The Lego Movie: The Second Part Review

The Lego Movie 2 is the second Lego Movie except not really, because the Batman and Ninjago movies also exist. But let's be honest: this is the one that people who liked the original really wanted. This is the one we've been waiting for. Batman was a treat, Ninjago wasn't, but everyone really wanted to see the second part.

And then it came out and no one saw it despite it having wide praise. 

But you're not here to listen to me talking about what other people thought about the movie. You want to know what I thought! And I'm gonna be honest, I'm pretty mixed about this one. I went into Lego Movie 2 thinking I would really like it: not as much as the first, but I thought I would nevertheless have an incredibly fun time. When I walked out however, I felt somewhat disappointed, but I guess I did have a little bit of fun watching it. The problem is that whenever I think of a positive for this film, I seem to be able to come up with a complementary negative. 

Okay, let's start with the positives. I really liked the story. I like how they decided to embrace a more sci-fi side for storytelling, while maintaining the sense of realism that the original had. There's not any continuity errors I could think of  I will say that the story might get a little bit too complicated for kids, but I had enjoyment with it. It got surprisingly deep, just like the first one, and it brings a message that many kids need to hear, which I'm not going to spoil. I thought that was admirable. One of the story aspects that really helped was giving Wyldstyle much more to do. I don't think her character was developed enough in the first one, so her beefed-up role in this one was definitely a plus. The score was really good. Nothing too special, but it certainly wasn't bad. The animation, as expected, is gorgeous. I love how they make it look like it was made with real Legos and through stop motion, but in reality, it's just CGI. Really good CGI at that. Also, it's back to a point where everything in the environment is made of Legos. I glad they're putting effort into that again! AND THE "CATCHY SONG"!

That song just got stuck inside my 

That song just got stuck inside my 

That song just got stuck inside my head, HEAD, HEAD

I love the "Catchy Song"! It's aware of the gripes from many parents when "Everything is Awesome" was released. The filmmakers knew the original was annoying, but they didn't care. They dialed the annoying up to 11 and I think it's hilarious. Good self-aware humor! Just like the song in the credits, that talks about how awesome credits are, while the band just reads them during most of the lyrics. NOW, BEFORE YOU SAY I REALLY LIKE THE SONGS IN THIS, let me bring up an issue with the film: the songs. THEY ARE EXCESSIVE! I kid you not, there are 6 other musical numbers during the film and it is annoying. And not clever annoying! So yeah, the movie's a musical. Which is strange, because none of the others were really musicals. I kinda wish I knew it was going to be a musical going in! They had some musical numbers, but they were funny because of how out of place they were. There's so many of these awful songs in the movie that it reminds why I generally don't enjoy musicals and why I treasure La La Land as a film so much: I don't like excessive singing in movies. 

Now we get to the unfortunate, critical problem of the film: it just isn't funny. And no, it wasn't a movie that was trying to not be funny. It tried and boy, did it fail. The first 15-20 minutes had me really excited, because it was hilarious. I thought maybe, just maybe, it would be a very worthy (yet slightly inferior) sequel to the original, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. But then the movie progressed, and more and more jokes were thrown. Every now and then, I'd chuckle. But the chuckles were sparse. I kept hoping that they were saving some of the best laughs for last, but they weren't. The movie sadly had a very wide joke to laugh ratio, and it was somewhat painful to watch it fail consistently to make the audience laugh. Because no one laughed. Not even the kids in the audience thought it was funny. That's really not good! I could possibly give it a little bit more grace if the theater was roaring with laughter, even if I didn't find it funny myself. Nope. Dead silence. In a theater with a good bit of children. Watching a movie that is primarily a comedy. No laughter. That's kinda depressing to me, because there's so much effort put into this film overall. Phil Lord and Chris Miller didn't write good jokes, but they wrote a pretty good story. And many talented animators were able to present their skills to the fullest. It's really a shame to see a movie that I was looking forward to and clearly has a lot of passion put into it fail like this. 

SCORE: 5.5/10

Maybe I'll like it more when I rewatch it on DVD/Bluray/VOD/whatever. I don't know. I honestly thought I was going to enjoy this film immensely, but here I am; completely mixed, slightly leaning positive. I personally think you can pass on watching this in theaters. Wait and rent it instead. Unless you want to see it. Which by all means, go see it! My opinion is actually in the minority. Personally, I wish it was much more consistently funny and had much less singing. Oh well, I can still watch the first one and Batman.

Low key, I still have hope for the third.