It’s easy to forget just how much of a movie miracle The LEGO Movie was. Given a product placement title, the creators, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller, could have simply phoned it in, cashed their probably big check, and moved onto another Jump Street movie. Instead, the two did the opposite: they created a world so different and creatively built with animation its already launched spinoffs. Thankfully, the pair return to craft the story for The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, which only lacks the surprise of the original, but loses NONE of the exciting creativity that movie ushered in.
At the end of the first movie, President Business/Dad (Will Ferrell) allowed the younger sister of his son come to play with the toys alongside his son. This change in lifestyle wreaked havoc on Bricksburg, which was consistently destroyed over and over again for a 5 year period, which made the city turn into Apocalypseburg, run by Batman (Will Arnett). Emmett (Chris Pratt), the “Special” from the first movie, is unphased, completely happy because he’s with his love, Lucy (Elizabeth Banks). Lucy, however, is more on guard, waiting for the threat to return and unleash Armageddon (they say it differently, you’ll notice). Enter General Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz), who captures Lucy, Batman, and some others to the Systar System and their Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi (Tiffany Haddish). Emmet, left behind, ventures out to search for her and his friends.
Do you know what Oscar The Lego Movie won? It was for “Everything Is Awesome!” The songs perfectly capture the knowing creativity of The Lego Movie writers. In order to convince the captors that she’s not bad, Queen Wa’Nabi sings about how NOT evil she is, and how she WON’T imprison them for life, obviously. You’re laughing harder as the lyrics get more and more ridiculous as to the punishments if the group doesn’t obey. How many movies have you seen the bad guy try to convince everyone they’re not bad? I guarantee you the bad guy was never an amorphous Lego Queen who explains just how bad they are. The torture method the queen uses? A song so catchy it tells you how catchy it is, and how it will stay in your head long after you leave. It’s effing called Catchy Song! I’ve played it at least 5-6 times just writing this review. This all culminates in the credits song, which uses The Lonely Island to basically create an audio SNL Digital Short about how amazing the Key Grips, Editors, and Associate Producers are! YEAH!!!
As you can see, Lord and Miller are famous for adding a knowingness to their movies, what people in the biz might call a “meta” quality. What this means is that their movies are usually out in front of the jokes your expecting, and inventing new ones that are usually much funnier. For example, Emmett is clearly too innocent to explore the vast harsh world on his own, so he enlists the help of Rex Dangervest (also Chris Pratt). Dangervest has a list of talents that 100% match his voice actor’s IMDB page, with Pratt knowingly mocking himself while voicing himself, throwing layers into the joke you see coming based on the story. Dangervest clearly is going to have a tragic backstory, but Emmett is so cheery he keeps insisting Rex doesn’t need to tell him, which keeps you amused while going through known plot moves. In addition, the movie also starts building an alternative story upon the main story its telling. The first movie led to the (SPOILER for the first movie) big twist involving the human world, which the 2nd movie isn’t really hiding. What Lord and Miller are quite good at is using laughter to draw you in, but they win you over with a simple but universal story built upon love and empathy. When you’re not jamming along to their Catchy Song, you might be shedding a tear or two about how Lego’s can connect in more ways than one.
Upon leaving the theater, I’m guessing all of you will turn on Catchy Song, or any song from the movie and start jammin. Anyone who watches The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part and comes out pissed off or seething at what they saw needs a hug. Take them to a Lego store, buy some cool ship or building you can create together, and remind them of the wonder a little kid sees when they start attaching the pieces together. Maybe quote a little Arnett Batman too. That helps.