Who would have guessed that Lego and Warner Brothers Animation would attach a trailer for their next brick-themed film to this Friday’s release of The Lego Batman Movie? Brand synergy, everybody! Seriously, though: The Lego Ninjago Movie’s trailer is here, and it’s a pretty good time.
The Lego Ninjago Movie follows a band of brave brick ninjas led by a wise old master (Jackie Chan) as they fight against the evil Garmadon (Justin Theroux) who wants to destroy the island they live on. To make matters worse, one of those ninjas is Garmadon’s son, Lloyd (Dave Franco), our protagonist, who must navigate both his rocky relationship with his father and the horrors of high school. There are some pretty great gags in here, and any trailer that ends on a Kumail Nanjiani joke is always worth a watch. Last year, Lego released a sort of test animation for this film, The Master, in front of last year’s fall release Storks, and if you’re a little worried about the concept, we highly suggest you seek it out and watch it.
While Ninjago might not necessarily have the same broad appeal as something like Batman does (it doesn’t), it still looks kind of cool, and highlights what is truly the forgotten great accomplishment of these Lego films: The animation. Seriously, that’s some of the most intricate CGI that I’ve ever seen on the big screen, and each of the robots in this looks better (and probably more lifelike) than anything in Michael Bay’s Transformers movies. Couple that with some pathos and great humor, and you have a recipe for success.
And it certainly seems to be paying off: Look at the Rotten Tomatoes scores for their past two releases: 96 percent for The Lego Movie and 97 percent for The Lego Batman Movie indicate that a broad consensus really liked them.
We gladly welcome our new Lego overlords. The Lego Ninjago Movie drops on September 22.