The Lego Ninjago Movie review

THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE:

DAZZLING ANIMATION, EXHILARATING ACTION, AND SOME DECENT GAGS, THOUGH IT LACKS THE CHARM OF THE EARLIER LEGO FILMS!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

(From left to right) Jay, Zane, Kai, Cole, Lloyd, and Master Wu in The Lego Ninjago Movie

            The bricks are back in the next installment of the Lego franchise, The Lego Ninjago Movie, following the success of 2014’s The Lego Movie and February’s The Lego Batman Movie. Unlike The Lego Batman Movie where I knew what to expect I was completely blind coming into The Lego Ninjago Movie because I knew practically nothing about this particular Lego brand.

            The basic knowledge I had of the property was it was Lego, that it was about ninjas, and they had a cartoon show on Cartoon Network. That’s all I knew so I didn’t know what to expect with this film, but seeing how they made The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie two of my favorite animated movies in recent years I figured they could surprise me with another solid movie.

            Well get ready folks, this is so far, the weakest installment of the Lego franchise, it isn’t horrible or even bad. But compared to the previous Lego movies which were so brilliantly executed and imaginative The Lego Ninjago Movie felt rehashed and at times predictable in its story and lacked the sense of wonder of its predecessors.

            Thankfully the movie makes up for its lazy story with some dazzling animation, exciting action sequences, and some funny gags and characters. Pretty much everything you would expect from a Lego movie.

            Set in the fictional world of Ninjago City where an evil warlord named Garmadon (voiced by Justin Theroux-Mulholland Drive, The Leftovers, The Girl on the Train) tries to conquer the city, a secret team of ninjas are called into action to do battle with the “Worst Guy Ever” and save Ninjago. There is one catch, the green ninja happens to be Garmadon’s son named Lloyd (voiced by Dave Franco-Superbad, 21 Jump Street, The Disaster Artist) who happens to get picked on at school all the time for being the son of the villain.

            One day during a battle with his dad Lloyd ends up accidentally summoning a terrifying beast that destroys Ninjago...a giant cat. In order to save their city and send the cat back to where it came from Lloyd and his ninja friends, Kai (voiced by Michael Peña-Ant-Man, The Martian, My Little Pony: The Movie), Jay (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani-Adventure Time, Silicon Valley, The Big Sick), Nya (voiced by Abbi Jacobson-Broad City, BoJack Horseman, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising), Zane (voiced by Zach Woods-The Office, Silicon Valley, Playing House), Cole (voiced by Fred Armisen-Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The Smurfs, Portlandia), and their leader, Master Wu (voiced by Jackie Chan-The Medallion, The Forbidden Kingdom, Kung Fu Panda trilogy) must venture into the unknown and find an ancient super weapon that utilizes the ninjas’ powers within them (Kind of like a Captain Planet, Avatar: The Last Airbender, or Power Rangers type scenario).

            Overall, The Lego Ninjago Movie is a fun animated film but a step backwards from the critically acclaimed Lego Movie and Lego Batman Movie. The animation is dazzling and the way it blends with a live-action kitty is hilarious, the action is just as chaotic and exhilarating as the earlier films, and there are some funny homages to classic martial-arts movies scattered throughout the film, unfortunately the plot steps into a lot of familiar territory and at times gets predictable plus if you’ve seen both The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie then you could probably figure out what the resolution is going to be like.

            Sure, The Lego Batman Movie was a little formulaic but it satirized a very well-known character and property and I was able to get most of the references being made. I knew practically nothing about Ninjago and this didn’t really fix that because plain and simple Ninjago isn’t nearly as iconic as a character like Batman and it made sense to give him a Lego movie, not to mention if you’re not familiar with the material you probably won’t get a lot of the in-jokes and Ninjago references being made.

            But as I said before the stuff that’s good in this movie is really good, and it helps that the voice acting is just as funny as the situations happening. Dave Franco and Justin Theroux have surprisingly good chemistry as the voices of Lloyd and Garmadon and their characters’ relationship feels like a jab at Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader from Star Wars except with a sense of humor and it works.

            I’m kind of all over the map on this movie but I consider it a decent addition to the Lego franchise even if it was a little underwhelming. It’s sure to be a hit with kids and might make for a fun family night out, don’t expect a Lego Movie or Lego Batman Movie but you can expect a fun movie in the Lego universe.