Thursday, September 21, 2017

The LEGO Ninjago Movie - Another Movie Based on The Popular Lego Bricks

It has been almost a week since the last time I saw a Hollywood movie on its premiere date. I have been on a short "hiatus" from watching new movies in theaters as I could not bring myself to do so due to the new movies were not that new and exciting. Anyway yesterday there were 2 movies premiered in Indonesia which was quite surprising considering both were truly new and were not even scheduled to play in US theaters till Friday. Actually my wife and I were looking forward to see another movie, but the cinema where we wanted to go to, did not show that one at our usual preferred schedule 7PM. So we went to see this movie instead. And what was the movie all about? Let us find out more.

Brief Story Line

In the city far far away called Ninjago, there was a boy who just turned 16 named Lloyd Garmadon (Dave Franco - Nerve, Now You See Me and its sequel etc). He was not feeling excited on his birthday due to his father was the most notorious evil villain Garmadon (Justin Theroux - The Girl on the Train, The Leftovers TV series etc) who tried to conquer Ninjago all the time. Lloyd's mother nicknamed Koko (Olivia Munn - X-Men: Apocalypse, Ride Along 2 etc) tried to convince Lloyd to enjoy his day but it was very challenging with everyone being so judging to him.


On that day, Garmadon really did try to attack Ninjago. However, just like in previous unsuccessful attempts, Garmadon's swarm of armies were challenged by a group of ninjas led by the mysterious Green Ninja and his friends the Red Ninja of fire (Michael Peña - CHiPs, Ant-Man etc), the Blue Ninja of lightning (Kumail Nanjiani - Silicon Valley TV series etc), the Silver Ninja of water (Abbi Jacobson - Broad City TV series), the White Ninja of ice (Zach Woods - Silicon Valley TV series) and the Black Ninja of earth (Fred Armisen). These mysterious ninjas were trained by the old experienced Master Wu (Jackie Chan - no introduction necessary). 

After failing on his latest attack, Garmadon came up with the most dangerous idea to attack Ninjago. So could the Ninjas save Ninjago and finish off Garmadon once and for all? Could Lloyd amend his relationship with his father who left him since he was a baby? Find them all in this quite fun 3D animated movie of Lego characters.

End of Brief Story Line

After watching 2 previous movies with Lego bricks and brand i.e. The Lego Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie I was hoping for another fantastic, fun and good movie. However it turned out that this time around the movie was not as good as those. I have a feeling that the first part of the movie was too crowded and somehow the robotic parts in various shapes that the Ninjas used during defending Ninjago were too much (although the creation of them were fantastic). I felt that the movie was a lot nicer when it was just the Ninjas fighting Garmadon, which luckily were plenty to enjoy.

In term of story, it was actually pretty good. The characterization and relationship between the evil Garmadon and his son Lloyd were very touching, funny and nice. Master Wu's character also played nicely by Jackie Chan. There were some funny stuff but there were also some jokes that I personally felt were not that funny. My personal favorite funny joke was probably during that one scene in the jungle. One thing that was a pleasant surprise was the beginning and the last part of the movie which I think was truly unique compared to the other Lego movies. Talking about the ending part, please be sure to wait for a while as there was some short mid end-credit scene which was fun to see.  

Just like in The Lego Movie, there was also a part where the Lego bricks were being used to develop something cool. I think that part was nicely done and a very good demonstration of how useful those bricks were. It was a good way of promoting them (not that the fans of Lego need further advertisement anyway). The sound effect of this movie was awesome. The bright colors of the movie characters and city should be a great attraction for the children but the story itself I think might be a little too heavy (especially the jokes which I think would be more suitable for bigger children). I saw this movie in 2D but I personally felt that there were a lot of scenes that would be cool seen in 3D effects, so if you are still doubtful and you could choose, better opt to see it in 3D.

In conclusion, I personally feel that the movie was good, but not that great. There were plenty of fun to experience including fun parts involving Jackie Chan, and some touching moments as well (the climax part actually made my wife quite tearful), but do not expect this movie to be as good as the other Lego movies, especially The Lego Batman Movie. However, you can definitely still enjoy this one with your family or friends. The choice is yours.

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars 

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