The LEGO franchise continues to buck expectations.

When The LEGO Movie was released in 2014, it was another example of directors Phil Lord & Chris Miller doing what they do best - taking a bad idea and making it great.

This week The LEGO Batman Movie hits theaters (review soon), and it seems to be continuing the tradition. But I’ll be honest - when Warner Bros said that they were working toward making LEGO an evergreen franchise, and branching out into a film about one of the building toy’s most beloved subsets, I figured that this is where Hollywood greed would get the best of a miracle moment in animation.

I’d like to eat those words, at least in theory, as the first trailer for The LEGO Ninjago Movie has hit the Internet, and I’ll be damned, it looks fun, funny, and like an absolute joy.

www.youtube.com/watch

The movie has an absolute murderer’s row of talent assigned, voice acting wise, including Jackie Chan, Justin Theroux, Dave Franco, Olivia Munn, Fred Armisen, Abbi Jacobson, Kumail Nanjiani, Michael PeÅ„a and Zach Woods, but what really shines here is the surreal and awkward humor, which worked wonders in The LEGO Movie, and continues here.

Here’s the official synopsis:

In this big-screen NINJAGO adventure, the battle for NINJAGO City calls to action young Master Builder Lloyd, aka the Green Ninja, along with his friends, who are all secret ninja warriors. Led by Master Wu, as wise-cracking as he is wise, they must defeat evil warlord Garmadon, The Worst Guy Ever, who also happens to be Lloyd’s dad.  Pitting mech against mech and father against son, the epic showdown will test this fierce but undisciplined team of modern-day ninjas who must learn to check their egos and pull together to unleash their inner power of Spinjitzu.

Is it weird that in the year of our lord 2017, LEGO may end up being our strongest comedic franchise?  The poster for the film is below, and I’m very much looking forward to it.

The LEGO Ninjago Movie arrives in theaters on September 22, 2017.