LEGO bricks are held together by the power of friction, The Lego Movie (2014) was held together by pure fun.
However, it looks like The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is held together by memes, pop culture references, cliches, and self-deprecating jokes.
Maybe it is my fault for walking into the cinema with high expectations. I loved The Lego Movie.
So much so that I bought some of the Lego sets.
It was a movie made of pure joy and sprinkled with real-life lessons and topped with heartwarming surprises.
The movie is like that friend who overshares, leaving no room for surprises.
It is also as sharp as a balloon.
I did find some parts of the movie entertaining, but they might as well be short YouTube clips.
The sequel continues precisely where the previous film left off.
Now that Finn (Jadon Sand) and his dad (Will Ferrell) have made their peace, Finn and his baby sister, Bianca (Brooklynn Prince), can play with Legos.
However, Bianca’s Duplo and Legocreations begin to creep into Finn’s imaginary Lego world.
Saying more would spoil the movie – although to be fair, the film spoils itself in the first 15 minutes.
Almost all the main characters from The Lego Movie are back.
Emmet (Chris Pratt), Lucy (Elizabeth Banks), Batman (Will Arnett), Unikitty (Alison Brie), MetalBeard (Nick Offerman), and my personal favourite, Benny (Charlie Day) are all here, but the magic is gone.
What is left is the moral of the story, and it is lovely.
It masterfully and subtlely translates the changing attitudes of an adolescent, sibling relationships, and how children develop as they grow, indirectly in the form of a Lego-themed cinematic adventure.
The Second Part tries too hard to create another Everything is Awesome sensation by packing in more songs, even one with the line “Everything is Not Awesome”.
To me, the smartest, and most enjoyable part of the movie is the end credits.
It has the best song with the funniest fourth wall breaking lyrics and the most delightful animation.
