I would suggest they’re going for a connected universe of self-contained stories(bar direct sequels obviously) similar to the mcu.
Given what we’ve seen so far this seems to be the case.
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Is there much difference between calling the LCU a Shared Universe vs a Connected Universe, or would I just be talking semantics?
Also there are at least 2 approaches to a LCU film thus far. Use an explicit framing device, or just have the entire story be told within Lego.
I recall at least 1 article discussing the LCU’s core concept involved this sci fi premise, & how the possible 2 worlds would interact with each other.
You know, I really enjoyed this film, but there’s a few legitimate problems I’d like to address.
[spoiler]So, for starters, the fact that the themes feel like a retread of the Lego Movie is a bummer. The whole “we ARE the Ultimate Ultimate weapon!” thing reminded me too much of the ending of G2 and felt cliche (although I’d argue that’s good since this was a parody of Kung-Fu movies). Lloyd Garmaddon didn’t feel like he had anything too unique about him, which was a shame, besides his dad being a villain.
The Jackie Chan live action felt pointless, but it was fun to at least see Jackie doing fun mentor stuff. Speaking of fighting, there wasn’t much Spinjitsu in the film, although I dunno if that’s a detraction or not.[/spoiler]
Other than that, I really liked it. The humor was pretty great, it was a wonderful kid’s movie, and I think any Ninjago fan would like it, besides some of the obvious differences from the original line.
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I very much enjoyed this movie, but of course I echo other people’s criticisms. I’ll have to sit on it a while for my thoughts on the movie overall to settle, but I had a ton of fun with this. I’d go so far as to say it was a great balance of departing from its roots and keeping in line with such.
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I’ll echo this because I felt this was the chance for older people my own age to get invested in the characters and world of Ninjago. It’s supposed to skew a little older with these movies.
Unfortunately, that score is well deserved. I wanted to like the movie, but I couldn’t bring myself to. It is fundamentally bad. We talk about it in the coverage, you’ll see it then.
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BTW, when’s the coverage? (Gonna guess Monday or Thursday b/c Ninjagocast, but probably not)
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We’ve recorded it, waiting on the editing to finish with it.
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AT’s gotta go fast amirite
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If there’s an Elemental Master of Surprise in the film, what other elements could exist in the film’s universe?
Just to be clear on this, is this opinion shared by everyone on the podcast or are there contesting counter viewpoints?
Where should someone post their reviews on the film? I recall the recently uploaded youtube brickfeed podcast video asked for some reviews.
Having been in the Live-Studio Audience when it was recorded, I can say there are contesting counter viewpoints. Not everyone was as down on the movie, even if they did think it had faults. I won’t spoil anything for the official upload, but do expect some yelling.
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Everyone has a different opinion on what worked and didn’t work on the movie, but there are very clear contesting viewpoints.
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So I shared my thoughts on how Ninjago affects the Lego movie brand as a whole in the comments of the latest brick feed, but I thought I’d bring it here for discussion:
So I saw the Lego Ninjago movie the other day, I took my little brother to go see it, both for him and for myself. I left feeling as though I liked it, it had problems but was still a fun movie. I agree in large part with the criticisms you all bring up in the Brickers episode, and it really did have a lot of things wrong with it, but I’ve done some thinking myself on a broader scale as to what really made this movie appeal less to people and what Lego needs to do to fix that.
To be honest, I don’t think the general audience knew what to expect from this movie. I think people went to the Lego movie because it looked genuinely funny, and they heard good things about it, and then they liked it because the humor, the message, the direction of the movie appealed both to kids and to adults, and a lot of people came out really happy.
Forward to Lego Batman, people were familiar with Lego’s moviemaking by that point, and the trailer pretty much told them what they were getting into. They knew the movie they were going to see before they saw it, and they went because they wanted to see it. People who aren’t batman fans didn’t go. I think Lego batman’s success among audiences is pretty well summed up with that.
Now ninjago, it has flaws but in my opinion is still a decent movie, and now we see people go back and forth about it, some really liked it, some were a little too put off by some of its flaws, all understandable, but not as many people went to see it. I think that’s vitally important. I think ninjago started to lose people because the Lego movie looked really good from the beginning, then it delivered and made a name for itself. The batman movie told you what it was going to be, and if you went to see it it was because you knew you would like it, and it delivered to that audience as well. Ninjago? I think people didn’t know what they were going to see. People watched the trailer and said “ok, ninjago is that Lego kids theme, their movies have been decent but I don’t know if this one is for me” and that’s where you saw a lot of people split, some went, some didn’t, because they didn’t know what they would be seeing.
If Lego wants to make a decent name for its movie brand people need to know what they’re going to see and feel happy with the end result when they do. The latter part of that they’ve kept stray I think, but the former, people knowing what they’re going to see, is beginning to waver. The Lego Movie brought in a lot of things the kids enjoyed but the adults also recognized, got a laugh out of because it reflected their daily life or three a reference to something they knew and remembered. It made people happy.
For the future of Lego’s movies, at least for the next few, I think Lego needs to stick to some themes that are more grounded than Ninjago and easier to sell to a broader audience. People really enjoyed seeing the different worlds in the Lego ninjago movie not because they were really specific and had their own lore and host of characters and rules, but because they were simple, recognizable, fun.
A Lego Wild West movie, or a Lego knights movie, something that fits into that bracket of settings and genres people know, recognize, and enjoy, would sell to a broader audience because they know what they’re getting into with something like that. They know the kind of self aware, witty humor the Lego movies provide and they want to see that in things they remember and enjoy from their own youth.
Lego has no problem selling this to kids, the humor has had no problem landing with kids and the idea of seeing Lego’s in a movie is instantly appealing I think. But keeping a broader audience in mind and making your movie appeal to a larger base of people who want to know what their getting into is, I think, an important part of Lego establishing its movies in the minds of its audience.
- Jowm
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So, I haven’t been able to see the movie yet because my job gives me a weird schedule. Would any of you say that the Ninjago Movie has an abundance of Japanese/Chinese popculture references (or would you have noticed them/understood them at all?)
I’m saying this as a Japanese American, who despite being born in the U.S. has had a lot of Japanese cultural influence througout his upbringing. If there was a movie to act as an all out Chinese/Japanese popculture parody, it’d best be this one. I guess the mechs count, and the Ninjago team are already similar to Super Sentai and its Americanized counterpart Power Rangers (Lloyd even seems to suffer from Green Ranger syndrome, or rather, the rest of the Ninja suffer character-wise because of it)
Not that I saw. Unless you count the N-Pop collectible minifig who was only an easter egg in the film. Also I’ve seen at least one YT reviewer Andre the Black Nerd outfight call this film Lego Power Rangers.
I was going into see this film partly because I expected a lego version of a martial arts film, there were few fight scenes, & the only person who stood out as being an archetype from that genre was Master Wu, whose teaching method & taught subjects, I’m skeptical of, unless that’s what martial arts genre mentors tend to do.
Sounds like they didn’t have a focused vision with the film. They should have focused on asian popculture for the atmosphere, and good storytelling for the general plot. I understand that they want all of the LEGO Movies to feel connected, but they need variety. This movie just seems to be the LEGO Movie, but with a Ninjago skin. I think going full out on a grand epic journey of self discovery and training to find out how to be a hero and what it means to sacrific would’ve been a nice contrast to make the Ninjago Movie stand out from what came before. Play into that philosophical spiritual growth trope.
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That’s what I had hoped the tagline “find your inner piece” meant.
Isn’t that what Legend Of Korra & Kung Fu Panda did to some extent?
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It’s funny that you say this, because the Kung Fu Panda franchise sums up how I feel about the current direction of the LEGO Movie franchise.
The first Kung Fu Panda had a lot of charming humor, but also had emotionally deep parts. The second still had humor, but it went all in with telling a serious narrative with actual depth. The third tried to do what the first did, but it ended up a shell of what they were trying to replicate.
The first LEGO movie had a lot of charming humor, but also carried central message. The LEGO Batman Movie was still filled with the witty jokes and nods the first one was great at, but it went further with its focus on actual depth, giving us a flawed character in Batman and showcasing his psychological turmoil in a way we’ve only seen from the comics. The LEGO Ninjago movie tries to create what the first movie did, but because of a lack of focus on character and narrative depth, it ends up just being a husk of the first movie. It took everything good you see when looking at the first movie from the outside, but lacked the innards of what made it special.
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So I saw the movie. I liked it. Not as amazing as the first two, but definitely not a bad movie. There is room for improvement, though.
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