The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)

I absolutely fell in love with The LEGO Movie. It was creative, unique, and surprisingly heartfelt. Unfortunately, none of these words could be used to describe The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. While it is a far cry from bad, it never manages to recapture what made the original so special.

Let's start with the pros. The animation is still as excellent and smooth as it was in the last film, and I continue to marvel at how the animation team is able to replicate the stop-motion look. The voice-acting is still top-notch and I enjoyed the performances from the few new characters. As well, many of the jokes were very funny and, although Phil Lord and Chris Miller did not write this film alone, it is apparent that this is still their specific style of humour. The concept of the film is very interesting and provided some smart scenes that drew parallels to the real-world aspects of the film. Finally, the film was very fast-paced and moved along quickly, therefore I was never bored or felt as though a scene went on too long.

Now, time for the cons (and unfortunately, there's plenty). What made the first film so unique in my opinion was its heartfelt ending and message about creativity and being yourself. This film tries to replicate that with its own emotional message, but fails mainly due to the storyline feeling very messy and unfocused. It doesn't feel as cohesive as the original did because, unlike the first film, this one has its characters split up for the most part, encountering different obstacles and trying to reach different goals. The writing didn't feel lazy by any means, but didn't feel as creative or special as the first. Also, many of the jokes were bad. REALLY bad. Luckily, the movie moves so quickly that it never lingers on any one joke for too long, but I was left thinking about some of the worst ones even after they ended. There are a few new characters in this film and, while I said that the performances were good, I didn't love these new characters. Rex Dangervest is the most interesting out of the bunch and his interactions with Emmet are a highlight, however Queen Whatevra Wanabi was SO annoying. It was hard to get through scenes with her. What made it even worse was that they had a pretty cool new character that could've taken the Queen's place in the story: General Meyhem. Unfortunately, she doesn't do anything in the film and is around for little to no reason, yet she has an interesting design and the helmet on her head adds a mystery that could've been interesting had it been explored more. Another thing that left me scratching my head was the inclusion of a few musical numbers. They were catchy songs, I'll give them that, but they had no place in this film and made it feel like a completely different world than the first one. As well, there is a twist that is very obvious to anyone paying attention, though after it's explained a little more it becomes more interesting.

Overall, the film is still funny, charming, and better than a lot of crappy animated films you'll find out there, it just suffers from an unfocused story and a director that cannot live up to the standards set so high by Lord and Miller. Not bad, but not so awesome either.