When Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) and some of the other heroes from the original film are kidnapped by General Mayhem (Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Stephanie Beatriz), Emmet (Chris Pratt) must travel to the Sistar System to rescue them.

Just like Incredibles 2, the Lego Movie sequel picks up exactly where the original left off with Duplo arriving in Bricksburg. We are then told of a five year attritional war that has changed their landscape into an apocalyptic wasteland and introduced to new villains and heroes including General Mayhem, Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi (Tiffany Haddish) and Rex Dangervest (also voiced by Pratt by way of Kurt Russell in Big Trouble in Little China!).

As usual for a film with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller involved it’s bursting with ideas. This time they handed directorial duties over to animation veteran Mike Mitchell and just take on writing duties. But the key creative on this movie has to be Jon Lejoie, a comedian/musician who has written a number of songs for the film. Because whilst not quite a musical, it’s the semi-frequent musical numbers that really make their mark. With the absolute stand out being a duet between Will Arnett’s Batman and Tiffany Haddish’s Queen entitled Gotham City Guys. I seriously suggest you type Lejoie’s name into YouTube and watch some of his earlier material that is definitely not suitable for the Lego Movie.

Just like the original film it also has a family film message with the brother and sister needing to learn to play together. Whilst adding Maya Rudolph as mum, whilst Will Ferrell‘s dad is comically absent.

On the negative side it does struggle to live up to the brilliance of the original. But if you temper your expectations there is a lot to like here.