Today I saw a preview screening of The Lego Movie 2. It was a preview screening, because although it was released globally a few days ago, it is not actually released here in Australia until the end of March. Yes, Village Roadshow are again pulling the whole "but kids don't watch movies outside of school holidays!" timing excuse. However, these limited preview screenings in sync with the global release are a compromise that I can live with.

Getting to the actual movie: I really loved it. I had pretty high expectations, especially considering how much I loved the first movie, which if you can believe was 5 years (!) ago. It was a very pleasant surprise to me that this sequel managed to meet them.

I know that I'm right in the middle of the AFOL (adult fan of Lego) target audience, but I can't say that I enjoyed either The Lego Batman Movie or The Lego Ninjago Movie, so I don't think that I have Lego blinders on when it comes to my opinion of the movie.

I thought the movie's plot was a logical extension of the first, but without being stale. There was more of the same of what I loved in the first, but the characters, and also the theme, has matured and moved on. The length and pacing were good, and the cast was, again, exceptional.

I won't spoil anything, but I think that it's safe to say that if you liked/loved the first movie, you are probably going to like/love this one too.

One more thing that needs mentioning: I think they really raised the bar when it came to the music. Both the songs and the score were noticeably improved (not that they were bad in the original!).

My wallet is bracing for the release of the tie-in Lego sets! 😀