The 'Lego Movie' franchise takes a step back with 'Ninjago'
2014's The Lego Movie was shockingly great, combining heart and humor into an adventure so winning, it was possible to forget the entire thing was a massive toy tie-in.
This year's The Lego Batman movie was a worthy follow-up, taking advantage of the silly-sweet tone established in The Lego Movie to tell a story about the Caped Crusader that his gritty live-action incarnations can't (or won't).
And The Lego Ninjago Movie? Eh, it's also there.
Small children and their parents may already know what a Ninjago is. Everyone else will probably require some explanation. The Lego Ninjago Movie is based on a sprawling line of ninja-themed Lego toys, which have yielded their own hit animated series.
For the purposes of this movie, though, all you need to know is that Ninjago is the name of some vaguely Asian-influenced fantasy land that's constantly under threat of attack from an evil war lord named Garmadon (Justin Theroux).
Fortunately for its denizens, the city is protected by six mysterious mystical ninjas who are actually high school students in disguise – think Power Rangers, basically, but with different abilities. That team is led by Lloyd (Dave Franco), the Green Ninja, who's actually Garmadon's estranged son.
The Lego Ninjago Movie isn't a totally bad time. There are some really great jokes in there, many of them involving Zane (Zach Woods), the Ice Ninja, a robot who just wants to be a normal teenager. Theroux is clearly having the time of his life hamming it up as Garmadon, and Jackie Chan gets some nice moments as Master Wu, leader of the ninjas and brother to Garmadon.
But after a promisingly funny start, in which we get to explore Lloyd's world and get into the rhythm of his everyday life (Lloyd, it turns out, is so hated that his bullies have even made a hit pop single about how much he sucks), we dive into the main plot. And the charm quickly starts to wear off.
The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie took advantage of their brick-based universe to deliver action that looked like something we could only see in a Lego movie. In comparison, the action in The Lego Ninjago Movie largely looks like it could've been choreographed for any big-budget live-action adventure. Even the deployment of a house cat as an agent of destruction named Meowthra (OK, that's cute) feels more inspired in theory than it does in execution.
The emotions never quite click, either. Throughout the film, Lloyd desperately wants to forge some kind of relationship with his father, but his father seems like such a jerk (albeit an entertaining one) that it's hard for us to root for them to make a connection.
Meanwhile, most of his fellow ninjas are just ... there. At least two of them are so extraneous that you could've cut them from the movie altogether and I wouldn't have noticed. I can only assume they're here because kids would've been cranky if their favorite characters from the show had been cut from the movie.
Ultimately, The Lego Ninjago Movie comes down to a "be yourself" message that's so half-hearted that, even as I'm typing this, I'm not entirely sure it was the message of the movie. Maybe the film was actually just about forgiving your toxic, villainous dad. Or being nicer to your mom. Or not underestimating scrawny little kids because they might be secret superheroes.
As kiddie entertainment, you could do worse. The Lego Ninjago Movie isn't grating or infuriating. There aren't any songs in it catchy enough to get stuck in your head. You'll probably even laugh a bunch of times. But as part of the Lego Movie family, it's a big step down. Maybe the ninjas should've let Meowthra take the city after all, and used all those bricks to rebuild something better.
