Episode 37: The Lego Movie 2 and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (featuring Katy Roose)

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller films. Special Guest Katy Roose joins Jeremy Downing and William Chen to discuss two films produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller: The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Discussion starts with looking into Lord and Miller's work being focused on what things aren't, and subverting expectations. We jump into a chat about Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, specifically focusing on the character of Sam Sparks. This leads into a talk about the meta-quality of The Lego Movie 2, particularly the layering of themes, storytelling and ideas, specifically Toxic Masculinity. We look at the wider oeuvre of Lord and Miller, talking about 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. We talk about the songs and credit sequences in both films. The discussion returns to the themes of gender in The Lego Movie 2, through the characters of Lucy, Emit and rex Dangervest. William then goes into an incredible rant about the themes in childrens' films, including ripping into: the Hotel Transylvania films, the Ice Age films, Despicable Me 2, The Secret Life of Pets and Peter Rabbit. This leads into further investigation into the family and community present in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. We finish our discussion by looking at the structure of Lord and Miller's films, specifically how they earn their third and fourth acts, and the way that they reincorporated disparate elements into the climax and greater narratives.