The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
Cast: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett
Director: Mike Mitchell
Rating: 3.5/5

Towards the end of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, the tiny bricks, in a moment of great despair, soak their sadness in a song: ‘Everything’s not awesome, everything’s not cool and I am so depressed’.

However, a little pep talk from Lucy shines a new, hopeful light on their situation and they modify their song to ‘Everything is not awesome. Things can’t be awesome all of the time... But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to make everything awesome in a less idealistic kind of a way.’ And those are also my thoughts about the movie.

Watch the trailer for The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

This sequel to The Lego Movie is just good enough when compared to the first part. There is still a lot of meta humour, washed down with a big gulp of pop culture references, with a sweet serving of a wholesomeness. However, the noisy, colour-gasmic chain explosion does try your patience before it gets to the good bits.

The second part begins where the first ended. After saving the city, Emmet and his friends are met with a new problem, the little sister wants to play with them and so do her unforgiving toys who will monch on any peace offerings from the townspeople of Bricksburg.

The Lego Movie 2 takes us to the post apocalyptic world where people sing catchy songs and bathe in glitter.

We jump five years and the sweet town has been converted into a Mad Max-inspired post-apocalyptic world. Everything is hopeless and gloomy but not for good ol’ Emmet. He is still singing and still believing that Everything Is Awesome.

His optimism seems childish to Lucy and she demands that he should toughen up, be mature, grow up. So when terror strikes again and aliens from the nearby Systar System take Emmet’s friends hostage, it’s just the right opportunity for him to leave his sweet, innocent self behind and toughen up. Mentoring him into manhood is the manliest man brick in the universe, Rex Dangervest (also voiced by Pratt).

Chriss Pratt’s Emmet needs to toughen up for Lucy.

The raptor-training-space hero-archeologist-cowboy-carpenter (an amalgamation of all of Pratt’s characters from Jurassic World, Guardians of the Galaxy, Parks and Recreation and others), helps him rescue his friends Lucy, Benny, Unikitty, Metal Beard and Batman from the clutches of evil queen Watevra Wa’nabi. She wants to marry Batman, by the way.

The movie begins on a messy and rather childish note, apparently with no other intention but to make kids laugh at the glitter-barfing brick and make adults laugh at sly digs at Marvel. It achieves that adequately well. Kids giggle at the exploding stars and are awestruck at Rex’s giant spaceship. Meanwhile, adults are kept entertained with Batman’s mention of Ben Affleck’s chiseled abs and Bruce Willis hanging out in air vents.

Chris Pratt also voices the manliest man brick in the universe, Rex Dangervest.

More hilarious bits include a nod to Avengers Infinity War’s gloomy ending and the genius play on words that will keep you hooked until the big twist and the big reveal. Upon the revelation, the entire last hour begins making more sense and doesn’t look as shallow as it earlier did.

The Everything Is Not Awesome song reminds of the despair the toys felt in Toy Story 3, as they held hands, headed towards the furnace, ready to die. Surely, nothing can beat the sullen sadness of that scene but The Lego Movie 2 did come close.

Batman, played again by Will Arnette to a brooding perfection, is still the one to rake in maximum laughs and most kudos for his pop culture references, jealousy for Superman and the complete disdain for marriage. However, to watch him fall in love like a high school boy was just as fun.

The journey of Lego Movie 2 from the first minute to the happy ending was a steep upwards graph. It tests your patience at moments but rewards you just as well at the end. When I say the end, I mean the end credits. Don’t get off your seats until the screen fades to black; you won’t regret it.

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First Published: Feb 08, 2019 11:23 IST