LEGO MOVIE 2

Voices of:  Chris Pratt     Elizabeth Banks     Tiffany Haddish     Will Arnett 

Alison Brie     Channing Tatum     Maya Rudolph     Will Ferrell

     Following upon The Lego Movie (2014), this sequel continues the adventures of the “Master Builders” who started out as resistance fighters against Lord Business and his army of Micro Managers. Emmet (Pratt) and Wyldstyle (Banks) were heroic in the previous story and ended up as best friends in a happy town, Bricksburg, where everyone is special.  It should be noted that Wyldstyle (Lucy as she is now called), is more pessimistic and skeptical, in contrast to Emmet’s sunny outlook. Each would like for the other to change just a bit. 

     Their town now is a darker, chaotic--maybe cooler--Apocalypseburg that is changed significantly from the sunnier Bricksburg. Within the backdrop of an exciting confrontation between their city and some invaders coming in from outer space (who are wrecking everything faster than it can be rebuilt in a city of Master Builders), Emmet and Lucy become significantly changed for the better.  Emmet is both helped and hindered by making the acquaintance of Rex Dangervest (also Pratt, signifying polar opposite traits in the same person), who is brash and confident and easily counteracts Emmet’s diffidence. When Lucy gets kidnapped, Emmet enlists the help of Rex Dangervest in getting her back.  Their struggles increase insight for Emmet and Lucy; however, Rex’s issues are more complex.

     This sequel continues the psychological journeys of the characters that were begun in the first rendition.  And in this sense, the movie seems addressed more to the adult audience than to children.  For example, themes of and questions around romance, marriage, self-actualization, and détente between warring factions make the film more interesting for adults.  The production design and animation are so engaging (almost to the point of overpowering the characters and the story), children are likely to enjoy that aspect of the film; I just don’t know how much of the import of the story actually gets through to them. I suspect little of it.  The beginning scenes are so laden with special effects, it’s often hard to decipher what is going on, especially when the chorus sings, with lyrics that are hard to decipher.

     At any rate, there are exciting scenes showing colorful vignettes of the invaders led by Queen Wa’Nabi (Haddish) and the heroic efforts of the Apocalypseburg trio (Emmet, Rex, and Lucy) to protect themselves.  The invaders are clever in “brainwashing” others to join their ranks, including Batman (Arnett) who is seduced into wedding the queen, despite his fiercely avowed bat-chlerhood.   [The manipulative clichéd means by which Queen Wa’Nabi seduces him are some of the scenes I hope do pass over the heads of children.]  But there is a quick twist toward the end of the story that seems to discount the charge of brainwashing.

     Tiffany Haddish is clearly the star in this production, with her character’s chameleon-like presentation and witty dialog.  Haddish is perfectly cast, managing to be both outrageous and lovable.  Pratt and Banks also capture their roles in a way that makes them as believable as real people. Numerous cameos of the likes of Richard Ayoade, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Maya Rudolph, Will Ferrell, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Ralphe Fiennes, Will Forte, Will Arnett, and still others popping up throughout, do their part in increasing the entertainment value of Lego Movie 2.

The continuing adventures and personal development of Lego characters Emmet and Lucy/Wyldstyle.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS

Melissa McCarthy     Bill Barretta     Elizabeth Banks     Maya Rudolph     Joel McHale     Dorien Davies

     The title refers to a group from a failed sitcom called the “Happytime Gang” (puppets) who are getting killed off one by one.  Disgraced ex-cop/now private detective Phil Philips (Barretta) is assigned with his partner Detective Connie Edwards (McCarthy) to find the killer (just the first in a plot made up of nonsensical actions).  What follows is a series of charades in which Phil happens on the scene just before or after each tragedy, so that he always looks guilty, and is finally the one charged with the murders.

     It’s a long time, though, before the crimes get solved, and in the interim, the audience is “treated” (treated?) to all kinds of shenanigans, most involving Philips and Edwards insulting and fighting one another, alternating with pal-sy buddy cop intervals.  Discrimination is highlighted in puppets being disparaged by humans at every turn, but, unfortunately, the filmmakers fail to relate this to any meaningful observation of today’s world.

     The movie is based on the premise that audiences will just love foul language in almost every sentence and scene after scene of all kinds of sexual perversions. For those of us not reveling in such “humor”, however, it is a pain to sit through.  Cleverness is alien to the writers (Todd Berger and Dee Austin Robertson), and instead they insert vulgarities to get titters from the viewers.  An example:  “If I’m a-gonna get next to it, I’m a-gonna f… it”, spoken by Sandra White (Davies), who has come to Phil, asking for his help.  Of course, he succumbs to her “charms”, in still one more crude, vulgar sequence.  

     Melissa McCarthy, one of the main draws for the film, plays the same character she has played in almost every film she’s been in.  Elizabeth Banks is hardly seen in the film at all, and Maya Rudolph—drawing on the Saturday Night Live experience presumably—does come across as a character at least mildly funny.   (She is better than the script written for her.)  Bill Barretta as Phil Philips plays his role well, too, putting his signature on a detective’s narrative that engages and explains.

     There is not much else I can say about this film, which seems to be a failure from conception to execution.  Perhaps it makes a case for taking puppets more seriously, but as rendered, it doesn’t make the grade.  Directed by the son of Jim Henson (of Sesame Street fame), Brian, it sadly does not live up to the father’s accomplishments.

Unless you’re into adult porn with puppets, there is not much here to entertain.

Grade:  F                                    By Donna R. Copeland

LIFE OF THE PARTY

Melissa McCarthy     Molly Gordon     Maya Rudolph     Christina Aguilera     Matt Walsh

     Life of the Party is pretty much in the same vein as other Ben Falcone/Melissa McCarthy creations, such as Tammy andThe Boss, and McCarthy’s films in general (i.e., This is 40, Identity Thief, and Bridesmaids).  In these, her character is buffoonish, destructive, and slapstick funny, with the emphasis on slapstick.  Here, I suspect that the husband-wife team (writers, with Falcone being the director) envisioned something different, in that McCarthy’s character has a few more redeeming characteristics (sympathetic, tolerant, with higher aspirations), and she isn’t quite as spastic (falling spectacularly again and again).  However, they couldn’t seem to resist inserting a couple of scenes where she does end up on the ground in one, and is completely destructive in another.

     The story opens with Deanna (McCarthy) and her husband Dan (Walsh) taking their daughter Maddie (Gordon) to college and dropping her off at her sorority house. Dan chooses this time to drop a bombshell, and Deanna is suddenly thrust upon her own devices.  As is typical for someone in this situation, she looks back over her life and decides to reverse a fateful decision she made earlier in life, to drop out of college in her senior year.  She will enroll and complete her studies to earn a degree.  

     There is one hitch in this—she’s returning to Decatur University where her daughter is. From here, Falcone and McCarthy weave a fanciful story that is not likely to happen here or on any planet in the universe.  That is, “Dee-Rock”, as she will now be called, becomes a hit on campus, with the total support of her daughter and her classmates and even the whole university! 

      If you can buy that, I’ve got a bridge…

     For years, I have been hoping that the talented McCarthy would reprise the career path that she started in Spy, which showed her talent as an actress in portraying an intelligent, strong woman who could be calculating and crafty.  When I interviewed Paul Feig, writer/director of Spy, he described her as “one of the funniest on the planet…She’s also like your best friend…not intimidating.”  His goal was to make Spy feel real, and McCarthy met his expectations.  She has not been in such a good movie since.

     Light comedy can be fun, and the kind of humor in Life of the Party certainly makes money, but I have a problem with its scenes written to draw laughs:  meanness of female college students, unwitting consumption of chocolates laced with marijuana resulting in destruction, college women not being able to do simple math, etc.  The whole premise that college students would be so accepting and supportive of the McCarthy character is far-fetched, let alone the idea that it’s a reasonable thing for a mother to be college friends with her daughter. Wha?....

     McCarthy is good at bringing this character to life; she is appealing, funny at times, heart-warming at times, and even sensible at times.  But how I wish she would move on to more substantive roles.  I would love to see her branch out into a strong dramatic character; she could do it!

     Supporting actors, such as best friend Christine (Rudolph) and daughter Maddie (Gordon) are great, but to me, the one who steals the show from others is Heidi Gardner as Deanna’s Goth roommate, totally neurotic, always deadpan, but with a soul.  She is so refreshing as a new kind of low-key character who whose demeanor and dialog makes you chuckle.

Melissa McCarthy in nothing new under the sun.

Grade:  D                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE NUT JOB 2: NUTTY BY NATURE

Voices of:  Will Arnett     Katherine Heigl     Maya Rudolph     Jackie Chan     Bobby Canavale     Bobby Moynihan

     In this version of the Nut Job stories, the animals have found that the nut store from the first story is abandoned and filled to the brim with nuts and nut products.  They are gorging to their hearts’ content, getting lazy and spoiled, according to Andie (Heigl); she realizes that the store has a real downside, whereas her friend Surly (Arnett) discounts her concerns and fails to get her point.  She tries valiantly to get the animals to forage for nuts, work hard, and save but they’re not really interested.  Their indolence actually results in the store burning to the ground after an explosion occurred when someone who was supposed to be minding the boiler forgot about it.  But it doesn’t really matter because what neither Surly nor Andie realizes is that the corrupt mayor of Oakton City (Moynihan) has plans to destroy Liberty Park and put in a dangerous (because he doesn’t want to bother with safety issues) amusement park with rides and all the junk foods that Andie abhors—cotton candy, peanuts, ice cream, popcorn, pizza. 

      Andie plays a kind of stereotypical female role in trying to convince the male Surly to step up, get the animals to pull together, exercise their instincts, and resist the humans.  His response is the male-like war cry. “You’re going to fight the humans?” says Andie incredulously.  He does get the animals to rally around, but they will go through many struggles, even trying to move to another park in the city, in fighting the humans.  Along the way, they run into hordes of mice with a cheeky leader, Mr. Don’t-call-me-cute! Feng (Chan), which constitute an additional threat as “a weapon of mouse destruction.”

    The film has good messages for children about working hard, being responsible, cooperating with one another, doing what is right rather than what is easy, and valuing the natural world and their own instinctual nature.  The mayor and his spoiled, mean daughter are shown to be truly evil forces that must be deterred somehow.  In the end, everybody seems to have learned something, or have suffered the consequences.

     The animation and visual effects are very good, but I noticed the picture was not bright, sharp, and colorful like most of these productions are.  It could have been the projector or other equipment at fault, and the version I was shown is not in 3D, which could also account for the problem; but this was a surprise for an animation and detracted from the film’s quality.

A film with some good points, but not a great improvement over the previous Nut Job.

Grade:  C-                                    By Donna R. Copeland

SISTERS

Amy Poehler   Tina Fey   Maya Rudolph   Ike Barinholtz   James Brolin   Dianne Wiest   

John Leguizamo   John Cena   Bobby Moynihan

          Sisters is a waste of good talent, the stars’ Poehler and Fey as well as a large supporting cast (Rudolph, Barinholtz, Brolin, Wiest, Leguizamo, Cena) are really fine actors who always hit the mark if they’re given good material.  Moynihan’s role was so lame I couldn’t appreciate his skill in acting.  It seems that Fey and Poehler are always much better when they write their own material.  The “comedy” in this film mainly has mainly to do with human weakness, failing, sniping at one another, hiding the truth, and drunkenness.  That is, we’re supposed to laugh, but I don’t find much of it very funny.  I regret especially when filmmakers send the message that unless there is overindulgence in alcohol and/or drugs a party is a dud.

The work of director Jason Moore and writer Paula Pell has mostly been in television, and the film plays much like a sitcom:  brief sketches chained together without much depth of meaning.  There were a few good points made.  In the beginning Maura (Poehler) sees a man sitting on the sidewalk and immediately assumes he is homeless and begins to “give” him items that will “help” him.  He ends up thinking she is nuts and walks to a pick-up that will take him back to work.  So, first impressions are not always accurate—especially purely visual ones—and people should be given a chance to accept or reject help being offered.  There is another point made about family members keeping important information under wraps for various reasons—none of which are very good.  And finally, rigid family roles of “giver” and “taker” put undue pressure on both parties.

The music of Christopher Beck and cinematography by Barry Peterson lend high notes to the production.  Beck includes soft, sentimental tunes when a scene calls for it, and loud party dance tunes when it is going strong.  Peterson is especially skilled in showing the gradual destruction of a house and the interactions among various people that give a sharp picture of the character.  The action can be slapstick at times, though, which detracts from what could have been a uplifting family drama.

A family drama that goes too far over the top and lasts too long.

Grade:  C-                                    By Donna R. Copeland