The LEGO Movie 2: Too many messages kill the message

I went to see The LEGO Movie 2. I have just left the cinema and I prefer to react hot (without spoilers) not to idealize too much with the passage of time an animated film that is ultimately very correct but which will not leave me a lasting memory. So here are some very personal impressions of the film.

On the form, first of all: it's very messy and you get lost a bit as soon as you leave Apocalypseburg. The hysterical road trip which follows the invasion of the evil aliens DUPLO is dotted with songs of little interest loosely adapted in French version and which regularly pulled yawns to the children present in the room. Despite the common thread of the film, the scenario seems really convoluted and disjointed beyond the first half hour.

Even the characters in the film regularly show their annoyance at having to endure musical interludes that take turns to tunes from musical comedy songs or syrupy RNB. Guaranteed, none of these songs will ever become the hit it was Everything is Awesome (Everything is Super Awesome) in his days. The LEGO Movie 2 is not, however, a musical and the various "clips" ultimately only serve to stage a host of secondary characters who would have nothing to do there without this pretext.

Visually, it's at the level of the first part, with a digital reproduction of the bricks and minifigs still impressive. Fingerprints, scratches, wear of parts, everything is there, we believe it. Moreover, in this second part, we do not build much and the characters spend most of their time destroying things. The visually impressive assembly and transformation sequences seen in the first installment are rather rare here. Unsurprisingly, the first half hour remains the favorite of the children I accompanied. Apocalypseburg, lawsuits, action, it works.

On the merits: Warner undoubtedly wanted to ensure that no lobby would be able to criticize the subject of the film and the studio is abundantly serving soup to everyone in order to save themselves a possible bad buzz. Tolerance, acceptance of difference, sexism, feminism, self-esteem, etc ... everything goes and everything is mixed. Almost every exchange between the characters is punctuated by moralizing dialogues and the songs are not left out. The rare real gags present in the film are drowned in these endless tirades and it becomes difficult to laugh frankly.

As a result of the races, none of these messages has any real impact on the spectator, in any case not on the young children whom I was accompanying who, beyond the first half hour, admit to being a little bored. They had come to see the continuation of a first part rich in action scenes and gags which hit the mark, they leave a little disappointed and do not really remember any striking gag or particular chorus. Even Emmet has become an annoying character.

The arrival of Rex Dangervest (Rex Danger in French ...), of his relaxation, his frankness and his raptors allows at least temporarily to find a new hero less cheerful than Emmet and less annoying than Batman who makes it here crates for not much. In the end, the children I accompanied largely designated Rex as their favorite character, even ignoring the film's scriptwriting somersaults ...

Cool-Tag is frankly massacred by TAL who recites his great philosophical tirades like a student of CM2 and the character loses all credibility from the start. Everyone has their own job, even if I understand that the film must be sold by calling on a few headliners to promote it.

Benny is here relegated to the rank of secondary character incapable of doing anything other than stupidly repeating his usual gimmick (spaceship, spaceship, etc ...) which makes this character, endearing in the first part, almost unbearable in this second opus.

Unikitty / Ultrakatty is the real star of the first part, Warner and LEGO have in my opinion been able to highlight this character and give him the place he deserves in this sequel without much flavor. Too bad the multicolored unicorn quickly fades into the background after a few very successful scenes.

Warner also injected into the film all the licenses a little geek of the moment (of which the studio holds the rights) with flash appearances of many characters, vehicles and other objects from different universes that the youngest do not know but which allow parents to stay alert. On the sidelines of the Justice League, Gandalf or the characters of the Wizard of Oz, the real big wink for adults is rather unexpected but it hits the mark.

In this second part, the interactions between the real world and toys are more numerous. It's logical, the surprise pitch of the first opus being stale, we had to continue the story by integrating this parameter. The game of the "real" actors is at the level of a late-afternoon sitcom, with an Oscar to be awarded to the mother of the two kids that the director forces to play (badly) THE recurring gag around the LEGO bricks and even to do it twice in case the adult who accompanies his children to the cinema does not understand. It's overplayed, badly played, badly led.

In short, The LEGO Movie 2 is undoubtedly good entertainment for LEGO fans, young and old, who will inevitably be indulgent. Too bad Warner feels compelled to impose on us an overly talkative film whose message is lost in the middle of boring musical sequences and loosely formatted dialogues to lecture children.

Regarding derivative products, it's business as usual: the sets sold exploit everything that happens on the screen, even for half a second. The stars of certain clubs are not necessarily the stars of the film ...

If you have already seen the film, do not hesitate to give your impressions in the comments (without spoilers please). Otherwise, go see it and make up your own mind. There will be as many opinions as there are spectators.