It’s been five years since the events of Taco Tuesday went down in the first LEGO Movie, and things aren’t so awesome in Bricksburg. While Emmet (Chris Pratt), Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), and the other Master Builders were able to thwart President Business, they inadvertently brought DUPLO invaders to their world. As revealed in the first trailer for the sequel, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, it’s led to a Mad Max-ian wasteland.
Okay, so what really happened is because the young boy, Finn, convinced his dad, “The Man Upstairs” (Will Ferrell), to let him play with his LEGOs, it was only fair that his younger sister got to join in, too. (Hence the addition of DUPLO, the children’s version of LEGOs.) In the anticipated sequel, that little girl has grown out of her DUPLO phase and is now into mini-dolls, the “girl friendly” line of LEGO figures introduced just a few years back. When a Beastie Boys-bumping mini-doll named Sweet Mayhem (Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Stephanie Beatriz) comes to Bricksburg searching for a fierce leader, she winds up taking Wyldstyle, Unikitty (Alison Brie), Batman (Will Arnett), and Metal Beard (Nick Offerman) back to her home galaxy, the Sistar System. It’s up to Emmet and his pal Planty to save the Master Builders from this mysterious outworlder.
Just like the first movie, however, the real story of the movie is much deeper than the heroism of the CGI characters. Co-directed by Trisha Gum (Robot Chicken) and Mike Mitchell (Shrek Forever After, Trolls) from a script by the first film’s directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, The LEGO Movie 2 will touch on gender roles and dynamics. Producer and The LEGO Batman Movie director Chris McKay told Collider the movie explores “these things that are actual notions that people have that might even be unconscious biases, where people don’t even realize that that’s the way they’re looking at the world.”
That sort of depth is only hinted at in the first teaser trailer, which presents a movie filled with inventive visuals and surprisingly universal humor. Watch the preview below.
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part is due out February 2019. In addition to the returning cast, new actors lending their voices to the movie include Tiffany Haddish as Queen Whatevra Wanabi (see what they did there?) and Arturo Castro (Broad City) as Ice Cream Cone. Check out the official synopsis below.
“The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part reunites the heroes of Bricksburg in an all new action-packed adventure to save their beloved city. It’s been five years since everything was awesome and the citizens are facing a huge new threat: LEGO DUPLO® invaders from outer space, wrecking everything faster than they can rebuild. The battle to defeat them and restore harmony to the LEGO universe will take Emmet, Lucy, Batman and their friends to faraway, unexplored worlds, including a strange galaxy where everything is a musical. It will test their courage, creativity and Master Building skills, and reveal just how special they really are.”
