BUSTING

wood than plastic by Ben Shephard and Kate Garroway) reporting on the latest attack from the four-armed Lord Garmadon (Theroux) – a Darth Vader-like crime lord who lives with his henchman in an easily commutable volcano located a mile or so offshore.

These attacks seem to be regular occurrences and they always seem to end the same way – being thwarted by a gang of masked, colour-coded, element-themed teenage, but not mutant, heroes.

There’s red fire ninja Kai (Michael Pena), black earth ninja Cole (Fred Armisen), blue lightning ninja Jay (Kumail Nanjiani), grey water ninja Nya (Abbi Jacobson), and white ice android ninja Zane (Zach Woods).

At the bottom of the pile is the confused green ninja, Lloyd, whose terrifying elemental power is “green”.

That’s the least of his worries. Lloyd is the estranged son of Garmadon, right, which makes riding the school bus a very lonely experience.

Lloyd and his father have issues, which are hilariously revealed in an early scene where the crime lord accidently “butt phones” his son on his birthday.

“You can’t be my son,” Garmadon says to an expectant Lloyd on Skype, “he has a bald head and no teeth”.

Clearly, it’s been a while. And the pair’s spiky relationship provides big laughs as they are thrown together on a quest to find the “ultimate, Ultimate Weapon”.

“You ruined my life,” Lloyd tells him. “Well, that’s not true,” Garmadon growls. “I wasn’t even there for most of your life, so how can I have ruined it?”

Theroux isn’t known for his comic timing, but he grabs his opportunity with both, weirdly cupped, hands.

Kids should love the Lego, the action and the slapstick. For adults, there’s some brilliantly written and some surprisingly edgy dialogue.

This grown-up laughed more times at this than he did at Will Ferrell’s The House and Amy Schumer’s Snatched put together.

It’s not been a vintage year for comedy, but The Lego Ninjago Movie could be the funniest film of 2017.