The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part can’t help that The Lego Movie already exists. 

So maybe it’s not really this film’s fault that it can’t generate the same surprise and wonder that its predecessor did, or that it had much higher expectations to live up to. There’s probably nothing to be done about the fact that the premise feels a little less fresh, the jokes a little more familiar.

SEE ALSO: ‘The LEGO Movie 2’ teaser features a supremely great Ruth Bader Ginsburg

All the same, it’s hard not to feel a tiny bit disappointed by The Second Part. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a solid sequel — sweet and funny, with lots of crowdpleasing moments featuring your favorite characters, and another heartwarming real-world message to boot. 

It’s just no Lego Movie, and perhaps it shouldn’t have tried to be.

The Second Part shines brightest when it’s introducing entirely new elements into the mix. Where the original stuck with classic Lego bricks, the sequel incorporates the Duplo and Lego Friends lines to build the Systar System, a pastel- and jewel-toned confection of a universe where buildings look like wedding cakes and seemingly everything (and everyone) is dusted with glitter. 

Okay, so everything’s not quite as awesome as it used to be. But sometimes, pretty good is still good enough.

It’s presided over by the shapeshifting Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi who, for all her strenuous insistences that she is “the least evil queen in history,” just seems off somehow. Voiced by Tiffany Haddish, whose comic intensity is perfectly suited for the role, she gets a a lot of the best lines and all the best songs. Just wait ’til you see how she tries to win over Lego Batman.

Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi and her forces have spent the past five years invading Bricksburg, with enough success that Bricksburg has now transformed into a Mad Max-ish wasteland called Apocalypseburg. (The Second Part is refreshing in portraying “girly” things as badass, without resorting to Strong Female Character or Femme Fatale stereotypes.) “We grew up,” growls Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) in one of her epic brooding sessions. “We built a grittier, cooler, more mature society.”

Well, most of the Bricksburgers did. Emmet (Chris Pratt) remains the same old Emmet, a “total Hufflepuff” whose sunny disposition and optimistic worldview are out of place in this uglier new world. Much of The Second Part details his journey to become the man he thinks he’s supposed to become, as represented by Rex Dangervest — also voiced by Chris Pratt, and falling more on the Owen from Jurassic World end of his movie-character spectrum. 

Most of the rest of The Second Part follows Lucy as she continues fighting the good fight against the Systar System, in a storyline that seems designed to address criticism of Lucy’s role in The Lego Movie (“You did all the work, and the hapless male took all the credit!” a character points out) but mostly just has her treading water until Emmet resurfaces and the endgame plot mechanics kick in.

As with The Lego Movie, all this animated action is paralleling a live-action narrative, involving the same family from the first film. And lest you forget, The Second Part keeps flashing back to the “real world.” At some point, it begins to distract from the emotions of the animated storyline, rather than enhance them.

Still, The Second Part‘s heart remains in the right place, and that counts for a lot. The ultimate message is one growing kids (and maybe especially boys) need to hear, even if the path to that message gets a little convoluted. The characters are still pleasant to be around, even if we don’t get to explore them as deeply as we did in the last film, and their meta jokes are still funny, even if we’ve heard a lot of them before.

Okay, so everything’s not quite as awesome as it used to be. But sometimes, pretty good is still good enough.

That pet hedgehog might not be such a great idea after all.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out a notice Friday about 11 Salmonella infections across eight states, and in all but one of the cases the people had been in contact with a pet hedgehog.

Only one person has gone to the hospital because of the outbreak, but health officials are concerned about the growing number of cases infecting people in Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, and Wyoming.

SEE ALSO: The internet is obsessed with Sonic the Hedgehog’s muscular, sculpted sex legs

Those infected are 2 to 28 years old and the infections started in October. The same Salmonella strain was found in three hedgehogs from two infected people’s homes in Minnesota. It’s not clear yet if a common hedgehog supplier can be traced back, but in the meantime hedgehog owners are advised to be careful.

The spiny animals carry Salmonella in their droppings — even though the animals appear fine and healthy. Then when humans touch the pets and their living areas the germs spread and people get sick, especially young children or those with already compromised health. Health officials recommend a lot of hand washing, cage cleaning, and keeping the hedgehogs out of the kitchen area. 

For some people, the risk of infection might be too high, so maybe a hedgehog just isn’t the right pet for you — no matter how cute the little guys are. As the CDC warns: “Don’t kiss or snuggle hedgehogs.”

Electrify America has electric car charging stations around the country, but on Friday many of the plugs were pulled offline.

A notice went out Friday that the Volkswagen-backed charging network was shutting down most of its high-powered chargers across the U.S. because of a safety issue with liquid-cooling cables from Huber+Suhner. The Swiss company supplies the cables to Electrify America and many others in the charging industry, like Fastned and Ionity in Europe.

In a statement, the EA CEO said the company was shutting down all stations that use the affected high-powered cables. Huber+Suhner recommended shutting down stations using its cables after a short circuit incident in the plug of a charger at a test site in Germany. The charging station was using a first-generation prototype that went out to some locations in summer 2017. Chargers made since then have better sealing, the company said. It also said the cooling system used at the EA sites was not involved in the incident.

SEE ALSO: Tesla is made in Fremont, so it’s not surprising local police bought a Model S patrol car

The 150 kilowatt to 350 kW stations are fast charging DC plugs (here’s a glossary for all the charging terms) — EA lists on its website that a 150 kW charger can provide 9 miles of range per minute of charging compared to 3 miles per minute from a 50 kW charger.

If you depend on the network to fill up, Electrify America said all other chargers would remain open. So you’re not stranded. The 50 kW CCS, CHAdeMO (another DC fast charging type) and L2 (that’s AC charging) chargers weren’t affected by the cable issue. A list of open stations notes that 89 stations are operating in some capacity, including with high-power cables from ITT Cannon.

Electrify America says there are nearly 2,000 DC fast chargers across the U.S., with EA planning to add 500 more by July.

Do you know how mom and dad are always telling you how bad TV is for you, and to stop watching so much of it because you’re going to rot your brain out?

Well, guess what ma and pa? Watching The Office helped one man save a woman’s life after he performed CPR on her without any prior knowledge of how to do it. Michael Scott saves the day, again!

SEE ALSO: Steve Carell returns to TV with ‘Office’ creator for Netflix’s ‘Space Force’

Unexpected hero Cross Scott sprang into action after he noticed a woman, identified later as simply “Clara,” was unconscious behind the wheel in her still-moving car, according to a report from the Arizona Daily Star. Scott’s adrenaline kicked in and before he knew it, he’d smashed her window open with a rock to check her vitals. 

Noticing that the woman was not breathing, Scott, assisted by another concerned driver who stopped to help, began performing chest compressions on her to the tempo of Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive.”

Scott credits his heroic act to an episode of The Office in which Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell) performs CPR on a dummy to the song. (This is a commonly used direction in modern CPR training.)

“I’ve never prepared myself for CPR in my life,” Scott said. “I had no idea what I was doing.”

Here’s a GIF of the scene from The Office episode:

Clara was later rushed to the hospital and Scott was thanked for jumping into action. Paramedics told him that she might have been in a worse condition if Scott had not performed CPR on her. 

So there you go: watching TV can actually be good for you. And more proof that entertainment can be both entertaining and informative when you least expect it.

Sorry ma, but one point for us!

Fremont, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area is home to electric car company Tesla’s massive vehicle factory and it’ll soon be the home to what’s believed to be the first U.S. police department with a Tesla in its fleet.

Fremont police bought a used 2014 Tesla Model S 85 kWh battery version from Tesla a year ago. They have the bill to show it cost $61,478.50. Now after updating the vehicle with more than $4,000 in modifications to make it look and act like a police car with lights, a push bumper, interior prisoner seating and partition, and bulletproofing, the first Tesla patrol car is almost ready for its debut.

SEE ALSO: Tesla’s Model 3 is finally coming to Europe

A police spokesperson told Mashable the car should be out on duty sometime in February. It’s replacing a 2007 Dodge Charger that was aging out. Fremont PD says police cars usually last about five years, but it’s hoping the electric vehicle will last longer. On a single charge the car can go about 265 miles. Police have installed charging infrastructure just for the Tesla.

The department bought the Tesla as part of program to reduce emissions from police vehicles. Since 2009, Fremont police have been transitioning from gas cars to hybrids with Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion patrol cars.

Other police departments are also all about zero-emission patrolling. In Basel, Switzerland, the force there has been showing off its modified Tesla Model X cars for police duty. On Jan. 18, they showed a patrol vehicle with falcon-wing doors up and its police insignia painted on the doors.

Fremont isn’t the first American police department to look into an all-electric vehicle. The Los Angeles Police Department was browsing for a fuel efficient vehicle in 2016 and looked into the BMW i3 and a Tesla Model S.

A few years later and LAPD’s electric dreams still haven’t plugged in, but Fremont police are charging ahead.