Randomness Inc.

Ninjago; the Show vs. the Movie

Now stay with me here. I know the Lego Ninjago movie came out last year in September. And I understand that it is a point of topic many people have lightly brushed on, and then left to be forgotten. 

However, as a long-time fan of this show, I feel honor bound to have at least one chapter dedicated to it. It was the very first cartoon I watched which wasn't entirely PG, like 3-2-1 Penguins or VeggieTales. I may have just revealed my age by mentioning those two shows, but whatever; the point stands that Ninjago introduced me to the wonder of shows based off action, taught me how to develop characters even when you may not have the most time with them, and dragged me through emotional roller coasters with each plot twist it threw at you. 

You would think someone who is so attached to the series would have gone out of their way to see the movie in theaters, but this was not the case for me. Not only was I in the midst of a particularly trying college term, but the commercials scared me. I was aghast that they were not only replacing the ninjas character design, but their voices and personality as well. Filled with dread in regards to it, I decided to avoid watching it for as long as possible...but a few days ago, I finally struck up the nerve to watch it. 

And, oh boy, do I have some strong opinions on this movie. 
To start off with, let me introduce the main points which I shall be judging the series and movie on. Plot, Music, Characters, Voice Actors, and Art. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's start with analyzing the TV show. 
Ninjago: the show

Plot: In the first season, the story started out simply enough. Kai, or the red ninja, lived in a blacksmith shop with his sister, where they followed the same career as their father had and sold weapons and armor. One day however, their village is attacked by skeleton warriors, who seem to be fixated on the very shop the two of them work at. At first the two young ones fight them off pretty well, especially when the wise man known as Sensei Wu comes; but in the end the skeletons end up abducting Nya, Kai's sister. This leaves Kai with a furious desire for revenge and to get his sister back, which is just what Wu needs in order to convince Kai to join his team of ninja. The plot then begins to become more complex from there, as it is revealed that the ninja must gather the four golden weapons in order to stop the mastermind behind the skeleton attacks, Garmadon...and it is later revealed that the weapons are needed to awaken their elemental powers as well. 

Each season adds more villains and detailed storylines to the lore, including snake tribes, stone warriors and an Overlord, even robots or "nin-droids" along with ghosts. There are usually more weapons for the ninja to collect as well, whether they be fangblades, jade blades, or even technoblades. After a while it becomes a little tacky, since practically every villain becomes defeated in the same manner. But old villains do come back in newer episodes, and they will not hesitate to make references to past battles that new fans may not catch. This is important because it makes the story feel real, instead of just redoing everything each season. 

For instance, take a look at the Fairy (fairly?) Oddparents. Timmy keeps getting himself into dangerous situation after dangerous situation, often in equally ridiculous ways; but he never really learns from his mistakes. In fact, I even caught him wishing for the same thing that he'd already wished for in a prior episode once. Little inconsistencies like that harm a show and solidify the knowledge that it's merely a commercially driven creation of some corporate industry. 

But simple touches that are taken in Ninjago, like Kai starting to become more soft-spoken and understanding towards his teammates, Nya learning about mechanics through her knowledge of blacksmithing and the various times she'd been left alone on Destiny's Bounty, Cole starting to relax more after his father approved his lifestyle and openly showing traits besides being a ninja...these are small things, for sure, but important nonetheless. There are more examples of this, such as when Zane offered up his life for his friends and Jay chooses to let a djinn torture him rather than put Nya in harms way; but most of the best cases of this are also huge spoilers, so I won't reveal them. 

Overall: The plot is mediocre at times, but it shows a great example of what a good kids show should have; stories with overarching plots and action that doesn't try to hide the fact that sometimes bad things occur.