The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, the highly anticipated sequel to 2014’sThe LEGO Movie, finally releases this weekend and perfectly continues the clever humor of the previous movie. While fans have had to wait five years for the sequel, twoLEGO Moviespin-offs have been released over the past few years to keep fans entertained, yetThe LEGO Movie 2is seemingly only willing to acknowledge one of those spin-offs.
The firstLEGO Moviespin-off released in 2017 wasThe LEGO Batman Movie, which followed the personal life of Batman (Will Arnett) in Gotham. It had an enormous, star-studded cast and received great reviews, feeling more like a superhero parody than an actual superhero movie. It carried the same amount of charm and humor that madeThe LEGO Moviesuch a huge hit, raking in over $300 million at the box office, which is certainly quite the achievement.
Without spoiling anything,The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Partdoes acknowledgeThe LEGO Batman Movie, at least during the first 20 minutes of the sequel. The movie opens by disclosing everything that has happened to ourLEGOheroes over the past five years, which Batman is notably absent from. One of the members of the Justice League acknowledges this by stating that he is off on his own solo adventure, which as we know isThe LEGO Batman Movie. By the time we get to present day, Batman breaks the third wall by recapping everything that has happened to him since the end of his movie. Batman even brings Alfred (Ralph Fiennes) fromThe LEGO Batman MovieintoThe LEGO Movie 2, despite Alfred not appearing in the firstLEGO Movie.
The secondLEGO Moviespin-off to release wasThe LEGO Ninjago Movie. Though none of the characters inThe LEGO Ninjago Movieappeared prominently inThe LEGO Movie, the movies were established to be part of the same universe, with the tone and rules of the world being almost identical. A couple characters fromThe LEGO Ninjago Moviedid technically appear in the background of the firstLEGO Movie, but it was never clarified if these were meant to be the same characters or if they were just identical minifigures.
Unfortunately,The LEGO Ninjago Moviewas not a huge hit, bombing both with critics and at thebox office. to keep itself distant from the box office bomb thatNinjagoended up being,The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Partmakes absolutely no references or connections toThe LEGO Ninjago Movie. Even the backgroundNinjagocharacters from the firstLEGO Movieare absent from the sequel, with this new primary movie in theLEGOfranchise going to great leaps to separate itself from the failed spin-off.
While some movies tend to ignore their spin-offs entirely, it’s actually good to know thatThe LEGO Movie 2: The Second Partis picking and choosing what toy spin-offs to acknowledge or not.The LEGO Batman Moviewas a great spin-off that expanded the universe and kept the charm of the original, so it’s great to know that it’s being kept as a defining aspect of the franchise.The LEGO Ninjago Moviedid not live up to the rest of the movies in the series, so it’s safe to say that any inclusion of the characters from that movie would have felt forced and possibly ruined certain aspects ofThe LEGO Movie 2. Perhaps we will see moreLEGO Moviespin-offs fromWarner Bros. Picturesin the future, because for the most part, this franchise has been a huge hit.
