Bionicle - Mask Of Light
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Movie Reviews of Bionicle - Mask Of Light
Movie Review: Good choice
Summary: 4 Stars
My son is 8 years old and he loves this game. He is a bionicle fanatic!!Movie Review: Cool graphics; silly story?
Summary: 3 Stars
Summary:Takua (Jason Michas - voice) and Jaller (Andrew Francis) are friends in the Bionicle world; Takua is 'The Chronicler' (apparently this entails keeping a history of the Bionicle people) and Jaller is the Captain of the Guard for his particular clan. As Takua is searching around inside a volcano one day for additional information for his chronicling assignment he happens to find The Mask of Light, which awakens Makuta (Lee Tockar - voice). Makuta is Mata Nui's brother (Mata Nui is the head god of the island) and has put him in a deep sleep, forcing evil onto the world of Mata Nui (which is also the name of the island).
Apparently there is a prophecy stating that when the Mask of Light is found, a seventh Toa (Toas are warriors representing different elements of nature: fire, water, earth, wood, snow, etc.), will appear and help the other toas defeat Makuta and re-awaken Mata Nui.
Takua and Jaller are then sent on a journey to find the seventh Toa, during which they meet all of the other toas. The code of Mata Nui encourages three things in the Bionicle people: Unity, Duty, and Destiny. For some reason the other toas are no longer unified, which is why Makuta is so strong.
Eventually Takua finds the seventh toa - it's himself. Putting on the mask, he becomes Toa Takanuva (the seventh toa), and leads the toas to Makuta where they defeat him and re-awaken Mata Nui.
My Comments:
The CGI is pretty cool on this film. There are times when the details on the characters or in the scenery are really amazing. There are a few spots where the animation kind of looks a little choppy, but overall its well-done.
The story, on the other hand, is pretty silly. Of course, I'll probably offend a lot of people by saying so because apparently Bionicle is a big selling toy by Lego and this is supposed to be the backstory for the toys. Nevertheless, I wasn't too impressed by the story. I guessed when Takua found the mask that he was supposed to be the seventh Toa, so when he finally put on the mask I wasn't at all surprised. There is also the problem with Takua deciding at one point that he is going to leave Jallar to find the seventh toa himself. Takua's decision doesn't really make any sense. There is also no explanation of why the other six toas are so upset with one another. There are a lot of story problems, despite an absolute suspension of belief. The story also seems to draw heavily on Pacific Islander type myths, legends, and names. Why? I don't know. But it is an interesting connection that I don't believe has been made before.
Overall, the movie is probably kind of interesting to people that played with the Bionicle toys, but to people that are not interested in the toys nor the backstory behind them, this probably isn't a movie you'll be interested in seeing. The CGI is pretty cool, but the story isn't compelling or engaging.
Movie Review: Entertaining, despite the flaws
Summary: 3 Stars
I am a Lego fan, even in my late 20`s. So I was excited when I heard about this movie.Now that I got it, here is my 2-cent-worth review.
It is an entertaining little romp in the world of the Bionicle. Some kids were amazed to see their favourite toys brought to life onscreen. The animators manage to take some liberties in adding some features to the characters for obvious reasons (i.e. adding fingers to the hands, slight mask modifications to allow mouth movement...) while maintaining the spirit of the Bionicle. And the story is good for a kid-oriented movie. Adults would be able to watch it with their children without feeling bored.
As pleasant this movie has been, there are a few issues that brought the score down. First is the art and animation. As great as it may be, I have found some of the design and scenarios to be uneven. An example would be a scene where a character pokes her head out of the water near the top of a waterfall. As the raging water comes rushing, the head does not seem to be affected by the flow of water. There is no water turbulence, splash or drag animated around the head. There is barely a ripple. After seeing the movie, I do not understand why more details where added, since the rest of the movie was of an above average quality.
Also, the story seems to have some holes that do not explain certain plot details. Sometimes a character would just suddenly KNOW something out of the blue, without any explanation on how he/she got to that conclusion. At other times, heroes would conveniently appear during critical situations without explaining why and how. Things like this makes you scratch your head and wonder if you have missed something. After seeing the movies four times, I still do not have all my questions answered.
But despite all this, the movie entertains us. The characters are more than cardboard, bland figures based on toys. They have emotions, personalities and behaviours that make you forget that this movie is based on a Lego product. The music is also well delivered, with a good quality orchestra. Although not memorable, the main theme may echo in your head for a while.
In my book, for a first movie from Lego and Miramax, the producers did a good job. Here`s hoping that there will be more.
Movie Review: WHAT THE...?
Summary: 3 Stars
OK, Bionicle fans skip this review because I'm about to insult this movie--bigtime.
This movie makes ABSOLUTELY no sense. Unless, of course, you have been a fan since you're two and have every bit of Bionicle paraphernalia in creation--comic books, T-shirts, posters, figures, movies, the whole nine yards. Even then, there are a couple of things...
For instance: where are the other Toa (Lewa, Kopaka, Onua) and Matoran at the Kohli game? And, why WEREN'T they there in the first place? What are totems? Do you have to go over to read them, or are they a sign of danger that one sees from afar? A lot of things are just NEVER explained in the whole thing! The mask powers and weapons just get more and more random throughout the film, not to mention the powers of the Rahkshi (sorry for misspellings).
And, why a character who would jump across lava JUST to look at a stupid totem that he can see from meters away WOULDN'T agree to carry a mask is beyond me. If he thought he could just stay back and record life from the sidelines, then they should have (gasp!) EXPLAINED IT--something that seems to be beyond the filmmakers. If they'd wanted THAT effect, h shouldn't have been going across the lava at all. Just because they needed the plot to move forward DOESN'T mean they should have discarded the minute traces of personality they actually HAD placed in the characters.
The music was OK, but it sounded very Lord-of-the-Rings-esque .
The animation? The horror... The sheer horror of it all... JUST because a movie is in three dimensions does NOT mean that you don't have to do what other movies have to do--tell a story, show personalities, and above all----MAKE IT BELEIVABLE!!!! The characters in this just don't work. The random, unnecessary gestures they add to make the characters more interesting are the marks of truly horrid actors.
In short------
If you want a good movie, go somewhere else.
If you're a Bionicle fan, enjoy.
(I STILL can't understand all the five-star reviews for this......Yet another mystery of----"The BIONICLE"...)
Movie Review: Can YOU Say 'Lord Of The Rings???'
Summary: 3 Stars
I didn't notice it at first, what with running back and forth to the kitchen filling everyone's requests, until my husband pointed out that this is a (VERY) cheap animated knock-off of Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings'. Now that I think about it, it is more like half LOTR and half Star Wars. It starts out with a young robot jumping from rock to rock across a river of lava in order to see what a 'totem' (rock) on the other side says. When he reaches it, he accidentally drops it in the lava, only to have the rock coating burn off to reveal The Mask of Light.... After doing a kitchen run, I get back to see the same robot in some sort of contest against other robots (= pod racing). Next kitchen run, he and another young robot/droid were riding on the back of a crab shaped robot that is supposed to be equal to a human's dog through a lush forest, in an attempt to get the Mask of Light out of their city, and run into a 'superior' robot resembling either Aragorn or Legolas and is the ruler of air..... While they are away, three robots from another race smash a hole in the ground and are racing towards the city on what could be Darth Mauls' Sith speeder, and engage in combat with the ruler of fire using two knives that shoot light out of them resembling lightsabres. Need I say more?I didn't particularly like this movie, but what the heck; both my kids (soon to be 3 and 5 this coming June) seem to enjoy it a lot. At least it is pretty non-violent considering no one on either side gets hurt, and there isn't any gore whatsoever. So it can't be that bad.