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Bionicle: Mask of Light (2003) (V) More at IMDbPro »

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16 reviews in total

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Annoying but fun, 4 January 2008

Author: cameron-burn from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

As a true Bionicle fan who prefers the newer style of writing in the bionicle saga, it was great to watch my younger brothers Bionicles:Mask of light film again as it brought back sweet memories. But as sweet as those memories maybe, now I am older I can truly understand the complexity of the amazing storyline that Greg Farshtey,( author of the bionicle books and comics) managed to craft together here. It is ashame that the complexity of the storyline is halted by some rather poorly directed scenes which involve Takua and Jaller(yet to be Toa Inika/Mahri)just aimlessly searching for the7th toa when Takua is thee 7th toa! Yes, I agree, this is the most kiddiest and most "fun" of the bionicle movies because at that time the directors didn't expect adults to enjoy bionicles just as much as children do.

This film is great in terms of a nice style of animation which improves throughout the films and lots of great locations to ponder on in the great island of Mata Nui as well as the brilliant storyline and imaginative characters. What also stuns me about this film is the vibrant colours and sounds which make it so fun and wonderful too watch.

However, every good has its bad, and there are just as much bads in this film as goods. For instance, the rahkshi are horribly wrong and look completely different from the toys and the voice acting is so annoying! Plus the ending goes on too long and the director just hasn't made it interesting enough with not enough action and too much just standing there doing nothing pointless scenes. The Toa Nuva aren't in it enough and Takua is too annoying for a 7th toa so I was glad when he didn't appear in future bionicle storeys.

Now as I finish these comments I am left to ponder on the annoying drone of "Takua! Takua!"

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
pretty decent all around(3D animation is pretty good)but could have been better, 10 June 2007

Author: disdressed12 from Canada

i guess i didn't mind this movie.i mean,it is enjoyable and the animation is well done.the story is simple,yet muddled at times,if that makes any sense.there are a lot of different characters in this one,and it's kind of hard to keep track,at times.there is lots of action and adventure.i found the ending anti-climatic.this is the first of three movies in the "Bionicle series",and though i haven't seen the 2nd and 3rd yet,i suspect this one is a stand alone adventure.anyway,it's an entertaining 3D animated movie,though i wouldn't call it stellar,by any means.it's pretty fast paced,but short in its running time(less than 80 minutes.nevertheless,i think there are many more positives than negatives.i'm giving "Bionicle: Mask of light" a 7/10

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For Bionicle Fans, 22 October 2006
Author: Safari-1969 from Northeastern United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I used to be a hardcore fan of Bionicle. Even though I am not really that much of a fan anymore due to new storyline, this movie is still and enjoyable CGI film. Good animation, although the characters are modified versions of the actual toys. The old CGI Bionicle commercials however look better than the film.

Acting is okay, it's basically a direct-to-video release that coincides with the ending of the first saga which was in late 2003. Then it would go to Metru Nui in 2004.

There were some funny parts and very good action. Overall, a 9.0, it's a very good CGI film, and it's for Bionicle fans.

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Awesome animation and great story, 5 December 2005

Author: zahel_krest from Mexico

When i saw the action figures by Lego, i thought that the story of bionicle was going to be thrash, but i was wrong. The movie "The Mask of Llight" is an superb adventure of faith, redemption and courage. The characters are really charismatic, so you can see this movie once and again. The design of the toa and the other characters is really stylish, and you wont feel disappointed about that. I can recommend you this movie because i love it, and if you like the epic stories about courage and friendship, take a look on this....you wont regret that.

But i need to be realistic. If you just like toi see blood, raw stories or you need to listen a bad word each 10 minutes, then you must find another movie, because this is amovie for kids and teenagers....

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Lord of the Rings in a New Light: The Mask of Criticism, 28 July 2005

Author: Westernesse8 from United States

Though I can enjoy this movie at certain bright points in the acting, it is not an original storyline. The whole conclusion of my fandom for the first Toa was not very satisfying, but I liked it. I hope Lego can do better in story and in acting in the future. I must say the visual fire-works were amazing. I don't think anyone could boast of doing better. If criticism was cattle, I'd have a herd for this movie. But there were bright points that were worth the painful while. Michael Dobson probably had the best vocal performance out of all. His Kopaka was what balanced the good and bad performances in the film. Here comes the criticism. My main animation criticism is the gestures mostly of Tahu. Tahu was very womanly, in gestures and lines, and I found it a little amusing. Pohatu and Onua seemed to wait a little too patiently for each others lines. Gali overacted by minor degrees. Lewa was good and basic, and a little Mata-nui religious. Takua was a little over dramatic at times, but that was expected. Kopaka had a few flaws at first meeting. Music was cunningly Bionicle, and it is one of the highest rises, and you forget it is there, which smooths out rough spots. All of it together makes a feast for longing fan eyes, but not always their ears. This is a story for the faint of heart. This is Mata-nui's Lord of the Rings.

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Not bad at all for it's target audience, 5 October 2003
Author: bruce-kristie from Indiana

First I need to say that I know way more about Bionicles that any adult should. I have an autistic son and anyone who knows autism knows that obssessive compulsive behavior comes with it. Well, his obsession (one of them anyway) is Bionicle. I know their names, their skills, where they come from, you name it. You can't go into any room in my house without stepping on a Bionicle. Anyway, I of course had to get the dvd the day it came out and was as excited as my son to watch it. The animation is first rate for a direct-to-video movie. Of course it's not Pixar but it wasn't supposed to be. The storyline is somewhat juvenile and you definately need to know the backstory to know what the heck is going on but the target audience is juveniles who know the story. All in all I liked it. After repeated viewings I'm getting a little tired of it but my son and our other kids do enjoy it and I think it's a well made movie that delivers what it promises. It never claims to be more than it is and from what I've seen on tv and the web, they aren't trying to push it on anyone other than Bionicle fans. I have to give LEGO some credit for that. They know who is going to like it and they're happy with that.

If you or your kids like the toys then the movie is for you. If you don't, well, wait for Finding Nemo.

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1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Odd virtues, 8 October 2003

Author: Delysid from Vancouver, BC, Canada

Not a terrible film -- my 10 year old boy loved it, and he would be the target demographic, so I guess they hit the spot. Pretty dull for an adult though.

Hard to relate to animated lego characters, even mod high-tech ones.

I thought the choice of the three great virtues of the Bionicle world was a bit odd -- unity, duty, and destiny. Am I the only one who thinks those sound just a bit fascistic? Especially destiny. What about freedom, equality, justice, etc.?

Oh well, it will sell Lego. Kind of dull for a movie, but not bad for a 74-minute advertisement. Could have been a lot worse.

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3 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Just barely watchable for non-fans, 12 March 2004

Author: Grann-Bach (Grann-Bach@jubii.dk) from Denmark

Before I saw this, I thought it wouldn't matter much if I didn't know the characters beforehand. I was wrong. I could barely follow the story, which annoyed me, since it was so simple that it hurts. The plot is OK, but unless you're a fan of Bionicle, you won't really care about it; it spends too little time telling us who these characters are, or giving us reasons to like them, or care for them. I realize that this is a children's movie, but it should have been better; most Disney movies give you characters to care about. The acting varied from decent to very bad. The characters were OK, but too many of them seemed to be there just for the sake of comic relief(on a side-note, why did one of the Toa's talk like Yoda?). The CGI is mostly OK, but at times it descends into mediocrity. Something I found repetitively annoying was how the animators kept trying to give these characters with barely any facial features at all emotion; it just doesn't work, when the eyes are lights and the face is a metal surface. Light and metal can't convey emotions like human actors can. They should have realized that, and put more action in it instead. With all that said, the action was the most entertaining thing in this movie, especially the fight at the end. Apart from that, this movie has very little to offer to non-fans of Bionicle, and if you get around to watching this, you'll be happy that it's only 70 minutes, because you won't be able to sit through any more of it when it's done. 5/10

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4 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Bionicle Rules, 23 April 2005

Author: bound-to-sanzo from United Kingdom

I'm a huge fan of Bionicle when it first appeared as a Lego creation. The movie previews didn't appeal to me at first, but when I did watch it, I'm glad I did! The story line is a bit young, but the over all effect is fantastic! The characters each have their own unique personalities, which can be related to while watching. The animation is absolutely brilliant, I would love to work on something like that.

If you loved the movie, then I suggest reading the books of Bionicle. Their short and easy to understand, but they are a good read.

My favourite character would be Tahu and Jaller. Tahu, the brave but impatient hero, leads the group but can cause trouble along the way.

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0 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Reasonable, 19 May 2004

Author: MattHorton from Earth

I'm an avid fan of Bionicle, and when I got the movie in September I was excited. I watched the movie, and had lots of different reactions. The movie was genuinely overall good, with some okay action and some nice landscape. I liked most of it. But did the actors have to all be Americans? It makes it sound like there's only Americans on Mata Nui, and did the bodies need to be quite so warped? I don't mind the hands, because they're needed, but the mouthes, muscles and eyebrows are unnecessary for the movie. And it would be nice to see a deeper legend, with more references and sub-plots.

Sometimes, there were enjoyable points, like the smooth movements and actions, and the music score was excellent. The bad-guys were really menacing, and almost scared me. The good guys have a great aura of innocence and peace around them. Although the story was pretty basic, it kept well with Bionicle. And at least Lego didn't try to smother us with hundreds of adverts and stuff. They did a very good job of keeping the movie hype-free.

But the whole film just feels too built on the toys. The movie invents nothing very new, and can't really stand on it's own two feet without the toys. Still, I guess that at the end of the day, it's really just a kid's movie based on the toys they buy. 6.5/10

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