The LEGO Ninjago Movie is the third film from Warner Brothers based on characters made out of the iconic interlocking building toys. In terms of box office risk it surpasses its predecessors without the crutch of popular culture and allure of a snarky Batman to lean on. That alone dooms this plastic-y ode to martial arts films to be the least memorable of the bunch.
Without having to rely on DC’s man in black allows The LEGO Ninjago Movie to take more chances and push the LEGO movie franchise in bold new directions. Links to our physical world are unexpected, albeit also wholly unexplained. For example, as visually impressive as the commingling of an impressively scaled Asian-inspired LEGO city is with real water and flora, there’s no easily decipherable reason as to why they coexist within the story. They just do.
Then there’s Meowthra, star of the second trailer who gets a little bit more action in the actual film. No animated LEGO film character has faced a live-action threat like this before and every scene with the cat is a sight to behold. Unfortunately the inevitable taming of this taken advantage-of feline misses a golden opportunity to utilize other relics from our world.
Whereas the Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu television series is able to spread the narrative and depth among its Ninja group, the film pulls one ninja and his absent father into the spotlight at the other ninjas’ expense. Fans of hothead Kai, his warrior sister Nya, the nindroid Zane and record-spinning strongman Cole will be left feeling like their characters got the shaft and they just watched Lloyd and Garmadon: A LEGO Ninjago Story, not The LEGO Ninjago Movie.
Lord Garmadon, a four-armed warlord whose obsession is to conquer the city where his son lives as a secret ninja, steals the film with his unintentional humor. Garmadon hogs more screen time than the other ninjas combined. He’s dry with his wit and ruthless in his ways; he’s Batman had Bruce Wayne gone bad.
Opposite Garmadon is his long-abandoned son, Lloyd. Or as Garmadon calls him, L-Loyd. By day, Lloyd is ridiculed for being the son of Garmadon by everyone he doesn’t fight alongside or live with. When evil threatens, Lloyd become the hero his city needs, and the aptly heroic voice of reason that can get through to his father.
The LEGO Ninjago Movie is a balancing act between spitfire jokes, wacky martial arts movie references, and a son trying desperately to connect with a father he never knew. At times, especially when all the ninja briefly interact with one another, it captures the spirit of the television series. Other times it feels like an offshoot of The LEGO Movie, complete with master builders doing their thing.
When the last brick is snapped into place, The LEGO Ninjago Movie is ultimately a lot of fun that can flip around the most downward frown. Even when the narrative consistency cracks under the weight of a writing and story team requiring more than two hands to count, the laughs more than make up for those pesky loosely connected bricks.
If one were to judge the merits of a LEGO movie solely by the desire to go buy and build LEGO sets after the lights come up then The LEGO Ninjago Movie is a huge success.
