Review: ‘The Lego Movie: The Second Part’ Will Test Your Attention Span
The original The Lego Movie was a pleasant surprise. Hollywood’s recent history with adapting material has been a toss up, but I don’t think anyone thought a movie based on a beloved building block toy would be any good. Fortunately, we were wrong. The film was not only a commercial success, but also a critical one, and in no time, sequels were quickly green lit. First The Lego Batman Movie, then The Lego Ninjago Movie, and now The Lego Movie: The Second Part.
Picking up where the last film left off, Emmet and Co live an ‘awesome’ existence in Bricksburg. That is until it comes under attack by DUPLO constructions that destroy everything in their path. Flash forward fie years later and Bricksburg has turned into Apocalypseburg, a desolate wasteland where everything a considerably … less awesome. When the a mysterious DUPLO figure called General Sweet Mayhem returns and steals Emmet’s friends, it leads him on an intergalactic mission to rescue them, stop the DUPLO monsters, and make everything awesome again.
Thematically, we’re dealing with a familial notions of growing up and the relationship between siblings. Wholesome and kid-friendly, the film address the type of person you become when you grow up and how that translates to your treatment of your younger siblings. For aficionados of the LEGO movie-verse, you know a real world narrative takes place alongside the animated story. In this film, the LEGO world is that of the older brother and the invasion by DUPLO is that of the younger sister, setting up a metaphor for conflicting in adolescence. The brother doesn’t want to play with the younger sister because she is too immature, but the film asserts that this age difference shouldn’t mean exclusionary treatment of your sibling, a message that I’m sure all parents will be thrilled to have dictated to their children.
The voice cast is strong and varied, ranging from Jonah Hill’s Green Lantern, to Taraji P. Henderson’s Queen Whatenabi, to a litany of surprise cameos. Animated voice work brings on larger than life roles where actors disassociate themselves from their physical personas and give way to enthused performances that play into the energy Lord and Miller pen in their script.
The through line with all Lego films is the contingency on a very specific, quick-fire humor that tests your attention span. To its strength and weakness, this humor delight or exhaust. It’s like watching six, twenty minute cartoons strung together, and the dialog throws A LOT at you. It’s so quick that the average length between jokes is assuredly below ten seconds. It plays into the ironic nature of IP based films, translating into its absurdist humor, but if you’re looking for a narrative comparable to a PIXAR animated film — with pacing that won’t drive you up the wall — you better look elsewhere.
—