Spartan Scroll

by Ryan Hsu 

photo courtesy of IMDB.com

“The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” the inventive and humorous sequel to the toy-based animated hit “The Lego Movie” from 2014, opened in theaters Feb. 8.

Continuing from the event of the first film, Finn (Jadon Sand), the boy who created an imaginary Legos-based world to deal with his overbearing dad, now has to deal with his overbearing baby sister Bianca (Brooklynn Prince), who not only wants to play with his toys, but also always breaks them. Her careless actions creates havoc for our hero Emmet (Chris Pratt) and Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), who – five years after saving their Lego world from the evil President Business – now live in Apocalypseberg, where everything they create is immediately destroyed by DUPLO invaders from the “Sistar System.” To state a joke from the last film, everything is “not” awesome. The franchise continues with its whimsical tradition, full of rapid-fire jokes which can overwhelm the audience at times.

Complications arise when General Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz) kidnaps Wyldstyle, Batman (Will Arnett), and several of Emmet’s other friends for a mysterious wedding. Emmet and his cool new partner Rex Dangervest (also Chris Pratt) must rescue everyone before they lose their mind and start to enjoy living in an insufferably adorable world ruled by Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi (Tiffany Haddish).

Although the complicated sounding plot keeps reminding us that the animated Lego world is nothing but a dream world of a little girl stealing her brother’s toys, it provides the filmmakers ample opportunities to create dazzling action set pieces full of inventive twists and unique, new, characters, each of them shouting funny jokes and remarks filled with skewed pop culture references that is the foundation of the Lego movie universe.

Written by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the original directors of the first film, “The Lego Movie 2,” not only weaves expertly between live action world of Finn and his family and the imagination driven Lego World, but also tries hard to deliver positive messages among the endless stream of ultra colorful visuals. Though many may find this sequel lacking in freshness, it is still funny enough to be enjoyable.

The best surprise of the film, however, was not the catchy new song (Called simply “The Catchy Song) that tried to replace “Everything is awesome” from the first film, instead, it is the end credit song named “Super Cool” that is arguably more catchy than “The Catchy Song.”

The film is rated PG, with a running time of 107 minutes.