Warner Bros’ LEGO Ninjago Movie continues with the same formula that The LEGO Movie and LEGO Batman delivered. With the tiny plastic bricks building a successful film franchise for the studio, we get another animated romp with LEGO as the star.
The Ninjago Movie tells the tale of Lloyd a teenager with daddy issues that lives in Ninjago City. By day he lives the life of an everyday teenager but he also masquerades as the Green Ninja, the leader of a warrior group that helps defend their city against the evil Garmadon, who just so happens to be Lloyd’s father.
With LEGO providing the setting, the film delivers a mech against mech setting with elaborate landscaped sets all built with plastic bricks. But in usual LEGO Movie fashion, the filmmakers make a weak attempt to weave in a life-altering lesson into the storyline, but it comes off feeble as you’d expect. And the reason for that is because ultimately it’s just a movie with action about little plastic bricks.
For a film that has very few plus points, the appearance of a kitty mid way through the film and the gleeful performance of Justin Theroux as Garmadon ultimately are the best bits about this LEGO movie. Everything else is pretty much what you’ve seen in the previous two films.
Watch this one if you have kids to preoccupy for an hour and a half.
**1/2