The LEGO® NINJAGO Movie (PG)

Starring the voices of Dave Franco, Jackie Chan

Directed by Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan

The year’s second LEGO®  flick — after The LEGO® Batman Movie — concerns a band of badass ninja defending their very-Japanese metropolis from an evil warlord (Justin Theroux), who happens to be the estranged father of one of the stealthy warriors (Dave Franco).

Enter Master Wu (Jackie Chan as a sagely sensei — what a surprise) to guide the confused lad through the crisis. Before you break out the popcorn and start singing ‘Everything is Awesome’, be warned: Unlike the earlier LEGO® movies, NINJAGO is aimed squarely (or is it rectangularly?) at kids, not kidults.

The blocky action, still cute and imaginative, is a little too frenetic for anyone over 10 years old. The jokes, too, are a bit thin. So everything is not awesome.  (**1/2)