Hi everyone!
Welcome back to the podcast. I’m continuing my HBO queue cleanout with the Lego movie that couldn’t quite keep up with the rest of the franchise, at least at the box office, which also seems to be the case with “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” (Episode #452). You should definitely check out Keith’s review for that film. I’ll get around to reviewing the other two films at some point, but will have some thoughts on both later in this review.
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Here we go!
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Today’s movie is “The Lego Ninjago Movie”, the third film in the Lego film franchise, directed by Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher, and Bob Logan; and written for the screen by Bob Logan, Paul Fisher, William Wheeler, Tom Wheeler, Jared Stern, and John Whittington; based on a story by Hilary Winston, Bob Logan, Paul Fisher, William Wheeler, Tom Wheeler, Dan Hageman, and Kevin Hageman. I think I found the first problem right here.
No spoilers.
When the original “The Lego Movie” was announced, I was pretty excited as a fan of Legos growing up, and as a fan of stop-motion animation in general. The best part about Legos for me were the lack of boundaries. My family couldn’t afford to buy the multiple playsets, so I had a combination of two starter sets and some leftover Legos from other children who had outgrown them. No boundaries, the story could be anything I wanted, and it was amazing. As you could imagine, I loved the first film, and the same spirit they brought to the spinoff for “The Lego Batman Movie”. I even loved the painfully constructed positive messages at the end of each movie. And unlike today’s film, I didn’t think like I was being sold anything.
“The Lego Ninjago Movie” attempts to bank on the franchise’s momentum, restricting itself to the Ninjago brand within the Lego empire. The playset franchise already found success with the “Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu” animated television series, so it made a lot of business sense to head in this direction. This film recycles the playset story and setting, ending up a video catalog for the franchise, complete with character and power overviews along the way. Instead of the everything goes, imaginative approach of the previous two films, we get the more formalized and generic narrative of saving the city from destruction, told within the format, thematic structure, and comedic styling of the film franchise. It is exactly what you might think “The Lego Ninjago Movie” would be if the committee of story writers, screenwriters, and directors put a film together.
Of course, the film has all the limitations you would expect when developed, shaped, and produced by committee within the constraints of the playset franchise. Humor that hit well in the previous two films is recycled to fit this film, and it hits, but not as well. The film still speaks on both the figurine level and the human level, with an admittedly hilarious bridge between the two in the monster that wreaks havoc on the Ninjago City. But despite the additional limitations brought by focusing on the Ninjago franchise, the film lacked a consistent feel, as if portions were assigned to various writers, and thematic conflicts were smoothed over with self-referential humor, a wink and a nod to the audience from recycled storytelling that also undercuts themselves in the process a few times. It’s not something that most children, the target audience, will notice, but the adult audience will, as the franchise finds more limitations at the end of this experiment with focusing on one franchise. It seems to bear out at the box office as well, with the latest installment, “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part”, returning to form and set to likely double the revenue of today’s film.
“The Lego Ninjago Movie” is the third film in the Lego movie franchise, narrowing the focus to one playset franchise, and translating its story to the Lego movie format. The film will hit well with its target audience, but also finds new limitations within the franchise, that may not bode well for other playset franchises. Fans of the Lego franchise as a whole will enjoy this film, but may also find it running out of steam.
Rotten Tomatoes: 55%
Metacritic: 55
One Movie Punch: 7.4/10
“The Lego Ninjago Movie” (2017) is rated PG-13and is currently playing on HBO Now.
