Finn, playing with the Lego pieces because he creates these wildly imaginative objects and people with them while the father wants the Lego sets to only be on display and look as close to real-life as possible. The Lego Movie does not want you to lose your imagination as you get older.
In The Lego Movie 2, we can immediately figure out what’s going on between Finn and his sister Bianca without having to move back and forth between the Lego world and the real world. The film becomes very predictable, and that includes one of its big twists.
As soon as I saw Rex Dangervest in the trailers, I knew he would be the bad guy. He is literally the opposite of the hero we are supposed to root for. Emmet is a happy-go-lucky guy who is all about being part of a team and sees the best in people while Rex is a hardened lone wolf who doesn’t trust anyone. Rex provides a few funny moments when he is first introduced since he is an amalgamation of the big budget roles that Chris Pratt has had in the past few years (galaxy-defending, cowboy, raptor-trainer), but his shtick quickly wears thin.
All in all, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is okay. It’s not bad, but when you compare it to the first film, it does not come close. Kids will probably still love and its better than a lot of the movies that normally release in January and February. Unfortunately, this could be the end of The Lego Movie franchise due to the $34.4 million domestic opening weekend. The first film opened to $69 million. For a franchise that started so strong, it’s sad to see it go out with a whimper.
3/5 – Matinee or Wait for the DVD/Digital Release
As soon as I saw Rex Dangervest in the trailers, I knew he would be the bad guy. He is literally the opposite of the hero we are supposed to root for. Emmet is a happy-go-lucky guy who is all about being part of a team and sees the best in people while Rex is a hardened lone wolf who doesn’t trust anyone. Rex provides a few funny moments when he is first introduced since he is an amalgamation of the big budget roles that Chris Pratt has had in the past few years (galaxy-defending, cowboy, raptor-trainer), but his shtick quickly wears thin.
All in all, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is okay. It’s not bad, but when you compare it to the first film, it does not come close. Kids will probably still love and its better than a lot of the movies that normally release in January and February. Unfortunately, this could be the end of The Lego Movie franchise due to the $34.4 million domestic opening weekend. The first film opened to $69 million. For a franchise that started so strong, it’s sad to see it go out with a whimper.
3/5 – Matinee or Wait for the DVD/Digital Release