This sequel packs the same goofy, colorful spirit as its predecessor, but to a little less satisfying effect.

Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks and Will Arnett ease right back into their characters with the same pop culture references and visuals that are again impressive even if itsuffers from occasional chronic sensory overload.

Pratt’s Emmet and Banks’ Lucy have to contend with a group of alien invaders that turned their town of Bricksburg into a post-apocalyptic landscape and a new sinister queen (Tiffany Haddish) is determined to marry Batman (Arnett). All the while, Emmet keeps having bad dreams of an impending doom known as “Our-Mom-Ageddon.”

Emmet also encounters a Han Solo type space adventurer named Rex Dangervest (also voiced by Pratt) and his character is basically a meta version of some of the roles Pratt has played such as in Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World.

As I said before, the movie is loaded with pop culture references with homages and winks to sci fi classics such as 2001, Alien, Back to the Future, and The Matrix.

The story doesn’t exactly rehash what was done before, but instead offers something that manages to build on what the first one did despite not feeling as fresh.

I thought the first Lego Movie was a triumph of animation and storytelling mainly because it took so many familiar characters and placed them in a story that was filled with wit and sophistication that actually sustained its plot in addition to its great visual texture.

The problem of this one is that some of the newer characters are quite as interesting and some of the events leading up to the climax don’t hold as much emotional impact as the original did.

This sequel doesn’t reach the near-perfect heights of the first one, but it is clever, satirical, and has enough energy and humor to hold it together.

Grade: B+

(Rated PG for mild action and rude humor.)