Plastic Less-Than-Fantastic: 'The LEGO Ninjago Movie'

In 2014, the directing/screenwriting team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller surprised a cynical, jaded nation that was expecting, from The LEGO Movie, a cynical, jaded toy commercial.

It was that, to be clear. But it was also frenetic, funny, colorful, clever and desperately eager-to-please: a hugely imaginative joyride through a riotous landscape of Warner Bros.-owned intellectual property. Movie as theme park.

Mostly, though, it possessed something few putative tentpole blockbusters have any interest in attempting, much less manage to achieve: a distinctive, idiosyncratic style.

That style emerged not from the too-crowded-by-half plot, which doled out discrete parcels of loud action set pieces and "Cat's in the Cradle" sentiment with a dutiful precision borne of studio notes and test marketing. No, its style was a product — weirdly enough, for a movie starring digitally