77. The Lego Movie 2 - The Second Part; movie review

THE LEGO MOVIE 2
Cert U
107 mins
BBFC advice: Contains very mild fantasy violence, language

The kids laughed, the parents laughed and I think if they had taken their pets, they would have laughed.
I didn't.
I am afraid that while I surprised myself by guffawing at the first Lego movie, the joke had worn thin the second time.
Actually, thanks to it also being stretched even further during The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie and even Teen Titans Go To The Movies, Mike Mitchell's Lego Movie 2 felt like a long experience of deja vu.
The premise of the film is that it is set five years after the first one and the Lego characters play out a film based on the real-life game of a fractious brother and sister.
The consequence of them mixing their Lego and Duplo toys is played out as a post-war wasteland called Apocalypseburg.
Despite the daily horrors which surround him, the hero, Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt) is still singing Everything Is Awesome much to the frustration of the girl of his dreams, Lucy (Elizabeth Banks).
However, he is troubled by dreams of an Armamageddon (the reason for the spelling becomes clear).
Thereafter the plot involves Batman (Will Arnett) getting married to a shape-shifting alien queen (Tiffany Haddish) and Emmet and his alter-ego Rex Dangervest trying to prevent it because they believe it will lead to the end of the world.
And then there is Stephanie Beatriz as an intergalactic mini doll and....
Enough. I am sure you are getting the picture.
There is no mistaking that Lego Movie 2's makers are clever in being able to keep very small children happy while throwing in enough gags to tickle the funny bones of adults.
Well, adults other than me. The chortling inside Leicester Odeon made it apparent that the gags were hitting a sweet spot with the crowd.
Sadly, the freshness of its original concept had disappeared and I just felt a giant sense of seen-it-all-before.

Reasons to watch: The clever combo of kids' and adults' humour
Reasons to avoid: Overwhelming sense of deja vu

Laughs: None for me, lots for the audience
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 5/10

Did you know? There's a new LEGO colour for 2019 that appears in the movie, called Vibrant Coral.

The final word. Stephanie Beatriz: “They created an environment that’s very free. They’re very, very giving and collaborative and they just want to see what you have and then build off of that. They’re open to everything which is why their work is go good. It’s so good. It’s so fresh. And it feels so alive. Because they’re allowing us to do the thing that we do best which is use our imaginations.”

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