Two featurettes have recently been released for the second spinoff of The Lego Movie.
At first glance, The Lego Ninjago Movie is already familiar. A hybrid of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Transformers and an animated Power Rangers, it’s clear this film is hoping to be as wildly successful as the flagship The Lego Movie. It’s the first film based solely off of LEGO property in the form of a preexisting toy line called ‘LEGO Ninjago’. It’s also an animated television show with seven seasons because… well why not?
The film stars the voices of Jackie Chan, Dave Franco, Justin Theroux, Abbi Jacobson and more acting heavyweights. It’s about a high school student named Lloyd (Franco) who moonlights as a ninja while having a villainous father (Theroux) threatening to destroy the city of Ninjago. It’s a little more than one teenager can handle, which is why he has five ninja friends to help him out. Also, his uncle/mentor is Jackie Chan, which is obviously a staple to learning any form of martial arts.
Not only do these ninjas have powers, but they have ‘mechs’, which are pretty much Transformers that they ride around on.
In an amusing move, with slightly confusing results, one featurette is styled like an animated behind-the-scenes mockumentary of the film. Riddled with meta, ‘Behind the Bricks’ showcases the animated characters talking about their own roles in the movie. Master Wu (Chan) saying “I’m a fanboy” – because he likes the LEGO movies – is enough to give you an idea. It also includes dabbing and the song ‘Despacito’; just in case you didn’t know the the film release is happening in 2017. If this latest movie is anything like The Lego Movie, making fun of itself and popular culture in general is totally intentional.
The second featurette ‘Kicks & Bricks’ shows the real-life actors introducing each of their characters and their roles in the squad. There’s everything from the hothead (aptly the fire ninja) to the one who is just incapable of being ‘cool’. It seems they’ve hit most of the stereotypes on the head with this one. The footage also shows the cast having a good time together and improvising a bunch of their lines. Both of the featurettes can be found below.
Destined to fill the waking thoughts of LEGO-obsessed kids (and adults) across the nation, it won’t be long until we see if this film lives up to the hype and spurns a whole new frenzy of merchandising sales.
The Lego Ninjago Movie hits Australian cinemas on September 21st.
