These ‘Lego’ movies all follow the same formula. Dry wit and humor for the adults and visual delight for the kids and kid at heart. Is it worth watching? If you are a kid at heart or a kid in actual life – yes.
Alarge part of the success of the “Lego Movie” was its novelty. It was fresh, off-beat, self deprecating. Much of the jokes in the movie were about itself, which worked well.
That’s the whole area the Lego movies inhabit. They’ve set up shop in the corner of the entertainment world where Disney/Pixar movies don’t go and planted a flag, effectively saying, “We’re doing things our way.”
“The Lego Ninjago Movie” is the third in the series of Lego movies, following “The Lego Movie” and the “The Lego Batman Movie.” Not surprisingly, it keeps the same flavour and humour that permeated the first two and made them successful.
Like the previous films, it takes potshots at itself, calling attention to all the clichés of an action adventure show, such as repeated attacks by the same villain at regular intervals (so much so that the local news channel reports it like it would the weather.) The only thing keeping the evil Lord Garmadon is a group of six ninjas, each attuned to a specific element (and all teenagers, naturally).
This is the first movie to be based on an original Lego franchise, which is in itself a tad problematic. First introduced in 2011, the Ninjago line has since had several dozen sets, a television show and a video game to its name. It has a decent following, but they’re mostly targeted at kids. A large number of the gags and side funny dialogue in this movie, are not.
There is an initial disconnect as us adults probably do not follow Ninjago, unless we already have kids that do. But, the saving grace here is the voice of a beloved actor who instantly brings a smile to your heart: Jackie Chan. No matter how we don’t know Ninjago, we know Jackie Chan. And that in itself already makes us attached to his character Sensei Wu, the Ninja Master, and sensei of the six ninjas fighting Lord Garmadon. Its fun to see Jackie Chan in Mr. Miyagi type roles. He’s made a graceful transition to elder statesmen roles, while still keeping a more toned down sense of comedy. You get caught up immediately in his words of wisdom, as well as his one liners.
A big chunk of the laughs come from the dynamic between Lord Garmadon and Lloyd, his son who is secretly the green ninja, one of those always thwarting his plans. There are moments thematically, and even visually where the two harken back to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, with Sensei Wu playing a sort of dry-humored Obi–Wan.
Like the “Three Stooges” series, once you’ve seen one, you probably can say you’ve seen them all. Same antics. Same flow. But you’ll watch them all anyway. These ‘Lego’ movies all follow the same formula. Dry wit and humor for the adults and visual delight for the kids and kid at heart. Is it worth watching? If you are a kid at heart or a kid in actual life – yes.
There are lessons to be learned both for parents and for children. There is reason enough to watch it.