There’s a whole lotta metaphorin’ goin’ on round these parts, I tell you what. Oh, sure, it will be completely lost on the target audience, but don’t worry; it will also be lost on many of their parents as well. Emmet and his interchangeable friends are back once again to combine silly and serious. And while the combo isn’t as effective this time around, it shouldn’t take more than either a master’s degree or an in-depth knowledge of time travel paradox to understand exactly what’s going on. That describes your Lego-lovin’-five-your-old, right?
When we last left off at The Lego Movie, dad (Will Ferrell) had allowed his corporeal human son Finn (Jadon Sand) full access to the basement Legoworld that serves as reality for our plastic heroes. Being a fair parent, however, dad pointed out that if Finn is allowed to use the basement Legos, then so is his little sister, Bianca (Brooklynn Prince). The consequent results in “Bricksburg” have been devastating. We are led to assume that Bianca’s Duplo invasion has essentially turned Bricksburg into Apocalypseburg, a Lego Mad Max dystopia. This causes town leader Lucy (voice of Elizabeth Banks) to offer brooding asides against a backdrop of nightmare while ubiquitous irrepressible construction worker Emmet (Chris Pratt) is still chipper. You gotta love a guy who doesn’t let the apocalypse ruin his day. Emmet’s constant positivity is Lego’s saving grace no matter what else what might think of the films. How could you not love living in a world of Legos?
Once we get to Emmet, btw, real life melts away for the most part and we have to roll with Lego metaphor world for a while. Young children are not going to get this, but that didn’t stop metaphorical Lego plot in the 2D world mirroring the pain of the 3D one occupied by Finn and Bianca. In the toy realm, the Duplo army of ever-morphing chieftain Queen Watevra (Tiffany Haddish) invades Apocalypseburg in a plot to wed Batman (Will Arnett). The details are a mix of disturbing, adorable, and hilarious, like cognizant heart bombs that, upon impact, greet the victim before exploding … or the Duplo star bomb caught in a bunker seal lamenting, “Oh, the pain” in the voice of a wizened three-year-old. Amusing? Alarming? What’s the dif?
The descriptions of amusing and alarming will probably echo over and over within your average adult viewer, like when the main Bricksburg cast minus Emmet is kidnapped and taken to the Systar system. I think this is supposed to be analogous to Bianca taking Finn’s Lego guys to her room and forcing them to play with her own brick people. Look, I love Toy Story as much as the next guy, but –in the long run- I’m not sure that suggesting toys have personalities did any favors for anybody: to imagine toys have personalities is to imagine they can be hurt and must be protected by humans you probably wouldn’t trust to feed goldfish. Anyhoo, Queen Watevra introduces herself to five kidnapped beings from Apocalypseburg with the song “Not Evil” in which she makes pointed references to ways in which she could be evil but isn’t, leaving everyone to believe she actually is. And if you think your kids are confused now, just wait until they get a load of Emmet’s guardian angel ,Rex Dangervest. I can say no more about him for giving a away a key plot point.
There is such thing as trying too hard. This is The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part to a T made out of Legos. The film seems so interested in being clever that it forgets its roots. Take, for instance, Lego Batman. Will Arnett’s take on Batman remains my favorite part of the Lego movies. Lego 2 seems to know this, making Batman a centerpiece of the essential plot that calls for, ironically, Emmet saving the superhero. That’s cute, right – everyday Emmet coming to rescue The Batman. So we get a lot of Batman, but 90% of what’s there plays to the narcissism developed in Will Arnett’s interpretation. I think finding Batman vain and narcissistic is among the funniest things on screen, but it’s oversold here and it’s not combined with the other stuff we love about Batman – you know, the whole superhero part. The result is a film that works in stages – sometimes it’s insightful, and sometimes, well, everything is not awesome – as this self-aware film itself is only too happy to announce in song form before the climax.
Don’t get me wrong; the Lego studios contributions to filmdom are, far as I’m concerned, just an eighth brick below Pixar in terms of quality. I love what you guys are doing. But children under the age of ten will find this confusing, at times very confusing. That wouldn’t be a big deal if it were not your target audience. For all the clever on screen, Lego 2 often finds a path strewn with painful objects for tiny bare feet to trod upon. Yeah, my three stars doesn’t quite reflect my words. This is a good film, but you guys have conditioned me for a great film.
♪Everything is irksome,
Every bit’s annoying when you’re out of steam
Everything is irksome,
coming apart at a seam♫
Rated PG, 106 Minutes
Director: Mike Mitchell
Writer: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Genre: Metaphorin’
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Lego-philes
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: The easily befuddled
♪ Parody Inspired by “Everything Is Awesome”
