The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (Dir Mike Mitchell, 1h 47 m)

It's fair to consider the original Lego Movie as something of a cultural phenomenon-the idea that a movie entirely based around the Danish building system (as they prefer to call it) could be anything more than a shameless cash-in was laughable. And yet, the Lego Movie arguably sits as one of the best animated films of the 21st century so far, narrowly, and controversially missed out on a Best Animated Feature nod, and three films later has now spawned a sequel, that, whilst not re-inventing the brick, so to speak, is a sterling continuation of the series, with a few new pieces to excite fans and newcomers alike, whilst adding emotional maturity and a greater female involvement in the story.

Following the events of Taco-Tuesday, and the invasion of aliens from the Planet Duplo in the first film, amusingly recapped at the beginning of The Second Part, so the world transforms into Apocalpyseberg, a Mad Max esque world in which eternal optimist, Emmet (Chris Pratt), still believes that "Everything is awesome", plans to build a home among the ruins of civilisation, to the confusion of Lucy (Elizabeth Banks), his close friend, who, much like the rest of the former Bricksberg, has become hardened and embittered.

However, with the arrival of alien forces from the Systar system, representing, in the real world, the increasing creativity of Finn's sister, Bianca and the increasing friction between them in the intervening five years, and the kidnap of several of Emmet's friends, so Emmet must set out to rescue them from the potentially nefarious Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi (Tiffany Haddish) and her lieutentant General Mayhem, (Stephanie Beatriz), before an impending disaster, in the form of Our-Mum-Ageddon destroys the world and people Emmet loves.

Undoubtedly, the Lego worlds are still a great setting-there's an enjoyably believable sense to everything in the world, including the inclusion of the sets as, well, real sets when the film cuts to Finn and Bianca, whilst the scope of the creativity, particularly in the extra-terrestial world of the Systar System, shows that there is plenty left creatively in the tank, from a brilliantly left-field Lego recreation of the Starfield sequence from 2001 A Space Odyssey, to the pure look of the Systar System, its Duplo invaders, and the colossal deus ex machina temple that forms the setting for the final act.

Perhaps the biggest change from the previous film is the conflict between Finn and Bianca, between the teenage, and decidedly masculine wish for cool, and the more feminine love of pop music and glitter-the collision of these two worlds, between the two extremes that Lego itself now explores drives the conflict between Bricksburg and the Systar System. On the one hand, the now-teenage tastes of Finn are most closely by space-faring dinosaur cowboy archaeologist  Rex Dangervest (also voiced by Pratt, and taking his character from a enjoyably fourth-wall leaning amalgam of Pratt's most famous recent roles), a blatant parody of tough, unfeeling action stars, who attempts to help Emmet become the tough hero that he assumes Lucy wants him to become.

The trappings of the worlds, including the wasteland of Apocalypse-berg is an enjoyably strange amalagam of traditional Lego and classic post-apocalyptic series such as Planet of the Apes and Mad Max, showing Finn's older, more adult tastes, with even the adorable Unikitty now having a rage-fuelled battlecat form amidst the desert wastes, whilst the cameos, including a bizarre running gag featuring Actual Bruce Willis, Doc Brown, and slightly more PG-13 rated media, indicate an older, and perhaps, particularly in the later scenes, a more cynical approach to the world through teenage eyes.

In comparison, the Systar System is, influenced by Bianca, a far more feminine coded space, full of glitter, cuteness, stickers, and pop numbers, including the terrifying catchy "This Song is Gonna Get Stuck in Your Head", a weaponised, and quasi-hypnotic number used by Queen Wa'Nabi to bring her prisoners onto her side, not to mention her own  totally not-a-villain song, complete with dance routine. Certainly, the decision to make her a shapeshifting creature that changes from horse to humanoid dancer, to blob-like creature to heart makes her a memorable character, and her unexpected origins and motivation come out of left-field and pleasingly wrong-foot the audience to great comedic effect, not to mention that Haddish brings a great sense of fun to what could have been a one-note character.

Perhaps the most major visual impact is in the inclusion of the Lego Friends line, a radically different style of minifigure, whose appearance, most notably in the form of General Mayhem, suggest a radical incursion of this female-aimed product line into what has been a largely unisex world-Mayhem is an enjoyably punch-clock villain, and it is her unmasking that undoubtedly sets the film on its third act-moreover, the film's denouement undoubtedly makes a case for the Lego world being for all, and one could even argue that this ending runs counter to the very inclusion of this gendered character line-that Lego themselves are artificially dividing their market into male and female.

If one can critique one thing it is that the Aesop of this second film is too close to the original-as the first film is a compromise between the generations in creativity, between the adult forces that wanted to keep Emmet's world static, and unchanging, and the creative youth, then The Second Part is working out a compromise between the masculine and the feminine-yet, if anything, this is even better argued, and far more fleshed out-the real world segments are better written and the conflict believable and the real world consequences more impactful, as is the compromise and make-up between Finn and his sister

Moreover, at the heart of the film, at least in terms of Emmet's story-arc, the film is a sharp critique of the toxic, unfeeling, jaded masculinity that Rex represents, of being tough and destructive at the cost of connections with each other. Rex, whilst an enjoyable amalgam of Pratt's key roles, is a bitter and jaded person, with his backstory soon giving way to a shocking resolution that throws every element of Emmet's character into sharp relief. Morever, perhaps, it can be argued that Emmet's entire character arc in this film is learning, rather than striving to be a tougher person, or a more competent leader, that he is exactly who he needs to be-for a children's film to end on such a strong note is a powerful message.

Thus, whilst the pieces that The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part builds its story with may be familiar, what it builds may, in places, be even more accomplished , more complex, more detailed, and more inclusive than the first film



Rating: Highly Recommended