LEGO Ninjago

The LEGO Ninjago Movie
Director: Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher, Bob Logan
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Time to Build the Action out of LEGOs.
A third LEGO cinematic offering from Warner Bros. and the LEGO Group after they assembled The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie, comes a brick-to-film about a teenage high school student, Lloyd (voiced by Dave Franco), who was living as an unpopular kid, but is actually a ninja on the inside in the town of Ninjago. As trouble is calling him when he faces the town’s attack under the control of Lord Garmadon (voiced by Justin Theroux), who is actually Lloyd’s father, he and his ninja friends, under the learning and leadership of Master Wu (voiced by martial artist Jackie Chan), must defeat Lord Garmadon in order to restore peace and put his relationships aside from his father from taking over Ninjago. But the main problem is he and Lord Garmadon really got family issues to deal with while learning the main principle of hope and glory.
It gives me to say this when it comes to father-and-son relationships, similar like “Star Wars” when Darth Vader shoots the “Luke, I am your father” quote, gives me a laugh-out-loud replica of this when a son (Lloyd) is good guy, while the father (Lord Garmadon) is a bad guy. Deep down, the relationship must go on. Sounds about strange, but funny. Never seem to be forgotten in this family-orientated film like returning to classics again. Think back from any movies with deeper family relationships and wisdom for your experience and your childhood. What do you see? Emotions!

The film is fairly decent to say the least compared to the TV series from Cartoon Network. There’s a little too much live-action scenes with some interesting, little-bit-violent scenes based on martial art television series and usage of a real cat, destroyer of Ninjago, throughout the entire film as an advantage of family LEGO film. It lost some notion, which had worn off after those two movies, as well as lacking the depth and textures when everything I see is not entirely made out of LEGOs. Doesn’t sound “awesome” as it looks. Use an instruction manual to learn this clearly. Though, I heavily enjoyed the voice casts, including Dave Franco and Jackie Chan, as well as increasing the comedy to this film like “The LEGO Batman Movie.” I admired the relationship between Lloyd and Master Wu as their form was a reminiscent of DreamWorks’s “Kung Fu Panda,” Marvel’s “Doctor Strange,” 2010’s “Karate Kid,” and some other films that may involve martial arts or anything the character wants to learn from.

Overall, “The LEGO Ninjago Movie” never seem to disappoint, regardless of any feedback from critics and audiences. I would assume if you’re a LEGO fan, Jackie Chan fan, or just a fan from the TV series, you should go watch this 101-minute creation. Only a “master builder” could enjoy everything. I can’t tell if the box-office record is maybe low unlike the first two films, but I’m pretty sure kids will have an opportunity to shine their faces from a slight bummer to a positive warm feeling on the way home after watching it or at the movies. For adults, it would sound mediocre like “meh.”

GRADE: B-
(Review by Henry Pham)