The Lego Movie was one of the most unexpectedly brilliant comedies (kiddie or otherwise) of the past few years. Then came Lego Batman which tried (with minimal to moderate success) to build an entire movie around a few key jokes. Now we have Lego Ninjago which tries to apply the original Movie formula to their popular line of toys. Similarly mixed success.
Where Ninjago succeeds is primarily in the first half of the movie. For a little while, it seems to recapture the same magic that made the first movie so special. It was funny and clever (Meowthra!!) and bolstered by some great voice work (Justin Theroux and Dave Franco in particular). And then it just got kinda dull.
Part way through, it seemed to lose the fun of Lego and focus more on the Ninja. There are many saying that this is what the new Power Rangers movie should have been, and at the very least I'll agree that Ninjago was superior. But for me, once that focus shifted, it could have been any kid friendly martial arts franchise. It didn't maintain the humor is started with, and it lost my interest.
It's still no question that Lego Movie was the best by far. I'm torn about Batman vs Ninjago.
Lego Ninjago – \m/ \m/ \n