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When the first LEGO Movie was announced, it seemed like an obvious marketing campaign for the LEGO brand to sell more toys. What we got however, was a truly unique story and next level animation from a team that revolutionized the way real world toys could be animated. But for it's sequel, The LEGO Movie 2 The Second Part, it seemed audiences were not as amazed at the little innovation that transpired between films. So what made The LEGO Movie 2 such a disappointment?
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0:00
We are here to destroy you
0:06
Oh, man. This is the second Lego movie. On paper, it's a worthy sequel to its wildly lucrative first film
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It had most of the same writers, the same cast, and the same animation studio behind it
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With all the similarities, you'd think the sequel would also see similar success
0:24
But it didn't. So what went wrong here? How did The Lego Movie 2, the second part, fall to pieces and smash the sturdy structure of the franchise
0:33
Everything was awesome. Hey, Lucy. I brought you coffee. The bitter liquid that provides the only semblance of pleasure left
0:41
When The Lego Movie came out in 2014, we all collectively fell in love with the vibrant world that Warner Brothers and the animation team at Animal Logic created
0:51
Critics and audiences were in agreement. This was more than just a glorified toy commercial
0:56
The Lego movie had heart, humor, and imagination. All that good press translated to an extremely impressive run at the box office
1:04
as well as untold amounts of money made off of merchandise. With profits like these, a sequel was inevitable
1:11
But the Lego movie didn't just get a sequel, it got a full-on cinematic universe
1:15
Are you ready to follow Batman and maybe learn a few life lessons along the way
1:21
Animal Logic were able to open up a brand new studio in Vancouver that was dedicated solely to the Lego franchise
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All in all, Warner Brothers released four Lego movies into theaters. The original Lego movie in 2014
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Lego Batman and Lego Ninjago in 2017, and finally, the Lego Movie 2, the second part, in 2019
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That's four movies in five years, an impressive feat that would prove to just be a flash in the pan
1:46
You may want to point an accusatory finger at the stunning lack of marketing or an overly saturated box office release window However they not the real reason for the Lego Movie franchise fall from grace It can be this hopeless can it It can
2:02
The plot of the Lego Movie sequel is that Finn, our main human character from the first movie
2:07
is struggling to relate to his younger sister. The script ruminates on the pain and confusion
2:11
associated with growing up, as well as the fine line young boys have to walk
2:16
when navigating their own masculinity. Those conflicts play out in a meta-narrative
2:20
through a battle between Lego and Duplo toys, but we also see the siblings' arguments in the real world
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You ruined everything. I just wanted you to play with me. Considering the second part came out in February of 2019
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we can charitably give Animalogic about three years of production time. According to the team, a large chunk of that time was spent figuring out
2:41
how to incorporate mixed media into the film. The use of real-life fabrics and glitter
2:46
as well as the necessity of animated Lego pieces in otherwise live-action scenes became the primary puzzles for the animators to solve
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A significant amount of resources went to developing programs to create and manage
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say, the 49,496,833 individual grains of sand in Apocalypseburg, or the rigging for the character of Queen Whatever-Awanabi
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which took a year and a half to get right. Though it's true that these achievements deserve to be recognized
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the reality is that they didn't do much to excite general audiences
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Even though it was so much simpler, you have to find your own way
3:23
But you just don't know how. To put it into perspective, the first Lego movie made $69 million in just its opening weekend
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And its overall box office returns were more than double that of its sequel
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While they weren't losing money, the second part certainly fell short of expectations
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Animal Logic had already done the impossible in 2014 by creating an animated feature film
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that genuinely looked and felt like a homemade stop brick film The more Lego movies that came out using the same style the more mundane it became To the untrained eye it seemed as though there was very little to show
3:58
for all these technological advancements in animation. Nothing about the second part felt groundbreaking
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in the way its predecessor did. In some ways, it even felt like a step backward
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as more realistic particle effects and household items were being used in place of building dust clouds
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and ocean waves out of individual LEGO bricks. I don't mean to spoil the party
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But does anyone else notice we're stuck in the middle of the ocean on this couch
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And the animation wasn't the only part of the Lego franchise that had started to show its age
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While Rob Schropp was originally slated to replace Phil Lord and Chris Miller as the director for the second part
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he left the project in 2017 due to creative differences. That loss was a difficult pill to swallow
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Known at the time as a director and producer of live-action sitcoms
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he was looking to take some big swings with his version of the second part
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which apparently scared the executives at Warner Brothers. Mike Mitchell of Shrek Forever After and Trolls fame
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picked up the directorial pieces, and another writer was added to the credits
4:58
Bojack Horseman's Raphael Bob-Waksberg. Yeah, you got any ideas? Yeah, I got some ideas
5:02
We'd love to hear them. Here they are. Okay, well, let us know if you have any ideas. I just told you all my ideas
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What happened? In keeping with Warner's conservative attitude toward the state of the property
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Bob-Waksberg was tasked with rewriting Lord and Miller's original script. As a result, the second part is more of the same
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Its irreverent humor, self-referential asides, breakneck pacing, and obtuse pop music were
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all par for the LEGO golf course by February of 2019. So it didn't seem too unusual when the second part started lifting bits from the first LEGO movie
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There's a less impressive version of the magic portal scene from the original and an
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entire tongue-in-cheek recreation of the opening. They even attempted to recapture the magic of Everything is Awesome with the aptly named
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catchy song and everything not awesome you have is all presented in a parodic way Lord
5:57
Miller, and Bob Waksberg are poking fun at themselves, the concept of sequels
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crass commercialism, and the first Lego movie. But that first movie was already chock full of
6:07
parody, and audiences were treated to two more Lego films with the exact same style before they
6:11
finally sat down to watch the second part in theaters. Many viewers were left wondering
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how many times can you satirize a parody before it starts to feel like a sincere effort
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This isn't one of those things with a downer cliffhanger ending. Uh-uh, no, no, this needs to have a happy ending. Seems like a downer to me
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Looking at the highest grossing animated films of all time, one would think the second part would
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have skyrocketed into financial prosperity simply by virtue of being a sequel. Instead
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it sank the franchise ship. Warner Brothers quickly abandoned the franchise and sold the
6:43
Lego movie rights off to Universal Studios. Because of Warner Brothers' trepidation when
6:47
it came to reinvention, there was no change in style, no break in formula, and no reason for
6:53
existing outside of its use as a marketing tool. For the most part, the story was still relevant
6:58
the animation was still gorgeous, and the jokes were still funny. But that also means it was safe
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Lego, as a brand, has always been about imaginative play and turning something basic into something new and fun
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The first Lego movie understood this. When Warner Brothers decided to turn it into a franchise
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essentially, they threw away the instruction booklet, and in doing so, they created a new template
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that all subsequent Lego movies were forced to adhere to. Losing Rob Schraub's fresh ideas
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as well as Lord and Miller's first script, made the second part exactly what you'd expect a sequel
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to the Lego movie to be. And that's what makes it disappointing
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This means that the issue with the Lego Movie 2 is its lack of imagination
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