Ninja heroes get a reboot
THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE CERT U 101 MINUTES
KICK back with the ninja heroes of this entertaining animated action comedy, based on the popular Ninjago TV series.
The third in the Lego movie franchise is aimed at primary school kids, and once in its rhythm, it is another brightly coloured and fast-paced romp.
Lloyd is at high school but his life is complicated by his secret identity as the leader of a team of colour-coded ninjas. With the exception of a girl and a robot, they’re all anonymous blokes.
They protect Ninjago city from the frequent attacks by the warlord Lord Garmadon, who happens to be Lloyd’s estranged father.
When the forbidden Ultimate Weapon is unleashed – a brilliantly funny moment – the ninjas set off to find the ultimate weapon to defeat Garmadon.
The Lego Movie, in 2014, devised a superb shift into the real world to allow for a father-and-son reconciliation.
In this movie, there’s a brief opening scene in the real world when a young boy encounters Jackie Chan’s wise old shopkeeper. He tells the boy to ignore everything he knows of Ninjago as he’s about to learn the legend behind the legend. This allows the film to plunge into the animated realm and reboot the characters minus their TV history.
For example, there’s no mention of their special powers of Spinjitzu and everyone having entirely new voices is initially distractingly.
This hasn’t been such a hit in the US as previous Lego movies, possibly because it doesn’t have Batman in it.