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lisascorner · 2 months ago

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don't hide this in the tags honey this is TRUTH. people fail to realise that the lego ninjago movie is an okay movie, but NOT. a good ninjago movie. if you went in knowing NOTHING about ninjago you wouldn't bat an eye at the movie. but many people went in KNOWING.

(this is an extremely long rant. cutting this for your eyes normies)

and then you have the drastic difference between references made in the lego movie and the lego batman movie as compared to tlnm. lego batman was crafted with SO MUCH LOVE to the point where people seriously considered lego batman. LEGO BATMAN. the most faithful adaptation and the most accurate depiction of batman.

and you couldn't do the same?? FOR YOUR OWN IP THAT *YOU* MADE?? be so for real.

fans weren't mad at the state of the movie. it was an okay movie. fans were mad at what could've been. so much material and so many opportunities to make references, missed.

the BIGGEST question of all is why the writers did this. i'm not saying it was the hageman brothers' fault, they might not have as much authority and liberty as they did with the show since they didn't actually WRITE the screenplay. many of the actual writers and directors, however, were IN the lego batman movie and i guess they couldn't care enough for ninjago to give, even remotely, what fans of the show wanted. because they gave ALL their fucks to batman. i don't blame them either. it's batman.

also to be perfectly clear i am totally okay with them deviating from the original plot of the show as a whole! in fact, i LOVED the characterisation that they gave to lloyd in the movie! i'm a LLOYD FANGIRL how could i not like it? garmadon was so charming too. but i thought, at the very least, there would maybe be side characters from the series living a totally different life.

think of the barbie movie. it's not like we got a continuation of ANY of the previous barbie movies that mattel produced. but there were references littered EVERYWHERE, nodding to long-time fans whilst introducing new fans to barbie (which tbh, i dont even know who would be new fans since everyone knows about barbie). posters, items, dialogue, there are so many ways to go about this.

actually, the lego batman movie is the PERFECT example. i have NEVER watched a dc movie before watching this on the plane. i knew batman existed, i knew the popularity of its franchise, but i never delved deep into it. but lego batman was truly one of the most well-crafted love letters to old fans of batman, while also being one of the best movie PERIOD. they might not be canon to the comics, and they kinda did their own thing. but that didn't stop the writers from making such a wonderful story about found family and presenting it in such a way that endears so many people's hearts. both old and new fans of the batman franchise all sung its high praises.

so this brings us back to tlnm. you have a concept, an idea that wants to be entirely detached from the show. that's okay!

oh, are we bringing back all six ninja? oh YES!

we will have them all introduced and given them flatter characters as compared to the show in order to save time. okay, i understand. it's a movie after all, and its run time definitely won't be as long as the show's, that's for sure!

alright then, let's focus on the relationship between lloyd and garmadon! they've been a debated topic for ages and we should capitalise on that to get old and new fans! alright, fantastic premise!

also, let's put in like five references to the original show in a movie with a runtime of 1 hour and 41 minutes!

...what?

lego batman had 1 hour and 44 minutes of runtime. a mere 4 minute difference. and THEY had references to LEGO NINJAGO MASTERS OF SPINJITZU. IN A LEGO BATMAN MOVIE.

do you see where i'm going with this? there's more references within the BLOOPERS than the actual movie. that should be seen in the cinema, not at home where a poor ninjago fan is scouring the internet for the tiniest reference in the movies to the show. that person was me btw.

i'm not a connoisseur in writing. i'm your average fanfiction writer. but this movie, to me, was like i was reading an au fanfic on wattpad written by someone who had maybe watched the first two seasons of ninjago. or heck, maybe only up till the point where it was revealed that lloyd had golden powers, because that was one of the few references back to the show that actually got put into the movie.

during the movie, i was actually a pretty new fan. i had joined at around s6 or 7, when the show wasn't even at its peak. its peak, as many fans would say, would be s5. but i got hooked onto the show anyway and i binged all the seasons. safe to say, i hyperfixated on this stupid franchise all the way up til season 11. that's how long it was. it was the longest-running fandom i was properly in.

i was one of if not THE most excited fan for the movie. i bought the movie novel. i rewatched the trailers OVER and OVER again. the fridge fight scene was permanently ingrained in my head, and i thought to myself, if this was the level of fighting choreo that the movie was put at, i was going to watch it. heck, i have lloyd's fucking mech dragon! i begged for that shit. my parents were in the lego store looking at the price tag sheepishly. $99.90. do you know how many meals $99.90 could buy? and they got it for me. i was the happiest kid in the world before this movie released.

and then this movie released.

i had noticed that the trailers were nothing like the movie novel––okay, i understand, since the novel was just "inspired" and not a "retelling". but then the trailer ALSO wasn't at all in the movie? and was actually just deleted scenes? WHAT???

i walked out of the theatre with mixed reactions. i was NOT expecting mixed reactions. i was expecting myself to not want to get out of my seat, to tell the movie to not stop there. but i didn't. i walked. and walked and walked and walked until i reached the nearby lego store, and nearly broke down looking at the sets.

the sets were PHENOMENAL. jam-packed with nods here and there to supporting characters throughout the show. i was a ninjago city set MASTER. i watched videos and videos and videos of it before. what could've been in the movie, but they decided to put it in the sets? why???

this type of marketing is just reminding me of transformers one. TERRIBLE marketing. in the depths, with bumblebee bumbling around like a bumbling fool. but the movie was FANTASTIC. it was nothing at all like the trailers. AND IT WAS GOOD.

unfortunately, tlnm had the opposite effect. mind you, they were expecting a box office of $27-44 million. and after the first day as of its release, the bar dropped down to $21 million. a whopping $6 million drop.

you could argue it was because kingsman: the golden circle was debuted around the same time. that they already had a dedicated fanbase, waiting for the next instalment of the series.

what other movie had a dedicated fanbase waiting for the next instalment of the series? that's RIGHT. ninjago.

the lego ninjago movie had great marketing. great sets, but the movie itself was just...okay for normal viewers. people who have never seen transformers went to watch transformers one, because all of the transformers fans urged their friends to watch it with them, and everyone liked it. despite the abhorrent marketing, transformers one still has a better place in the transformers fandom that tlnm does in its own.

good marketing can only take you so far. the movie itself has to STAND ON ITS OWN in order to make it a piece of art that people want to keep coming back to watch. i have never, EVER wanted to rewatch that damn movie, if not for actually getting material to write fanfics surrounding it, i never would've rewatched it. i'm someone who doesn't delve into movies that much either, and i usually only watch a movie if i'm acquainted with the franchise. but for the ones that i have watched that are stand alones: the greatest showman. a few other chinese shows none of you know. zootopia. inside out. these examples are not part of established franchises, but i walked out of the cinema SATISFIED and HAPPY.

there's a reason why tlnm is the lowest opening movie in the lego franchise. do you understand how sad that is?

this quote from an article encompasses this feeling fully.

"If you have a great brand, protect it, be precious about it, while not diluting it in its exploitation. Employees at Marvel and Pixar likely have that creed tattooed somewhere on their bodies. Ninjago is significantly less brilliant according to critics than the huzzah that was The Lego Movie." "The wane in reviewers’ attitude between Lego films is quite apparent. When the 2014 release hit theaters, Time’s Richard Corliss beamed, “Take the kids to The LEGO Movie – the funniest, cleverest, most exhaustingly exhilarating animated feature in ages – then leave them to play with their toys and see it again for your own wicked amusement.” Compare this to A.O. Scott’s review of Ninjago in the New York Times: “I’m sorry to report that the Lego movie enterprise has lapsed into intentional mediocrity”." – Anthony D'Alessandro, box office editor/editorial director, from Deadline Hollywood.

intentional mediocrity.

INTENTIONAL MEDIOCRITY.

i think i've said enough. sorry for the long rant this has been boiling in my head for the past seven years and i never had the guts to publish it online.

thanks for listening to my ted talk.

i don't like the fact that we're getting a live-action ninjago. but if they're gonna do it, they'd better do it right and get writers who have actually SEEN ninjago and LIKE ninjago. please. PLEASE

#ninjago #lego ninjago #ninjago movie spoilers #tlnm spoilers #tlnm #the lego ninjago movie #lego ninjago movie

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