Series missing crucial pieces

was already done to much better effect in this summer’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and the superhero team-up hijinks are too reminiscent of The Lego Batman Movie.

Our young ninjas do make for good company, however, and there’s an ace voice appearance from martial arts legend Jackie Chan as beardy sensei Master Wu.

Justin Theroux’s raspy vocal chords are put to good use as the evil Garmadon, whose affection for basing his operations from within a volcano would see him fit in well in an old-school Bond flick.

It’s also neat seeing Lloyd and his buddies fending off evildoers using a cornucopia of hand-to-hand combat and powers influenced by the elements.

But the indelible, seemingly limitless, visual brilliance and emotional kick of the first Lego Movie isn’t matched by anything on screen here and, as a result, Ninjago feels more like it belongs alongside the brand’s many straightto-DVD tales rather than being gifted a home on the big screen.

There is the odd moment of creative genius – not least a fun end credits montage aping Chan’s action reputation – and it’s amiable and distracting enough that you’ll sit fairly comfortably throughout.

Kids are sure to lap it up too, but it’s just a shame that a franchise that started off like a house on fire is rapidly falling apart at the seams.

Let’s hope a return to the original magic in 2019’s The Lego Movie Sequel can put more solid foundations in place for the series’ future.