What’s consistent throughout the LEGO movies is that it’s a kid’s riff.
It’s the innocent childlike expression of conflict. We’ll throw what might be good taste in an animated film out the window, or press pause on it for a second, to do things that would be from a kid playing with his toys and imaging this story. McKAY: The thing that’s similar about all of the LEGO movies and that’s different from other animated movies is that we’re always trying to make it feel like the filmmakers are getting away with something and that the inmates are running the asylum. We have our underlying logic, but we can do some crazy things, whether it’s crazy cut-away martial arts videos or the cat, itself. In this case, there’s a kid playing with LEGOs and a cat came into play. LIN: So, what’s great about these movies is that they’re always about a kid playing with their LEGOs and the story they’re telling in their mind while they’re playing. McKAY: He has absolutely no idea, whatsoever, that he’s the villain!
In what movie do you have a cat come into the middle of the movie?Īnd the cat doesn’t even know he’s the villain of the movie! The genre allows us to do crazy things, in a LEGO movie way. We’ve incorporated natural elements, to this extent, for the first time, as far as water, fire and smoke, and it just looks really cool. We’ve learned a lot from these movies, and the technology keeps changing. Where it differs from the other movies is that we think it’s probably the most beautiful movie. The third one is our version of a martial arts/giant robot movie. The second one was the superhero genre that Chris directed. McKAY: Oh, I’m sorry! That’s not what you were asking?!ĭAN LIN: We’re trying to approach different genres. McKay also talked about how things are coming with his Nightwing movie and why he wants to make it as practical as possible.Ĭollider: If each LEGO film is both a stand-alone saga as well as a progression through the larger LEGO universe, what is this film’s place in that universe? While at the LEGOLAND California Resort for the film’s press junket, Collider got the opportunity to sit down with producers Dan Lin and Chris McKay to talk about how The LEGO Ninjago Movie fits into the larger LEGO universe, making sure the films always come back to the emotional story at their core, finding humor in the small moments, what bringing in voice actors who are also writers adds to the process, what their own personal mechs would look like, and what to expect from The LEGO Movie 2. Master Builder Lloyd (voiced by Dave Franco), aka the Green Ninja, and his group of friends (voiced by Michael Peña, Fred Armisen, Kumail Nanjiani, Abbi Jacobson and Zach Woods) are secret ninja warriors who must do the impossible – fight to save Ninjago from destruction, either at the hands of his power-hungry father or Meowthra, who’s taking it apart one LEGO brick at a time. It means combat without numbers, the action instead based on the bashing and smashing we’re familiar with from, again, those Traveller’s Tales games.Directed by Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan, The LEGO Ninjago Movie is a hilariously funny and heartwarmingly sweet look at what happens when your dad is the evil warlord Garmadon (voiced by Justin Theroux), aka The Worst Guy Ever, and you’re just a teenager trying to get through high school as unscathed as possible. It means no levelling, character progression instead happening by way of collectable items that either empower, customise or both.
In practice, this means a massively multiplayer game with no unfathomably complicated four-hour raids, instead focusing on shorter missions and more of them. If that’s not enough, every three months or so the game also goes to LEGO’s ‘inner circle,’ a briefly mentioned, shadowy cabal made up of 5,000 of LEGO’s biggest fans. Second, it’s bringing in kids and adults every week to playtest their latest version. First, it’s talking to Traveller’s Tales, which is an expert at making games kid-friendly.
To make sure everyone can, NetDevil is doing a few things. It should ultimately be enjoyable to those of us who are older, sure, but children need to be able to understand it. That’s another LEGO expectation: LEGO Universe is a massively multiplayer game that 8 to 12-year-olds are expected to play.