Movie Review: The LEGO Movie: The Second Part, a blast of humor and heart!

2014’s The LEGO movie was a surprisingly awesome blast of humor and heart, and now here we are five years later, ready to unbox The Second Part. While this sequel never quite stacks up to the greatness of its predecessor, it’s still a fun and clever addition to the crafty construction of this movie series.

Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks check in as the voices of Emmet and Wyldstyle, and this time around their existence is upended when space invaders touch down upon their snappy world. From there, Emmet is forced to save his friends from the almighty Queen Watevra Wa’Nabe (Tiffany Haddish - she’s great here), who insists that she isn’t a villain through a cheeky musical number.

Speaking of musical numbers, the film boasts a lot more songs this time around (At one point, one of the characters asks “Are we in a musical?”), and they’re all pretty catchy. One of them is even titled “Catchy Song” and it’s guaranteed to get stuck inside your head. In fact the chorus goes “This song is gonna get stuck inside your head!” Very meta.

Just like the first one, this film is packed with referential humor and winky in-jokes. The script isn’t as consistently hilarious this time, but it mostly does the trick. Fan favorite LEGO Batman (who got his own spinoff, because of course he did) returns in all his brooding glory and often steals the show. There’s also some visually thrilling journeys through space and time warps, as well as a place called Apocalypseburg, which is blatantly reminiscent of Mad Max: Fury Road. And while this film doesn’t quite tug at the heart strings like the first one did (the first one made me cry), it still has some sweet messages of inclusivity and themes of sibling bonds.

So, there’s definitely still some awesomeness left in the LEGO world, and it’s important to keep the imagination alive.