The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

We were told five years ago now, in a thinly veiled bit of irony, that ‘Everything Is Awesome’, that we should stick together and be open to change.

Five years later and the message has been changed to ‘Everything’s Not Awesome’ but the fact that we can acknowledge and accept this is a good thing as we can look to a brighter future.

This message is delivered by two dots and a smile in The Lego Movie 2 and, once again, Phil Lord and Chris Miller (alongside Director Mike Mitchell) have given us a lesson in how to create a kid’s movie.

It felt like the first could be a wholesome one-off with a startling ‘it’s-all-actually-real’ ending that housed a nice moral message as well as a genuinely surprising twist. They then took a tangent with The Lego Batman Movie which diverted course, but still proved ludicrously entertaining, and return to the plot and characters of the first film here (we begin as the credits roll on number one) and yet still get a hammer blow of a moral conscience alongside the belly laughs.

It feels like the somewhat unexpected success of the franchise thus far has enabled this film to really go out on a whim with some of its ideas. In fact some of the jokes here feel like they’re improvised despite the meticulousness of the animation. It keeps its quirks too, there are far more original characters here which is a little disappointing given the tantalising prospects on offer with some of Lego’s licenses.

The references that are included though are particularly strong with some hilarious Justice League gags, some incredible meta references to Chris Pratt’s career and a Batman song for the ages (oh yes, this is basically a musical FYI.)

It’s a truly worthy sequel and, surprisingly, doesn’t feel at any point like a cash grab. The improvised, bizarre nature of some of it suits the Lego aesthetic and builds this franchise’s lineage. Particular praise, again, must be given to the animation as well which is simply jaw dropping. The detail is immense and the ‘worn’ look of the actual mini-figures is fantastic.

A glittery Superman, talking velociraptors, Duplo, Jonah Hill as Green Lantern and a banana (which may well steal the entire movie) add up to one of the best family films you’ll see this year.

Everything in the Lego franchise is definitely still awesome.

4 stars ****