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Sunday, February 02, 2020

The Best of 2019, #5: The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

This movie has received zero year-end love, so I just rewatched to see if it’s as good and I thought on first viewing. It’s even better! This is certainly the most underrated movie of the year. This year saw two eagerly-awaited follow-ups to animated hits of a few years ago. Frozen II went on to surpass its predecessor at the box office and become the biggest animated hit of all time, while this one flopped hard. How did the public get it so wrong?

I’m not sure any movie has stayed with me as much as this one. Most obviously that’s because I haven’t stopped playing and singing its songs (Yes, one fun song is genetically engineered to get stuck inside your head, but “Not Evil” does that job even better) But more importantly, I thought this movie had the courage to hit the emotions just as hard as the original, and go darker (as heard in “Everything’s Not Awesome”)

This had a lot to say about how we gender the concept of “hero”, why we crave post-apocalyptic narratives, and how men and women try to change for each other, for good or ill. The performances of Pratt, Banks, Arnett, et al, continue to be wonderful, and Tiffany Haddish is a great new addition.

Tip: The Smarter You Are, The More Heartfelt You Have to Be

This is one of the most post-modern movies ever made (Right down to an end credits song by Beck about the greatness of end credits). The whole thing is an examination of how and why we tell stories with several very clever self-aware jokes. So it’s a very head-y movie, but its heart is even bigger. In fact, that’s the whole point. The boy playing with these legos wants to be cool by closing his heart, and the movie knows that we’re conditioned to root for bad-ass-ery, so it gets us wrapped up in his quest. It’s truly shocking when we’re reminded, along with him, that it’s more heroic to open your heart than it is to harden it.

6 comments:

James Kennedy said...

I really liked the first Lego movie and I legit didn't even know this one existed

Ishmael said...

Was sad that this one kind of flew under the radar. Great continuation with good themes. Didn't seem to connect with kids as much though (based on the small sample of kids I've asked), so maybe it was too post-modern for its own good?

Matt Bird said...

My kids looooved it, both times they've seen it, and they've demanded we play the songs for a year (Nary a request for any Frozen II songs)

Ishmael said...

My wife and I don't have any kids of our own, but we've found ourselves listening through the soundtrack pretty often because it's just that good.

Brian said...

Lord and Miller proving they can handle comedic sequels once again. Such a strong follow up.

Highly recommended KRW Injury Lawyers said...

My son and I loved this movie. We though it was almost as good as the first one. We have watched it several times since buying.