Review: The Lego Ninjago Movie - Entertaining Family film that sees return to form for the franchise

This third installment in the Lego movie series revolves around the battle for Ninjago City which calls to action a young Master Builder Lloyd, aka the Green Ninja, along with his friends, also secret ninja warriors. Led by Master Wu, these ninja warriors must defeat the evil warlord Garmadon, who also happens to be Lloyd's dad. Pitting father against son, the epic showdown tests these willing but undisciplined ninjas as they learn to check their egos and pull together to unleash the inner power of Spinjitzu.
As a big fan of the first Lego movie but not being completely enamoured with the second, I was interested to see if firstly, this third chapter of the popular franchise was in any way a marked improvement in what I felt was a muddled second effort or indeed if this series had run it's course, having lost the novelty factor some time ago.
The good news for fans of the Lego movies is that this is undoubtedly an improvement on Lego Batman whilst not hitting the heights of the first uniquely imaginative and entertaining film.
Screenwriters Bob Logan and Paul Fisher keep it simple with a barrage of gags largely taking precedence over plot returning to what made the series so popular in the first place.
The animation, as the audience has come to expect, at this stage, is superb and the whole production is visually stunning.
There are some downsides however as with the originality of the first film now being a distant memory it's hard to visualise where to next for the series. It also(as expected) at times simply looks like a LEGO advertisement with emphasis on the product as opposed to the feature production itself.
In general though, The Lego Ninjago Movie is an entertaining enough family film , that while may be a bit too loud and brash for younger members of the family is nonetheless a rather fun way to spend ninety minutes out of the elements!
✷✷✷