The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)

Making a sequel means walking a fine line.  How do you capture the magic of the first movie without doing a remake?  To be, again, yet to not be again.  That’s the problem.  The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part almost gets it.  In fact, I can see a lot of people being polarized.  You’ll either think it was a natural successor to the first movie…or not.

The Second Part picks up five years after the evens of the first movie.  (If you haven’t seen it, you’ll probably want to.  Certain aspects of this movie will make more sense.)  The Duplo invaders have all but laid waste to Bricksburg.  Anything new is destroyed shortly after it’s built.  Nothing is awesome anymore.  Wyldstyle is brooding at the loss of her former life, although Emmett is still as happy and clueless as ever.

Enter General Sweet Mayhem, who kidnaps Batman, Wyldstyle and three other characters.  They’re to be taken to the wedding of Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi.  Being that the queen is a Duplo creature, this can’t happen.  Emmett decides to go after them and stop the wedding.

Like the first movie, the Lego plot is the result of real-world events.  We discover that the story was created by Finn, who was controlling the Lego pieces.  The Duplo characters were controlled by his sister, Bianca, who was seen as an invader.  The Second Part continues this dynamic.

At first, this may seem like an oversimplification, especially considering that both siblings are now five years older.  However, the movie does make use of it with some skill.  Sure, you’re going to see some things coming, like Ar-mom-ageddon.  This doesn’t mean the movie can’t be fun.  I’m not saying the script will win any awards.  Rather, I would advise you to not take it too seriously.  The movie doesn’t even seem to take itself that seriously, which works to its advantage.

When we walked out of the theater, one viewer found it to be confusing.  It’s possible that he didn’t see the first movie, but there were also a lot of references to other movies, such as Back to the Future and Aquaman.  The dialogue can come at you in rapid succession at times and it may be a little difficult to keep up if you’re not expecting it.  Overall, I found it easy to follow.  Then again, I was able to catch a lot of the references.  (I don’t think it will be a problem for most people.)

I would say that this is definitely one of the better sequels.  It doesn’t rely on the original movie too much.  Rather, it does seem to follow the first one, much as a sequel should.  It also has a slightly different message than the first.  If you’ve seen the first movie, I think the coming attractions should give you a good idea of whether or not seeing The Second Part will be worth your time.

(For those wondering, A few of us theatergoers stayed past the credits so that you don’t have to.  There was no post-credits scene.)

IMDb page

Pee-wee's Big Holiday (2016)

It seems that history repeats itself.  That seems to be the case with movies these days.  There’s a new cycle of rebooted Star Trek movies.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are getting new movies.  There’s even a new Ghostbusters movie.  Netflix decided to get into the game with a new Pee-Wee Herman movie.  Yes, that Pee-Wee Herman, the childlike alter ego of Paul Reubens that started as a stage act in the early 1980s.  (Reubens is in his 60s now, even if Pee-Wee is forever young.)

The story is similar to Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.  Instead of a stolen bike, Pee-Wee is set off on his adventure after meeting Joe Manganiello.  Joe shows up in the diner where Pee-Wee works.  After becoming best of friends, Joe invites Pee-Wee to his birthday party in New York.  There’s just one problem:  Pee-Wee has no interest in leaving Fairville.  Joe leaves Pee-Wee to reconsider, which Pee-Wee does.  He sets out on a trip that takes a lot of unexpected turns.  He meets several interesting characters along the way.  The journey may not have gone to plan, but Pee-Wee ends up where he needs to be.

It’s strange how some movies or songs will always be enjoyable to some people while other people will have no use for them.  It seems like most of the people I know love Pee-Wee Herman or could do without him.  When I told my parents about the new movie, they weren’t all that excited, but I know that there are a lot of fans that won’t be disappointed.   Even if the movie is similar, it’s fun for me to see the character again.  Paul Reubens will forever be known for this character and still manages to play him well.  Throughout the movie, I was rooting for Pee-Wee to make it to New York.

The only real downside to the movie is that, so far as I know, you have to have (or know someone who has) Netflix to watch it.  I’m not sure if there were any plans to continue the franchise or if this was a one-off deal.   Wikipedia mentions some projects that may happen, but I don’t see anything new for the character on IMDb.  I don’t know if anyone will be signing up for Netflix just for this movie, but if you do, tell them Large Marge sent you.

IMDb page