The following is an edition of Panther Picture Spotlight, The Mirror’s movie column. All views, thoughts and opinions belong to the author and do not represent those of The Drury Mirror.

In 2014, Lord and Miller shocked America by releasing an obvious corporate cash grab and made us upset when it was not nominated for best animated feature. “The Lego Movie” was incredibly quick, charming and witty, with a surprising amount of depth and heart at its core. Two spin-offs later, we have “Shameless Corporate Cash Grab 2: The Second Part.” So, how was it?

Pretty good. Lord and Miller wrote the script but did not direct this one, and it shows in certain areas. Unfortunately, there are parts that could have been fun had they been paced correctly, but they ended up dragging the film down a bit. However, it had the same goofy, light-hearted tone as the first installment, which pulled it through some of the sloggier moments.

The biggest complaint with “The Second Part” is that it felt scaled back from Part One. Because the first movie had so many different locations to visit and fun characters to introduce, it felt huge. It was like a parody of and an homage to the classic globe-trotting adventure movies in the best way.

In this one, though, you essentially have only three locations: the Mad Max parody, the parody of the ship from Guardians of the Galaxy and the Systar System. None of these manage to be as creative as any of the locations from the original. Because of this, the story feels much more low-stakes than the first one.

Some of the jokes are rough, and that is a big problem for the picture. There are some great punchlines, but because the pace is much slower than in the first film, when a joke does not land, it drags the whole film down. In the original, almost all the jokes worked, and if they did not, there was little time to think about it before another joke was thrown at you. But when the film’s speed is slower, these jokes bring the film down to a crawl.

All in all, seeing “The Lego Movie 2” was a positive experience. If you loved the first one or have a younger sibling, cousin or child, definitely check this one out. There is enough there to keep most people entertained. Just do not expect it to be quite as excellent as the original.

Written by Jacob Maher.