Top 5 LEGO movie ideas!

Gee whilickers, Batman! Three blog posts in a row about LEGO movies! But what can I say? I've been in a very LEGO-y mood recently. And I was thinking, what with both the original The LEGO Movie and it's spin-off The LEGO Batman Movie being major successes and The LEGO Ninjago Movie on the horizon, what kind of movies should LEGO tackle next? So today I'll be counting my Top 5 LEGO Movie Ideas/Concepts/Things!



Before we get started, I just want to point out that this post is mostly just for fun (so don't take it too seriously), but if any of these movies wind up happening, then I am psychic apparently.

No. 5!



The LEGO Benny Movie. Benny is currently tied with another character I'll get to later for the "Spencer's Favorite character from The LEGO Movie" award. So giving him his own movie would be awesome, at least in my opinion. Like just send Benny on a space adventure or something, and you have the plot right there! Or for the sake of being really meta, have Benny meet/team up with Space Core from Portal 2 (because they're both obsessed with outer space, and LEGO does have the rights to make LEGO Portal stuff as evidenced by the mega-crossover game LEGO Dimensions). 'Tis a Recipe for success it be! Why am I suddenly talking like a pirate? I dunno, Oooh! Make the villain a space pirate! Space + Pirates = awesomeness!

No. 4!

 

The LEGO Bionicle Movie. Bionicle is considered by many to be the best franchise LEGO has (and they created this from scratch. Bonus points for originality!). As for a potential plot, they could do a lot of things considering the insanely deep lore surrounding this franchise. It would be the most different due to not having a single minifigure in the whole because the characters are all giant (brick-built) robots. Although for the sake of nostalgia factor it would be best to focus on the original six main heroes (Tahu, Lewa, Kopaka, Pohatu, Gali, and Onua). And should they focus on the original six, please make Gali sound like a girl again. There's a Netflix cartoon focusing on the 2015 redesigned versions of the original six and for some inexplicable reason Gali had a very male sounding voice in that cartoon (last time I checked, I haven't watched it in a while). It's especially jarring because she's one of the few female Bionicle characters. But still! A LEGO Bionicle movie would be a treat and would probably make millions of dollah dollah bills overnight due to the franchise's sheer popularity.

No. 3!



Okay, so hear me out. The only reason I want a LEGO Legends of Chima Movie is because they already are working on The LEGO Ninjago Movie. And Legends of Chima is effectively the yin to Ninjago's yang. Although, I will admit that while Ninjago is better (in my eyes) than Chima, the TV show itself wasn't THAT bad. One of the biggest problems with the show (in my opinion) was the voice acting, on some days it was on point, other days it was extremely cheesy. But seeing how LEGO got a brand new voice cast for The LEGO Ninjago Movie, they could easily do the same here. As for a potential plot, I think taking partial inspiration from very first season of the show would be they're best bet. For those of you who didn't watch the show, the general plot takes place in the titular world which has anthropomorphic animals that rapidly evolved thanks to the aforementioned Chi, with the spotlight being on a lion prince named Laval (who totally ISN'T a shameless rip-off of Lion'O from Thundercats) and his friends protect that oh so valuable Chi from falling into the wrong hands.

No. 2!



Now I know what you're thinking. "Spencer, a LEGO Doctor Who Movie wouldn't work!". Actually it CAN work. How is that possible? Because 1) Not only is there an entire level (technically two) themed around Doctor Who in LEGO Dimensions, but there's also the fact that one of the most iconic villains in the show (everyone's favorite ex-TERM-in-ATE-ors the Daleks) make a cameo in The LEGO Batman Movie, as they're among the "uber" villains the Joker recruits to destroy Gotham City and in turn earn Batman's respect. But if LEGO makes a LEGO Doctor Who Movie (it probably won't but this is my list of LEGO movies I want to see happen, dangit!) that would make me very happy since Doctor Who is my favorite TV Show ever. But still, this one has probably the lowest chances of actually happening. But a nerd can dream, can't he?

NUMBER ONE!!!



And the reward for "Spencer's favorite character from The LEGO Movie" goes to... Unikitty, the living personification of cuteness herself. Why do I want a LEGO Unikitty Movie? One, she and Benny are my favorite characters and if a licensed character (Batman) could get his own LEGO movie then Benny and Unikitty can get their own movie too. And Two, her body is made of both regular LEGO pieces and DUPLO pieces (DUPLO being targeted at ages 3 years and younger), which is both a really nice design and slightly ironic considering how the original LEGO Movie ended. As for the potential plot, I have absolutely no idea. But let's be honest, all this hypothetical movie has to do to be good in my book is take the Unikitty I know and love and turn that up to eleven.

And that's all the ideas I can think of that will probably be massive cash cows on the opening weekend. And I'm content with this kind of cash cow, because the LEGO movies we've seen so far are really, really good. Also, I am sorry for making three LEGO related posts in a row on my blog, but like I said, I've been in a very LEGO-y mood as of late but I promise that my next post won't have anything to do with LEGO, in case you're burnt out on it.

P.S. I just now realized that Unikitty's name is a portmanteau of "unicorn" and "kitty". Well played, LEGO, well played...

The LEGO Ninjago Movie!?

Well, it finally happened. After releasing The LEGO Movie back in 2014 and releasing a spin-off film titled The LEGO Batman Movie, LEGO is using it's newfound movie making talents to effectively become the new Pixar... And by that I mean they announced they're making yet ANOTHER LEGO movie...



The LEGO Ninjago Movie. This is yet another spin-off of The LEGO Movie, but rather than focusing more on one of the supporting characters like The LEGO Batman Movie did, it instead focuses on a character who literally had a 5-second long cameo, Lloyd Garmadon, from Ninjago.



"But wait!" you ask. "What on Earth is Ninjago!?". It's actually a franchise LEGO created themselves back in 2011, releasing toys, comics, and even a cartoon that you can watch on Netflix right now. It also is one of their most popular series ever, right behind Bionicle in sheer popularity. And I've been on the Ninjago hype train basically since it came out because I love ninja and at the time I was a huge LEGO fanboy that bought ludicrous amounts of pieces to build increasingly bizarre stuff, like the time I turned a LEGO version of Spongebob's Pineapple House into a helicopter with rotating blades that actually rotated! Unfortunately, it broke last time I moved, and now I can't remember how I even managed to do that... So sad... But the point is even after 6 years, I still love this franchise and I'm not the only one that loves it, considering it's the second most popular LEGO brand ever.

 

For those of you whose knowledge of Ninjago is virtually non-existent, Ninjago follows the adventures of a group of ninja who have to protect the titular city from evil forces, and by evil forces I mean LORD Garmadon, and if the surname is any clue, Lloyd is actually Lord Garmadon's son. It's also worth noting that for quite awhile in the TV Show Lloyd wasn't the main hero, that role could arguably be given to Kai, the Red Ninja. But the moment Lloyd gets ninja powers he basically stole the role of main hero. At least until season 5 for reasons I will not spoil.



The thing about Ninjago is that it's story is a little bit cliche, but not necessarily boring. I mean, sure, the TV Show really likes using Macguffins (Macguffins being collectible items that hold some kind of importance or power) to advance the story, but in a weird kind of way Ninjago does it's cliches right. But as I am a massive story junkie (lore, backstories, and puns are like vitamins for me), I WILL critique this movie if it winds up using ANY of the cliches from the TV Show, because no matter how well made a cliche storm is, it's lack of originality will make this movie boring, which is even worse than being bad. At least if a movie is bad, people will whine about how bad it is. If a movie is boring or forgettable, then nobody talks about it at all. Now don't get me wrong, I do love Ninjago, since the show is both funny and has some surprisingly good visual effects. But although Ninjago has rightfully earned it's fanbase, I simply can't ignore any issues it has just because it's a sacred cow among LEGO fans. Critiquing Legends of Chima is okay, but say you don't like Ninjago and you will face the wrath of a thousand angry Ninjago fans.



On a more positive note, the voice acting here is vastly superior to the TV Show's voice acting. This appears to be a rather unpopular opinion, because all the Ninjago fans are whining about how the new voice actors don't fit the characters at all, but I love this movie's voice acting. But then again, getting Jackie Chan to voice Sensei Wu was a brilliant move as far as casting goes. And I already have high hopes for this film because it fixes the biggest problem I have with the TV Show, which is Lloyd's voice. When Lloyd made his debut, he was a six-year-old kid, which was fine, because at the time, his voice fit him both as a character and it was believable for a child his age to have his kind of voice. But two seasons later and Lloyd gets aged up, becoming eye-level with most of the adult characters and becoming much more mature and grown-up. Only problem? HE STILL HAS THE EXACT SAME VOICE HE HAD WHEN HE WAS SIX, EVEN AFTER HE GOES THROUGH PUBERTY. It's so painfully difficult to take him seriously, all because LEGO didn't want to bring in an older actor to play the role of Teen!Lloyd. Not in The LEGO Ninjago Movie! They had the brains to bring in an actor that actually SOUNDS like a teenager! Which is what Lloyd is! It makes me so happy that they took the time to "fix" Lloyd's voice.



Also, as this movie revolves around ninja, I think we can agree that judging from the trailer alone, this movie will have, objectively, the best fight scenes we've seen from LEGO yet. We get a brief shot of Sensei Wu and Lord Garmadon duking it out in a bamboo forest (which has realistic bamboo, oddly enough), Lloyd fighting some of Lord Garmadon's minions while holding a baby in one arm and using a refrigerator door to fend off enemies with the other, and the fact that all six main ninja get really cool looking mecha (pictured below).

 

Also, Lloyd's mecha is a giant robotic Chinese Dragon. Which is inherently awesome. I mean, Kai gets a MegaZord-esque robot with flamethrowers for hands, Nya gets a robo-spider looking thing. Cole gets a robot with a single wheel in the place of legs, Jay gets a fighter jet, and Zane gets a tank, but we can all agree that Lloyd's robo-dragon is the coolest mecha shown thus far.

So basically, I am very excited to see The LEGO Ninjago Movie because I can already tell just from the one trailer that it fixes the biggest problem I personally have with the TV Show (Lloyd's voice). But since it isn't coming out until September 22, 2017 as of the writing of this post, I would like to put down some predictions/wishlist for this movie.

1. I know a lot of people hate this character, but bring in Derrith. While everyone hates him for being a bit of an idiot, I actually liked the fact that he wasn't the brightest sword in the ninja armory, and as a comic relief character I found him to be quite funny.
2. Although I still stand by my statement of The LEGO Ninjago Movie having the best fight scenes in a LEGO movie yet (judging from just one trailer, mind), the trailer didn't show Spinjitzu, which is a thing the six main ninja can do where they literally transform into tornadoes made of whatever element that ninja can control (think of Spinjitzu as Bending from Avatar: The Last Airbender), like Kai, the fire ninja, can transform into a tornado made of flames (the other elements being Earth, Lightning, Ice, and... Whatever Lloyd is... Like it's really vague on what Lloyd's element even is, some folks say it's Light, others say it's Energy, it's really confusing). They don't have to add this in the movie, but it's one of the franchise's biggest staples.
3. Give me Pythor P. Chumsworth please. By far the coolest antagonist the show ever had, this anthropomorphic anaconda with a spiffy British accent was a really entertaining villain. Like, include him at the end of the movie in a "AND THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES", Incredibles style ending where after Lord Garmadon is defeated Pythor's like "Let's conquer Ninjago, chaps!" and summons the Serpentine. I mean, LEGO has no choice but to include the Serpentine at some point, since they were actually really cool. And if they include the Serpentine, they have no choice BUT to include Pythor, since Pythor is the leader of the Serpentine to begin with.
4. This is by far the most important prediction/wishlist item that I want in this movie. Play "The Weekend Whip" by The Fold (aka the theme song for the TV Show). If they don't play this song, it will forever ruin the movie. Why? Because you gotta JUMP UP, KICK BACK, WHIP AROUND AND SPIN!!!
5. Considering that Lloyd is a hero and his father is a villain, I'm expecting a painfully obvious Star Wars reference to be in the movie. Of course, it doesn't HAVE to be in there, but let's be honest, Lloyd is basically a dragon-riding ninja version of Luke Skywalker, while Lord Garmadon is basically a four-armed-zombie-samurai-thing version of Darth Vader.

So LEGO, if you haven't finished working on this movie and you're reading this very blog post, please put everything I listed just now into the movie, especially "Weekend Whip".

Oh, and that LEGO humor is still in the movie, if the trailer is any indication. Also, it's a small thing but I find the fact that Lloyd has his father's phone number saved on his Iphone as "Evil Dad". I also find the fact that Lloyd has his father's phone number saved on his phone at all to be hilarious since Lloyd literally ranted about how his father ruined his life mere seconds before that scene.

The LEGO Ninjago Movie is currently scheduled for a September 22nd release. And once I see the full movie, you can bet that I will review the full movie.