The Lego Movie 2 – The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)

Directed by: Mike Mitchell | 108 minutes | action, animation | Dutch voice cast: Berget Lewis, Holly Mae Brood, Dylan Haegens, Kees Tol, Georgina Verbaan, Pip Pellens, Gerard Ekdom | Original voice cast: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Tiffany Haddish, Stephanie Beatriz, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day, Maya Rudolph, Will Ferrell, Jadon Sand, Brooklynn Prince, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade, Ben Schwartz , Noel Fielding, Jason Momoa, Cobie Smulders, Ike Barinholtz, Ralph Fiennes, Will Forte, Jimmy O. Yang, Jorma Taccone, Bruce Willis

After the invasion of the Duplo figures at the end of ‘The Lego Movie’, Bricksburg looks very different in ‘The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part’: the city has turned into Apocalypseburg. Five years later, the city is a desert-like area that looks like it came straight out of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’. The only one who is still his old cheerful self is Emmet. His girlfriend Lucy is gloomier than ever and tries to convince Emmet that there is no place in the world for his naivety and optimism. It’s time for him to grow up. But Emmet remains a dreamer, he proudly shows Lucy his dream house, where he wants to live with his girlfriend one day. It even includes a room full of toasters so they’ll never run out of waffles and sandwiches! How awesome is that!

It won’t be long before our Lego heroes are in for more trouble. General Mayhem kidnaps Lucy, Batman, Benny, MetalBeard and Unikitty, allegedly to attend a wedding. Emmet stays behind and tries to win souls for his rescue mission, but in vain. So he rebuilds his dream house himself and goes after Lucy and the others, of course to save them, but also to show that he can stand his ground.

Compared to the first film, ‘The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part’ has the obstacle that it immediately starts with a 1-0 deficit. The element of surprise of that inventive blockbuster is of course no longer applicable in this part. Fortunately, the format of the film has remained intact. The fact that the film works as an adventure film and that the overarching story is just as logical and profound is entirely due to the geniuses Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. They only took care of the screenplay for this sequel. They left the directing to Mike Mitchell. The self-mockery, the pop culture references, we can’t get enough of it, especially when it’s brought to this high level. The introduction of the new characters – Rex Dangervest (dual voice role by Chris Pratt, who also voices Emmet) and Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi (pronounced “Whatever I wanna be”) in front, also does the film a lot of good. The colorful animation is again classy, ​​with an incredible amount of (funny) details. You are short of eyes and especially stay put for the end credits.

Where ‘The Lego Movie 2’ scores less is the balance. The film takes time to get going and only picks up speed once the kidnapping has started. The songs are not all equally strong, if only the idea behind ‘Catchy Song’ is brilliant. Is that bad? No, because ‘The Lego Movie 2’ is still more than worthwhile, for both children and adults. This charming animated film definitely deserves a place in the hearts of film buffs.