Welcome back to Sound Off!, a semi-regular column where members of Speculative Chic gather together to chat about the latest BIG THING in entertainment. This time, limber up those building hands and discuss The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, which premiered in the United States on Friday, February 8, 2019.
Sound Off! is meant to be a reaction, but not necessarily a review. After all, while we are all individuals, even mutual love of something (or hate) can come from different places: you may find everything from critique to fangirling to maybe even hate-watching.
Now, join Shara White and J.L. Gribble as they talk about The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. [Note: Spoiler-free!]
Shara: I never saw the first Lego movie in theaters, and what I do remember of it is that I had a lot of fun. The fact I made it to theaters to see the sequel has nothing to do with how much I liked the sequel, but rather because a best friend of mine has three children: if I’m going to see a kids’ movie in theaters, I’d rather have a good excuse.
Not that you need one for something branded a kids’ movie. Especially something like The Lego Movie 2, which had so many inside adult pop culture jokes I found myself wondering whether the intended audience would even enjoy the movie. And by adult, I mean jokes about Bruce Willis crawling around in duct work (Die Hard), or turning something up to eleven (Spinal Tap), or the countless gags of Batman referencing previous actors who played Batman.
Please don’t get me wrong: the movie is fun, and the more adult-centric jokes go hand-in-hand with the theme about growing up (sort of?). I don’t want to delve into spoilers (shocking, I know), but I really loved the interplay between the “real world” and the story with the Lego characters. There was definite growth for both Emmett and Lucy, and the addition of Rex Dangervest was an interesting wrinkle (and I loved all the shout-outs to Chris Pratt’s previous characters).
If I’m being honest, I think my favorite moments involved the raptors talking to each other and reading their subtitles (also I loved that two of the raptors were named Connor and Ripley). The music was catchy, but fortunately I didn’t get the ear worm stuck in my head, despite what was promised in the lyrics.
Long story short: the movie is a lot of fun. I still have no idea how kids will react to all the references to movies that my generation grew up with (of the three kids I saw this movie with, one fell asleep!), but The Lego Movie 2 was cute, and I really, really enjoyed the “real world” story arc. Maybe everything isn’t awesome this time around, but it’s still worth watching.
J.L.: I did not go into this movie with the assumption that it would be as clever and amazing as the first one. I went into it knowing that it would be enjoyable on many levels, due to my knowledge of geeky references and my love of Lego. So, while I wasn’t blown away, I still thoroughly enjoyed it.
My favorite part of the first Lego movie was the huge meta twist at the very end. I appreciated that this twist was not ignored in this sequel, and that certain scenes even embraced the reminder that these characters were still toys going on a grand adventure. If anything, the meta storytelling aspects got even more ridiculous!
In the world of the Lego characters, I do wonder how many of the references younger audience members will get, such as the Mad Max call-outs. On the other hand, I appreciated that this movie embraced other styles of Lego minifigs beyond the traditional that adult audiences remember from their childhood. The film ends up with a mash-up of references, as if the creators had to dig for things they hadn’t already used in the previous movie.
On the human side, I adored the drama of the siblings and how that translated into the Lego world. The worlds created by the brother and sister never fell into traditional gender stereotypes, especially the heavy science-fiction influence in the “Sistar System.”
I don’t think this movie will have the adorable staying power of the first in the series, but it was still a fun movie date with my husband. Worth checking out if you have kids, or like us, are a kid at heart. (But I’ll warn my fellow Lego collectors that this does nothing for any self-control we might have when it comes to buying giant sets. I desperately want to add Apocalypseburg to my own growing town.)
We loved it–saw it twice so far and my wife downloaded the soundtrack. A month before, we saw Lego Movie 1 on cable and I couldn’t believe how much I missed when we saw it at the theater. Dialogue in these movies flies fast and even with my hearing aids, it’s easy to miss something. For Lego 2, I used the assistive hearing headphones the theater offers and they really helped.