THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE

1/2 PG, 101 minutes. Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. With the wild success of both “The Lego Movie” and “The Lego Batman Movie,” released just earlier this year, it stands to reason that Warner Bros. would strike while the iron is hot and churn out more Lego-themed movies, like “The Lego Ninjago Movie,” which sadly proves that when it comes to the super fun Lego movies, there can be diminishing returns. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency

THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US

PG-13, 110 minutes. Niantic, Mystic Luxury Cinemas, Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. Survival romance “The Mountain Between Us” seems straightforward enough — a couple of strangers are bonded forever when they endure a harrowing ordeal after their charter plane crashes on a mountain in Utah. It’s “Alive,” without the cannibalism, and a lot more romance. But as the film progresses, it becomes clear that the romantic fantasy tendencies hijack this otherwise interesting unconventional love story. Certified hunk Idris Elba plays a character who’s just too good to be true. He’s a doctor, he wears fine, expensive outerwear, and he listens to classical music on his headphones. Why does he need to rush back to New York? Because he has to do emergency brain surgery on a child, of course. Elba’s character Ben, encounters another traveler, Alex (Kate Winslet), while they’re stranded in an airport. She’s a photojournalist rushing to get home to New York for her wedding, and suggests a private charter plane to this stranger she realizes is in the same predicament. All too soon they’re fighting for their lives on a snow-capped mountaintop. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency

MY LITTLE PONY

H1/2 PG, 99 minutes. Westbrook, Lisbon. Perhaps it’s unfair, but one has to wonder for whom the animated feature film “My Little Pony: The Movie” has been made. Ostensibly, it’s for young kids, who count for double the ticket money with their parents in tow. But there’s also a large market to be found in the young adults who have developed a cultish fandom around the animated series “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.” No matter who you might encounter in the theater, “My Little Pony: The Movie” signals that the unrelentingly positive pastel ponies have hit the big time. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content

STRONGER

1/2 R, 116 minutes. Mystic Luxury Cinemas. “Stronger “is about a survivor but it is not a feel-good movie. In 2013, 27-year-old Jeff Bauman went to watch his ex-girlfriend, Erin Hurley, run the Boston Marathon. He was there when the bombs went off and lost both of his legs as a result. A photograph of Bauman, bloodied and gravely injured, being wheeled away from the site by a man in a cowboy hat became an instant icon of that terrorist attack. But the attack is not the focus here. It’s the story of the aftermath that director David Gordon Green tells in “Stronger,” based on Bauman’s co-written memoir, and it is raw, ugly and painful to watch at times. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Bauman. — Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press

VICTORIA & ABDUL

PG-13, 112 minutes. Niantic, Madison Art Cinemas, Mystic Luxury Cinemas. The story takes us into the pomp, high formality and backstabbing surrounding Queen Victoria beginning around 1899, the last year and a half of her reign. She is the longest-reigning monarch in history, which has left her deeply bored, sharp-tempered, dangerously obese and prone to fall asleep halfway through official functions. It also marks a Golden Jubilee, when the leaders of her empire’s billion subjects pay homage to her with lavish symbolic gifts. The only one that counts is the ceremonial gold coin carried halfway around the world from India to her Scottish summer castle by Abdul Karim, a humble young clerk pressed into service by British officials. Because he was friendlier with her highness than protocol allowed, because he was tall and handsome and because he arrived before her at the right moment, he created a strong impression. Which caused a keen elevation in Victoria’s liveliness, which boosted his status from her royal servant to close friend. It’s a true story, mostly. Judi Dench, a 1997 Best Actress contender for her role as a younger version of Victoria in “Mrs. Brown,” returns here for the final chapter of the queen’s story. It’s a wry, funny, likable performance with glints of sadness and mortality. When Abdul arrives (Ali Fazal), he violates decorum by looking directly into the queen’s eyes and giving her a warm smile. — Colin Covert, Minn. Star-Tribune