Lego 2 is a real block-busting riot
FIVE years have passed since The Lego Movie came out, and dismantled brick by brick the cynicism of those who expected it to be the very definition of cinematic product placement and not much more. It was a blast.
This follow-up, directed by Mike Mitchell, lacks the element of surprise, but, as written once more by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, is even more relentlessly zany.
It weaves an imaginary Lego universe out of the idea that Finn (Jadon Sand) fears his model-making is threatened by his younger sister Bianca (Brooklynn Prince, the sensational actress from 2017’s The Florida Project). Bianca keeps destroying his fun.
And their mother (Maya Rudolph) can’t bear them squabbling.
Bianca is duly represented by pastelcoloured alien monsters led by General Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz) and made out of Duplo, the girly version (at least as Finn sees it) of Lego. There
follows extravaganza, Emmet that become his a Apocalypseburg, (voiced dizzying beloved in by which sci-fi Chris home sweet-natured Lego and Pratt) finds town has he is too v Duplo nice The to song prosper from there. the first movie, Every thing Is Awesome, has become Everything’s Not Awesome, and he has to learn nastiness from a bristle-chinned buccaneer called Rex Dangervest (also Pratt). Emmet’s friend Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) wants him to man up, too. Yet there’s no one manlier than Batman (Will Arnett), and it seems
that not even he can avoid ‘Our-momageddon’ (the imaginary equivalent of Finn’s mother ordering the children to clear all their toys away).
There are some terrific jokes, snappy one-liners and a stellar voice cast also including Bruce Willis (as himself in Lego form), Ralph Fiennes, Margot Robbie, Gal Gadot, Jonah Hill and Will Ferrell, who again doubles as the children’s useless father.
But the movie is such a non-stop assault on the eyes and ears that it’s not merely a challenge to keep up with everything that’s going on, but a headache.
THERE is more sci-fi madness and mayhem in Alita: Battle Angel, a hybrid of live action and CGI set in the 26th century, directed by Quentin Tarantino protégé Robert Rodriguez and co-written by James Cameron. Unsurprisingly, restraint is conspicuously absent, especially in terms of the running-time: a bumnumbing two hours and 22 minutes. The title character (Rosa Salazar) is a big-eyed android, rescued from a rubbish dump by a brilliant surgeon (Christoph Waltz) and given the prosthetic body he designed for his disabled (but sadly murdered) daughter. Somewhere in Alita’s memory banks, though, lurks the instinct to fight like an Amazon warrior. Why? Where does she come from? And whose head will she stove in next? A decent cast also features Mahershala Ali and Jennifer Connelly, the special effects are excellent, but this level of dystopian violence should not be rewarded with a 12A rating.