I rarely see a modern “family movie” (since they are usually decidedly anti-family), but as it was one of my children’s birthdays, we went to see “The LEGO Ninjago Movie.” How could a movie about Lego ninjas be anti-family? I took a chance. Well, it was as bad as they come.
From the very beginning, the father was the caricature of an evil uncaring absentee dad. To drive the point home (in case you missed it), they went the extra mile and gave him devil horns, red eyes, dressed him in black, made him a greedy capitalist, and had him live in a fire-and-brimstone volcano lair. Well, I gave him a chance. Maybe he was an homage to Darth Vader and would turn around in the end.
Soon, the mother appears on scene and is referred to as the dad’s “ex.” OK. Divorced couple. Real cutting edge story-line so far. Certainly, the mom wouldn’t be evil or at fault for anything even though 70% percent of real-world divorce filings are by wives choosing to disband their own families in favor of state-promised happiness and prosperity.
The motherly-love scenes with the divorcée are long and ooey-gooey. She lavishes undying love on her son, placing herself in stark contrast to the horrendous father.
The son, a secret ninja, whose special power is “green” (he doesn’t learn what his “power of green” is until the end of the movie) endlessly hopes his dad will love, remember, and respect him and teach him dad things like throwing a ball. Fat chance. The dad tells his son that he knows how to do all the dad things, but he chooses to simply belittle his son for not knowing them.
Meanwhile, the ugly loveless devil-image of a dad is ejecting unappreciated employees into the stratosphere…