Review of The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017) by Regina P — 20 Oct 2017

"Despite a few solid comedic bits involving a cat monster, "The LEGO Ninjago Movie" is not as smart or funny as it's previous predecessors and it's basically just a 101-minute commercial for all things Ninjago".

Movie Review: The LEGO Ninjago Movie.

Date Viewed: September 22 2017.

Directed By Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan.

Screenplay By Bob Logan, Paul Fisher, William Wheeler, Tom Wheeler, Jared Stern and John Whittington, Story By Hilary Winston, Bob Logan, Paul Fisher, William Wheeler, Tom Wheeler, Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman, Based on Lego construction toys.

Featuring the voices of Dave Franco, Justin Theroux, Fred Armisen, Abbi Jacobson, Olivia Munn, Kumail Nanjiani, Michael Peña, Zach Woods, Jackie Chan, Randall Park, Retta, Constance Wu, David Burrows, Ali Wong, Todd Hansen, Doug Nicholas, Laura Kightlinger, Michael Strahan and Robin Roberts.

Remember the 2014 "LEGO Movie" everybody thought was going to be a soulless corporate product, well folks, Warner Bros. animation finally made that movie. "The LEGO Ninjago Movie" is one of the most disappointing movies I've ever seen. "The LEGO Movie" may have been based on a popular building block brand but directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller took their love of Legos and build something that was miraculously clever and imaginative. "The LEGO Batman Movie" wasn't as great as the first "LEGO Movie" but it still clicked because it was making fun of the Batman character himself.

"The LEGO Ninjago Movie" has three directors and a small army of writers and they still couldn't come up with a clever and funny movie? I feel bad for knocking this film because the LEGO animation still looks gorgeous and colorful but with weak storytelling and boring characters, it's hard to stay invested. Based on the popular Lego toy brand, "Ninjago" also spawned a cartoon series which has so far ran for seven seasons. I never watched the show and bought any of the "Ninjago" sets so I don't know much about this merchandise. What's strange about this film is that the longtime voice performers on the cartoon series have all been overhauled and replaced with better-known actors and comedians. What's also strange is that the cereal brand "Corn Flakes" makes an appearance because yeah, I'm so in the mood for some "Corn Flakes" right now and Lego Michael Strahan and Lego Robin Roberts also appear as cartoon versions of themselves in "Ninjago's" version of "Good Morning America" called "Good Morning Ninjago". What! Lego George Stephanopoulos wasn't available! How sad!

Getting back to the larger point, this film is not as smart or funny as it's previous predecessors and it's basically just a 101-minute commercial for all things "Ninjago". The film begins with a live-action segment with a young boy venturing into an old relic shop where Jackie Chan appears as the shop's owner Mr. Liu and he tells him a story about the legend of Ninjago. Ninjago is a beautiful and colorful city that's under constant attack by the evil warlord Garmadon (voiced by Justin Theroux) but a group of ninjas who are known as the Secret Ninja Force always stop him everytime he invades their precious city. The group consists of six teenagers, Lloyd the Green Ninja (voiced by Dave Franco), Kai, the Red Ninja of fire (voiced by Michael Peña), Jay, the Blue Ninja of lightning (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani), Nya, the Silver Ninja of water (voiced by Abbi Jacobson), Cole, the Black Ninja of Earth (voiced by Fred Armisen), Zane, the robotic White Ninja of ice (voiced by Zach Woods) and their old mentor, Master Wu (voiced by Jackie Chan).

The ninjas are beloved by the entire city except for Lloyd because he's Lord Garmadon's son. During his birthday celebration, Lord Garmadon attacks the city with his army of minions and his giant mechanical shark but Lloyd defeats him out of his anger. Lloyd really wants his daddy to stop attacking Ninjago so he borrows the ultimate weapon (which is a laser pointer) from Master Wu's ship in case Lord Garmadon comes back. When Garmadon does show up and invade the city again, Lloyd finally uses the ultimate weapon to bring him down but that only results in bringing forth a real-life cat named Meowthra (who's a funny homage to classic Japanese monster movies) and letting the cute pet destroy even more of the city into pieces.

Suffering a heavy defeat, the Ninjas must learn from their master about the ways of the Ninjago and use their powers to defeat Garmadon. The ninjas may have cool weaponry and awesome vehicles but the father-son dynamic between Lord Garmadon and Lloyd just doesn't work at all. Garmadon is basically imitating Lego Batman, Lloyd isn't as energetic and manically hilarious as Chris Pratt's Emmet was in "The LEGO Movie" and the rest of the ninjas have no personality or interesting stories to tell, they're just like old backyard equipment you probably haven't used in a long while. As I said before, the animation still looks great but sometimes the action and the visuals are so garbled together, you can't make out what's going on, kind of like a "Transformers" movie.

Despite a few solid comedic bits involving a cat monster, "The LEGO Ninjago Movie" is the weakest of the three LEGO movies by far and it recycles so many pieces from "The LEGO Movie", this just feels like a redundant carbon copy. I'm sorry Lego buffs but not every "LEGO Movie" can be as awesome as the 2014 original.