So many times I have had to defend myself when heading off to see the latest “kids movie” without a little one in tow.

Don’t get me wrong, there is something special about taking a child to the cinema and if Mark and I were fortunate enough to have our own, they would definitely be right there beside us. However, we’re not and if we let such a thing stop us going, there would be a lot of great movies we would miss.

I really enjoyed the first Lego movie 5 years ago and have seen it a couple of times since. So went along with quite high expectations of the second installment and hoped everything would still be just as awesome.

Bricksburg is facing a dangerous new threat when Lego Duplo invaders from outer space arrive, wrecking everything in their path. The battle to defeat the enemy and restore harmony to the Lego universe takes Emmet (Chris Pratt), Lucy (Elizabeth Banks), Batman (Will Arnet) and the rest of their friends to faraway, unexplored worlds.

This is a fast paced film, it starts off with an attack on Emmet and Lucy’s home, we quickly meet up with all the familiar characters from the first film, Benny, Metal Beard, Unikitty and of course Batman, who together try to defeat the Duplo Invaders.

Our heroes lose the battle and are whisked off in a spaceship to the SISTAR galaxy leaving poor Emmet behind after being told he’s just not special enough to be taken.

With the love of his life Lucy being taken and no one else in Bricksburg willing to help Emmet sets off on a rescue mission on his own.

On the way he meets and eventually teams up with Rex Dangervest who even from the first meeting seems very familiar (this is intentional).

There are loads of new characters to enjoy Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi, General Mayhem, Ice Cream Cone (voiced my Richard Ayoade) and Balthazar (voiced by Noel Fielding).

It is the complete randomness of these characters which I really love.

There are fleeting appearances from the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Bruce Willis (yes a tiny Bruce Willis) and Aquaman (voiced by Jason Momoa). These have no bearing to the plot but just add another element of fun.

The whole film is packed full of visual jokes, and the exchanges between Rex and Emmet when they first meet are just so funny to watch.

Rex’s spaceship is crewed by a group of Velociraptors (and why not) and the Raptors subtitled conversations to each other provided some of my favourite laugh out loud moments
There are great songs, which help to move the story along, with one even titled “This songs gonna get stuck inside your head”

My only criticism would be, a little too much Batman. Unfortunately he is pivotal to the plot, but he has had his moment with The Batman Movie and although I did enjoy that very much, this just tended to be the same old jokes again.

The end of the film is where the sentiment starts, with glimpses of the real world taking over from the animation to show us the fight between the two Lego worlds actually has more to do with the little squabbles anyone growing up together with a brother or sister would know all too well.

There is a reprise of the original everything is awesome song with the words changed ever so slightly, to fit in with the new themes and it’s left to our little Lego heroine Lucy to sum up what this story is about. Everything is NOT awesome, that’s an unrealistic expectation, but things could be a little more awesome if we remember we’re not alone. Pretty deep for a kids film.

Yes I did have tears in my eyes at the end but this film also made me laugh a lot and was a pure joy to watch.

If you don’t have to rush out at the end I would stay for the closing credits.

A worthy four palms.