'The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part' Breaks its Original Brick-Walled Rules

The Lego Movie 2 is so good that it's even better than the groundbreaking original. It's still as ambitious and colorful, funnier with its bold pop culture references, louder and bigger especially with the addition of new characters (and Tiffany Haddish), and surprising in its twists and special appearances. It's also still as cheesy, but like the first one, it works well with the plot.

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What makes it excellent though is it goes beyond the rules of the first by expanding it into a more complex inclusion of real life interacting with LEGO. It's a bit reminiscent of Toy Story, and the plot somewhat borrows the third installment's concept. Initially, it seems like a copycat until it turns 180 in the second half when twists, cameos, and the unthinkable happened with the characters especially with the family, and the toys Emmet and Lucy.

Emmet, Lucy, Batman and their friends are still around, picking up where the first left off. Dad (Will Ferrell) and son Finn are still playing them LEGOs together, and with Brooklynn Prince's addition as Finn's little sister, Bianca, their usual masculine LEGO world is now mixed with candy colored pieces of LEGO.

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It plays perfectly well in the animated world, just as much as the 'real life' side of the film. Bianca's toys become a new LEGO universe for the main characters. The once 'Everything is Awesome' world turns into a 'Everything is SUPER HAPPY AND AWESOME' galaxy filled with fantastic planets, strange characters and hella catchy new songs that will basically get stuck in your head. It plays a bit like Stepford in The Stepford Wives where everyone is brainwashed into something happy and perfect that eventually becomes depressing. It's going to wreak havoc, or is it really?

There's a lot of layers in this concept. For one, it makes this sequel a lot more different than the first in terms of adventure, characters, world and color. On the other hand, it subtly conveys a message of how toxic masculinity can be and how it affects a family, or human interaction altogether. The writing and directing team of Mike Mitchell and Phil Lord perfectly blends these parts to elevate this sequel, and they did it entertainingly.

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The first half is not as technicolored as the first, even though the animation is still as amazing. They constructed Bianca's toys as a ploy to destruct Bricksburg turning it into a deserted landscape ala Mad Max. Not until Emmet, Lucy and friends fly to different dimensions where the world becomes colorful once again with new over-the-top characters joining the fun. The songs are also admittedly fun and catchy especially 'Catchy Song' which is an actual gamechanger to the plot, and not just there as a background.

Much like the original, LEGO Movie 2 returns to how our toys promotes family bonding and connection. It's a delightful experience for all ages that's not devoid of significance. It could be cheesy for some, but the cheesiness is disguised as actual moral lessons.