Ninjago Movie Discussion (and Speculation) Topic

let’s hope it does not receive Emoji movie level of bad reviews.

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The emoji movie is a flaming trainwreck of corporate greed, this isn’t.

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On The Piranha Chase set, the civilian is called “Ray” not “Rey” So I guess… You all know who he is and why is Kai included in the set now

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If this under-performs I hope they don’t cut another 8% of their workforce.

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Speaking of underperforming, anyone have an estimate on how much $ does tlnm need to earn to be considered successful, to get a sequel, or what this film’s budget is?

Also what is the Lego company’’s goal with TLNM?

As far as the earlier questions, I’ve got no clue. But as far as the goal is concerned, it probably has something to do with drawing attention to LEGO’s home-grown properties, something that they reportedly have been looking to focus on. It’ll breathe new life into not only the Ninjago brand, but also LEGO’s profits.

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Right, TLNM is likely a test case to see if a lego film based on an in house IP with not that much name recognition among general audiences will be successful, & probably draw more people into either buying more products or watching the Ninjago show, & then doing the above.

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Something like that.

I just hope it does good, though seeing the reviews and how the LEGO Batman movie apparently underperformed, I dunno.

Maybe Lego movies are hitting a limit of diminishing returns in each successive film produced? Granted could the Lego aesthetic being only 3 films in have already lost it’s novelty/luster that fast? Maybe it’s that or other factors that are leading to this possibly rapid decline.

It seems that one of the big complaints being leveled at TLNM is that it doesn’t do enough to make itself different from the other two films. It seems like LEGO might just need to get creative and mix things up a bit.

Funny considering Lego seems to be pulling a Marvel & putting the Lego aesthetic in different genre situations, & seeing what happens.

Indeed, and it seems both of them are getting grilled for it after audiences got bored. Here’s hoping they can adapt and make some truly diverse and interesting stories.

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I’ve heard the Superhero genre is getting old & needs to adapt or die.

I’ve also heard that WB is franchising everything to recapture the success of Harry Potter, without taking into account that the atmosphere/circumstances/cultural zeitgeist that led to their success with Harry Potter, & the dominant genre/story tone audiences wanted changed.

That & to try to make some diverse/interesting stories, studios like WB are going to have to make unlikely, risky bets, & understand what structure/trend they’re bucking in the 1st place.

But for the LCU to hit franchise middle or old age so soon, just seems kind of like bad luck.

I’m sure that there is a multitude of reasons for the whole situation. Right now I’m just hoping that TLNM is a good flick and that we’ll continue to see even better stuff in the future.

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I’ve been gone for a few days and I’m starting to grow concerned.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_lego_ninjago_movie/

That being said, I want to make my own opinion so I will try to reserve judgement until I see it.

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I mean, I usually say that, but especially in this case.

Those reviews…ouch.

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I think one of the main issue the reviewers see in the latest two Lego Movie, is that even it is from the same toy company that is producing their sets, using the same material and overall determinative look of the toy brand, those are still can’t be considered as sequels since they already having their own IP and story wise has nothing to do with the first Lego Movie beside a few references/easter eggs but that doesn’t seem enough to make the average audience to adopt to those innovations for the movies when usually, they are used to the regular animation movie sequel patterns from other animated movie franchises where there is a story continuity which follows the overall plot from the first movie to the second, third, etc. But since Lego decided to rather choose a different theme to make a movie of, it perhaps confused the audience, while they are not used to such sudden changes when the movie are actually playing in the same universe but each tells a different story than the previous one and at the end they might have to watch The first Lego Movie again just to remember where was it left off in the story, so they can catch up for the new one in 2019.

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I’m seeing the movie tonight, because they didn’t have any Thursday showings. Thanks goes to the cinemas.

I will try to share my thoughts on the movie with you guys.

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I am not an experienced reviewer, nor do I claim to be; however, I thought it would be fun to write a review of the movie of my own, to throw my own opinion into the ring.

The LEGO NINJAGO Movie definitely stands out from the rest of Warner Bros.’ LEGO-verse films. As it is the first time that one of LEGO’s own IPs are being adapted to the silver screen, it has big shoes to fill, in order to see whether or not more LEGO-unique IPs could be made into successful movies. It’s unfortunate, then, that it is a downgrade compared to the previous films.
Firstly, I enjoyed the main story of the flick. While I do have to agree that certain elements of it are retreads of the relationships found in The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Bat-Man Movie, as well as the fact that it’s the third theatrical LEGO film to include daddy issues, I still enjoyed it regardless, and thankfully, the story makes up the bulk of the film. Dave Franco’s Lloyd and Justin Theroux’s Garmadon play off each other really well, and you really get a sense of progression with the relationship throughout the film. That being said, the ending is quite rushed, and doesn’t resolve the relationship naturally in my opinion.
The film is, of course, gorgeous. The LEGO films have always had quite a bit of polish put into both their architecture and landscape as well as details real to life (scratches, discoloration, and fingerprints), and this film is no different. It has, however, a much more organic landscape compared to the previous two, and it really does look both real and beautiful. I don’t think anyone can deny the fact that, visually, The LEGO NINJAGO Movie is an amazing looking film.
Musically, however, it doesn’t quite live up to what the visuals present. There isn’t really a memorable score to speak of, which is unfortunate, as I would have personally found an East-Asian inspired soundtrack to have been interesting and unique. Instead, you get a lot of pop-rock and pop tunes, which, while bad, aren’t exactly stand-out among the crowd of family films. However, this is a minor complaint. And no, Tailor Swift’s “Bad Blood” isn’t in it.
I think one of the biggest problems of the film is it’s quality of jokes. None of the jokes really land, unfortunately, and some of the jokes in the trailers are actually made worse in the film. For example, in the first trailer, there were 3 stand-out jokes: “garmadon, Garmadon, GARMADON!”, “Luh-Loyd,” and the bride leaving the groom behind. What makes “garmadon, Garmadon, GARMADON!” funny is that each time Garmadon’s name is said, the voices get higher in pitch. However, in the film, you have the lowest pitched of the “Garmadon’s” repeated, Garmadon yelling “What’s my name?” between each time his name is said, and loud music playing over all of that, ruining the joke. Additionally, the bride and groom joke is cut entirely, leaving only “Luh-loyd” intact; however, by this point, you’ve heard the joke so many times that it’s humorous value has been lost.
Another major problem is how far the other characters are pushed into the background. The character dynamic between Lloyd and Garmadon is great, yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that the other ninja don’t get nearly enough on screen to really know them or care about them. Fred Armisen’s Cole, who many fans would have hoped the film expanded upon, only has 2-3 lines throughout the whole film. You are supposed to infer that Kumail Nanjiani’s Jay has a crush on Abbi Jacobson’s Nya with only one line. It is never explained nor even really brought up why Zack Woods’ Zane is a robot. Yes, I know you can look up the lore to find those answers; however, this film is, in fact, a reboot, and as such, should explain such things in order for not only Ninjago fans but regular audience members to make sense of it.
Personally, I would give the film a 7 or 7.5 out of 10. I don’t think the film is as bad as many critics are making it out to be (it is by no means a 48%, as it says on Rotten Tomatoes as of writing this review), but at the same time, the film does have some noticeable problems, especially when compared to be LEGO films before.

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