The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017)

Shunned by everyone for being the son of an evil warlord, a teenager seeks to defeat him with the help of his fellow ninjas.

Directors:

Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher

Writers:

Bob Logan (screenplay by), Paul Fisher (screenplay by)

Stars:

Jackie Chan, Dave Franco, Fred Armisen

7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jackie Chan	...	Master Wu / Mr. Liu (voice)
Dave Franco	...	Lloyd (voice)
Fred Armisen	...	Cole (voice)
Kumail Nanjiani	...	Jay (voice)
Michael Peña	...	Kai (voice)
Abbi Jacobson	...	Nya (voice)
Zach Woods	...	Zane (voice)
David Burrows	...	Fuchsia Ninja (voice)
Alex Kauffman	...	Ninja Computer (voice)
Justin Theroux	...	Garmadon (voice)
Ali Wong	...	General Olivia (voice)
Garret Elkins	...	Retirement General (voice)
Todd Hansen	...	General Omar (voice)
Doug Nicholas	...	General Jolly (voice)
Charlyne Yi	...	Terri IT Nerd (voice)

Storyline

Six young ninjas Lloyd, Jay, Kai, Cole, Zane and Nya are tasked with defending their island home, called Ninjago. By night, they're gifted warriors, using their skills and awesome fleet of vehicles to fight villains and monsters. By day, they're ordinary teens struggling against their greatest enemy: high school.

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Plot Keywords:

training | superhero | cartoon network | effeminate character | ninja | 

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Taglines:

Find Your Inner Piece

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some mild action and rude humor

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Nya arrives on her bike in the school, she makes a slide like the one Kaneda makes in Akira (1988).

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Goofs

As Lloyd and Garmadon are being carted toward the volcano, one of their captors claims that the 15 million Kelvin temperature lava will melt them before they even feel the heat. While technically true, volcanic lava is not anywhere near that hot. Volcanic lava can be anywhere from 970 to 1500 Kelvin (700 to 1200 Celsius.) By comparison, 15 million Kelvin is roughly 15 million Celsius and is the approximate temperature of the nuclear core of the sun. If the volcano was really 15 million kelvin, everything around it would be vaporized.

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Quotes

[from trailer; Lloyd sits down in a seat in a bus with a bundle of other kids]
Lloyd: Hey...
[looks around and sees that the entire group of kids are all on the opposite side of him, clearly trying to get away and causing that side of the bus to lower and screech on the street as it drives]
Bus Kid: [whispers to the others] His dad ruins everything.

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Crazy Credits

At the beginning of the credits we have an animated sequence of Garmadon teaching everyone the "DANCE OF DOOM."

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Alternate Versions

In the UK version, local television presenters Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard replaced the voices of Robin Roberts and Michael Strahan, respectively.

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Connections

Referenced in Midnight Screenings: The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017)

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Soundtracks

It's The Hard-Knock Life
Written by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin
Performed by Quvenzhané Wallis, Zoe Margaret Colletti, Nicolette Pierini, Eden Duncan-Smith and Amanda Troya
Courtesy of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.
Under license from Sony Pictures Music Group

User Reviews

It'll please the little tykes and meet with their approval

Fresh off the success of The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie comes The LEGO Ninjago Movie, about an elite ninja force fighting an evil warlord by night and existing as unpopular high schoolers by day. The kids are sort of like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, in that each of them has a distinct color scheme and elemental theme going for them, like fire, water, ice(?), earth, and lightning(?).

The de facto leader of this young crew is Lloyd (Dave Franco), whose color is green and whose theme is…also green. (It's explained later.) Together, the team fights the ever-invading forces of Garmadon (Justin Theroux). The name of the city Garmadon wants to conquer is Ninjago, which looks like it should be pronounced like "Ninja Go!" but really is pronounced with the emphasis on the middle syllable: "NinJAgo." Anyway, the big secret that Lloyd and the gang hide, aside from their real-life identities as high school students, is that Green Ninja is – dun dun DUN – the son of Garmadon. Lloyd the teenager, on the other hand, is well known as the warlord's kid, and man does he bear the brunt of their ire. Kids sit on the opposite side of the bus from him. People boo him. He just has to deal, because it's what being a kid is all about, right? Now Lloyd, being a teenager, is just slightly resentful that he has had an absentee dad, so after one of the many battles with Garmadon, he takes things personal and unleashes holy heck on his nemesis. Oh, I should mention that although each of them calls himself a ninja, they're just kids in mech suits. Totally not ninja like at all. This leads to Garmadon coming back with a vengeance, and…well, I think you get the idea. Someone is going to learn a Very Important Lesson here.

And if that were all that was to this movie, I'd say let's leave it to the kids and never watch it, fellow grownups! But the movie does inherit a bit of the sly humor from its predecessors. Remember how, when guns were fired in The LEGO Movie, the characters would make "pew pew pew" sounds? During one long battle scene, Garmadon actually fires sharks from (presumably) a shark cannon, and each time a shark is shot one hears "dun dun dun" aka the theme from Jaws. Later on, a bigger enemy is revealed, one that dwarfs Garmadon in destructiveness – a tabby. As in a real cat. If you've ever wanted to see a cat demolish LEGOs that you didn't have to pick up, now's your chance.

I found a lot of The LEGO Ninjago Movie to be entertaining. What it lacks in creativity it makes up for in sincerity, as it never gets terribly maudlin. The characters are fun, and both Franco and Theroux really sell them well. Movie's good for kids. Rest of us can wait for home video, if at all.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Site

Country:

USA Denmark Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 September 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Lego Ninjago Movie

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,433,071, 24 September 2017

Gross USA:

$59,281,555

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$123,081,555

Company Credits

Production Co:

Animal Logic, LEGO System A/S, Lin Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

DTS (DTS: X) Dolby Atmos Dolby Digital Dolby Surround 7.1 SDDS Datasat

Color:

Color (ACES)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1