The LEGO Movie was an animated movie released in 2014 by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. What was expected to just be a cash grab based on the overwhelming success of the LEGO line of toys ended up being a surprisingly great movie, even to the point that people were genuinely upset when it wasn't nominated for the Best Animated Picture Academy Award. After that movie came The LEGO Batman Movie (which I haven't seen) and The LEGO Ninjago Movie (which was marginally better than the show in my opinion), and then, finally, on February 8th of 2019, this film was released. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (which is an odd title) saw Miller and Lord return as the screenwriters, but had Mike Mitchell step in to direct in place of them. How does this film hold up, especially when compared to the monster success that was the first LEGO Movie? Well, I'm gonna talk about it in great detail, so I recommend you watch the movie before reading this. Spoiler alert.
Speaking of detail, the first thing I'd like to talk about are the visuals. As it usually is with LEGO movies, this film looks beautiful. The attention to detail is out of this world! The first one did a great job of establishing the LEGOverse, but this one blew the original out of the water in terms of visuals. The lighting was outstanding, the way the characters moved around were fluid and natural, and it's all made even more impression when you take into consideration that it was brought to life using absolutely no stop-motion. It was entirely CGI, which you wouldn't be able to tell going into it unless you already knew it beforehand. That's how good the animation is. Everything about it is spot-on. If you look close enough, you can see fingerprints, cracks, oil stains from lights and heat. Given how the LEGO scenes are playing because the kids in the real world are playing with the toys, these kinds of details that most other movies would miss are crucial if the movie wants people to take it seriously. Seeing those details being present in the movie was utterly mindblowing. How many times can I say the word "movie" in a single sentence? I don't know, but this film was a joy to look at from beginning to end. The movements of the characters, both LEGO and Duplo, was perfect, especially when it came to Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi's shapeshifting abilities (great name by the way). I loved the visuals.
On top of being gorgeous to look at, this film was also pretty funny. Some of the jokes are so predictable that, when the punchlines finally hit, it hurt more than anything (i.e. Wyldstyle saying "This door will never open", followed by the door immediately opening), and some of the jokes were just straight-up awful (such as Batman doing the Fortnite floss dance for some reason), but the majority of the humor works very well. I loved the fact that the shapeshifter's name was Watevra Wa-Nabi, that was good. I liked that Emmet kept his usual cheery personality even after the LEGO world turned dark and gritty, Chris Pratt played that well. The song that plays during the end credits, which features lyrics that explicitly tell you to stay in your seat, was very funny. Bruce Willis has a very funny cameo, and so does Maya Rudolph, Unikitty gets a lot of laughs, there's some funny name jokes. The humor is very good, and, to continue being positive, so is the cinematography. Not as good as the first one's shots were, but still extremely commendable. I loved the way the action scenes were filmed, there were some impressive longtakes, the camera knew exactly what to do at all times to convey the right amount of whatever emotion was needed for a specific scene. It also does a good job of showing off the beautiful scenery, which is always a good thing.
As good as this movie is, I wouldn't rank it above the first one. LEGO Ninjago was the weakest without a doubt, and I still haven't seen LEGO Batman, so I'll say LEGO Movie 2 is the second weakest of the LEGO movies. One reason as to why I think that is because of the musical numbers. Did you expect The LEGO Movie 2 to be a musical? Well, it is, so that's something. Don't get me wrong: The score (which was composed by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh) is great, and the Lonely Island song in the end credits was hilarious, but the songs sung by the characters in the context of the story were not good. There were, like, three of them, so I'm not sure if that counts as a musical. The songs are entertaining in concept, but their execution leads a lot to desire. There's one where the chorus is, verbatim, "This song's gonna get stuck inside your head", which is very funny on paper. And, yes, it will get stuck inside your head, just not in the same way that "Everything is Awesome" did. It's amusing for the first few moments, but it quickly gets old. Watevra Wa-Nabi has a song number dedicated to her saying "I'm not the villain of this movie" in 16 thousand different ways, which, like before, could've been funny, if not for the reveal that she actually isn't the villain. I suppose it can be argued that the reveal makes the song funnier, but it didn't have that effect on me. I felt disappointed when it happened, because the song took all the punch out of what would otherwise have been a very solid plot-twist. The dark twist on "Everything is Awesome" at the end was decent, but it went on for too long. The musical elements of the movie really didn't need to be there; It felt like it was only included to pad the runtime.
The voice acting was great. The returning voice cast do a wonderful job, and the newcomers fit in nicely. Special mention goes to Will Arnet as Batman. Kevin Conroy is my favorite animated Batman, but Arnet is a very close second. He got the most laughs out of me, making me really want to see The LEGO Batman Movie. He even gets a duet with Watevra Wa-Nabi towards the end, and, thankfully, that song is the most tolerable of all of them thanks to the Batman actor puns. Chris Pratt once again excells as Emmet, Elizabeth Banks was great as usual, Charlie Day was still hilarious. All of the returning cast did a great job. Chris Pratt gets to flex his talent by voicing a new character, Rex Dangervest. Rex also gets a lot of laughs, and, as a testament to Pratt's acting ability, I had no idea he was voicing him until the end credits revealed it. Tiffany Haddish voices the aforementioned Queen Watevra, and does so very well. She gets a lot of laughs, she's a good singer, and she does well in the more dramatic scenes. Will Ferrell comes back, but he's been reduced to a mere cameo. The only time his face is on-screen is in a flashback to the ending of the first movie, it's just his voice for the rest of his screentime. He's still good here, getting a huge laugh at the beginning. I also want to shout out Jadon Sand and Brooklynn Prince (who play the kids in the real world that are playing with the LEGO and Duplo toys). Their adventures are intermingled with the LEGO world events in this film much more than they were in the first one, and the actors sell it very well. They do so good.
Another high point about the movie is the way it was written. There were a couple plot-twists that genuinely caught me by surprise. They were hinted at with the perfect amount of subtlety. The aforementioned "I'm actually not evil" twist was ruined by a dumb song, but the reveal that Rex is the bad guy was genuinely good. I didn't see it coming. Also, involving Rex, the reveal that he's Emmet from the future was probably the least hinted at twist, but it still worked. It would explain why Chris Pratt voices both characters, which I couldn't tell until it was explicitly told to me. Not sure what that says about me, but whatever. The script is very well written, and these genuinely good plot-twists are a testament to that. It's a well-paced movie. There's also a lot of heart to it. Jadon and Brooklynn apologizing to each other after they explode at each other was really cute, Emmet and Wyldstyle still have very good chemistry, Batman of all people has some heartwarming moments with Queen Watevra. The charm is better-presented in the first one, but it still works here. I really liked everything to do with the Systar System, it was all so warm and pleasant. All of the characters were really nice, well-written, well-acted. It was easily the best part of the movie.
Overall, I liked this movie. I just think the first one was better. It did the comedy better, it did the drama better, it was just a superior film in my opinion. That being said, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part has a lot going for it that I believe both children and adults can get enjoyment out of. It has the same level of charm that the first one did, but this film felt like more of a cash grab than the other LEGO movies (especially when you consider the musical elements that will most likely cause a lot of parents to buy the soundtrack for their kids). I still enjoyed it, however. I'm gonna give The LEGO Movie 2 a 7.5/10. I wanted to give it an 8, but, y'know, Batman does a Fortnite dance. I kinda can't give it any higher of a score after that. I noticed the same dance being done in one of the Shazam! trailers, which is really not helping the movie's credibility. I'll still see it, though. It looks really funny.
