datautisticgamer-74853 Review of The Lego Ninjago Movie

The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017)

Still enjoyable with some uncomfortable caveats

[6/10 · 22 September 2017]

As soon as I completed my viewing of The LEGO Batman Movie back in February, I had some expectations that this film would continue the tradition of using a "style" for more than a plug for LEGOs themselves. I have to say that after viewing this, I was half correct. It seemed from the start that the odds against this film were high given how Ninjago is less recognizable than Batman, however it managed to in its own right be enjoyable. The morals rehash those in The LEGO Batman Movie, though it does add its own messages that I don't feel like spoiling as to not give away this film's identity. One of the main complaints I have here is that while the story does offer with its writing some good jokes, the execution of some things such as the timing was significantly downgraded from The LEGO Batman Movie. The animation offered some necessary changes to make it closer to a believable Ninjago movie, such as the integration of live-action and the use of more realistic special effects like water and smoke, but I would prefer The LEGO Batman Movie since it knew more when to use only LEGOs and when to throw in real effects; it made the action scenes more engaging. The characters are more obscure than in its "predecessor", again owing to the simple fact that Batman is more popular than Ninjago, and thus would not be easily identifiable unless you watched the Ninjago series (like Masters of Spinjitzu as I did). One thing I do appreciate is that they gave Garmadon more personality than just some evil villain as I remember, though it could also owe to the fact that I have not seen any Ninjago material for years. To sum up, this is essentially an inferior version of The LEGO Batman Movie with less successful humor and a more specific appeal: to Ninjago fans. If you are one of the latter, you will enjoy this film with the twists it placed on the franchise's core characters, but for anyone else (even LEGO fans) I would advise a reasonable amount of caution in case you possess intrigue.