One of the most difficult things to do in all of film is recreate a feeling a film leaves you with after watching. It is a common trope that the sequel always falls short of its original film. The Lego Movie 2 unfortunately falls victim to this as well. The first Lego Movie was very original with a unique story and writing. The Lego Movie 2 tried to recreate that but focused on the wrong points making the movie feel very cloned and not organic as the first. They were smart enough to stick with a few things that have worked well in the Lego franchise and that was enough to keep the four year old sitting next to me entertained, for a bit.

To start, The Lego Movie 2 has kept the Will Arnett version of Batman alive and well. He is one of the most entertaining parts of the movie franchise and they were smart enough to keep beating that horse. Elizabeth Banks (Wyldstyle) and Chris Pratt (Emmet Brickowski) reprise their characters and deliver similar performances as before. Their contributions were on par although a new plot may have diminished their roles. Tiffany Haddish (Queen Whatevra Wa’nabi) is added to the cast and seemed as if she hasn’t done much voice acting previously. There was something lost in her performance.

Where the movie seemed to fail was in a plot that moved away from sheer bazaar imaginative silliness with a minor family lesson at the end, to a longer and louder family lesson that casts its shadow over the entire movie. The silliness was rushed and had to fit into the moral of the story they were trying to tell that didn’t seem to quite hit home. Add a few musical numbers that fall well short of “Everything is Awesome” and you have a movie that is entertaining at times but fails to give you the “feels” of the first. Much of this was lost on a childish audience although it still didn’t grab the attention of the children as much as other movies more recently released. If you are looking to bring the kids out to a movie I would see what else is available that they have not yet seen. Although if they are super into Lego then you may just have to tough it out. Being into Lego then surely you have had to do that already after stepping on a piece and swallowing the vulgarity