Back in 2011, Cartoon Network had the privilege of distributing a cartoon produced by multi-billion dollar toy company, Lego. That cartoon was Ninjago, which was pitched as an action packed show full of ninjas, snake people, dragons, and so much more. The show I made myself stomach through, though, was NOT as cool as the pitch lead me to believe. Instead of a fun cartoon with memorable characters, intense action and exquisite animation, what we have here is yet another disaster of a cartoon that fails not just as basic entertainment, but also as a commercial that does this brand of Lego justice.
Concocted in 2009, the show was developed by 19 people. No I'm not making this up. This show was developed by Thomas Sørensen, Tommy Andreasen, Thomas Kristensen, Simon Lucas, Nelson LaMonica, Menelaos Florides, William Stahl, Scott Godon-Decoteau, Maarten Simons, Michael Svane Knap, Toby Dutkiewicz, Brian Nielsen, Lars Danielsen, Tommy Kalmar, Cerim Manovi, Robert May, Heidi Rathschau Nielsen, Kevin Burke, and Chris 'Doc' Wyatt. With this army of a development team, you'd think they'd have no trouble fleshing out this world, the characters, and mapping out the action while having plenty of time to develop side plots, establish character arcs, and nail the comedy aspect of the show. Oh brother, do I got bad news for you! Despite having more than enough people running the show, the end result of Lego's hired brain trust was a terribly made kids show! I knkw you're thinking I'm being harsh because I said this show had ninjas, snake people and dragons. However, that was what they advertised in the commercials for this show. The actual premise of the show is were the problems immediately start. Stop me if you've heard this one before: under the tutelage of their wise, old master, 4 teenagers must learn to master the art of ninjitzu to stop an evil overlord in dark armor from wreaking havoc on innocent people. Ring any bells?! That's right, this show is just a carbon copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! There are way too many similarities between the 2 to be coincidental. The wise, old master speaks in riddles, the big bad is an evil overlord with black armor, one of the ninjas has a temper, they ride in an armored vehicle and so on! Sure, they're different enough to avoid a lawsuit from Paramount, but that's still no excuse to blatantly copy someone else's homework like that. And it doesn't even do a good job at that because the writing is absolutely terrible. Each episode follows the formulaic plot of the characters trying to learn a lesson while fighting evil. These lessons range from "working together" "steadying your mind" "the dangers of spreading rumors," all stuff we've heard before and done better. This is also yet another infuriating example of "tell, don't show!" I am so sick and tired of having to explain this, but I'm obligated too or else I'm being complacent, which I hate! Telling the audience the backstory or unseen events rather than showing them is UNACCEPTABLE! Especially with the medium of animation, which is a visual medium and as such you should take full advantage of visual storytelling instead of having the characters constantly talk about stuff we'd rather see! Due to the expository dialogue, the pacing is painfully slow with the inciting incident taking forever to happen, and by the time it does happen, there's only several minutes left in the episodes. That's a major problem because these episodes are 22 minutes long! Most of the runtime is spent on boring exposition, unfunny gags, and lackluster world building. There's an episode that's mostly about the characters trying to figure out the answer to their master's riddle, when it's so painfully obvious my dog could've figured it out: and she's DEAD! To future writers, take note as this is exactly what NOT to do when pacing your story!
As stupidly similar this show is to TMNT, the biggest difference between them is while that franchise has likable and memorable characters, this show does NOT! By Yoda's pointy ears are these some incompetent and detestable ninjas! All they do is argue about who's gonna be the Green Ninja, don't take their master seriously, and chatter on like parrots in a room full of howler monkeys! Kai is the arrogant, hot tempered ninja (cough *Raphael* cough), Jay is the brainy chatterbox ninja (cough *Donatello* cough), Zane is the more level headed yet naive ninja (cough *Leonardo* cough) and Cole is the jokester of the quartet (cough *Michaelangelo* cough). Together, they are 4 quarters of a whole idiot that don't follow orders, don't have good chemistry with one another, and don't even have common sense! Master Splinter- I mean Shifu- I mean Yoda- I mean Miyagi-I mean Wu...Kenobi, is yet another old man that speaks in riddles and doesn't have real authority or respect from his students. Nya's the tech girl who's often shafted because Heaven forbid we have a strong female character in this show. The snake people are varying degrees of annoying, one-dimensional bad guys who want to take over the world because it'd be foolish not too in this awfully generic kids show.
Then there's this show's main antagonist, Lord Garmadon. He's so sinister, cold and ruthless, he easily puts every other bad giy in this show to shame...IF HE WAS ACTUALLY IN THIS STUPID SHOW! For all the talk about how reviled and evil he is, he doesn't even appear in the first season save for a dream sequence, which was just terrible as it made him look like a wimp. You know who's the actual antagonist of this show?! His snot nosed son born out of wedlock, Lloyd! Lloyd is such an annoying little twerp who would've made for a funny one off side villain while the ninjas fight a REAL threat, but because he's this show's central antagonist, his presence just makes me want to turn this show off! Lloyd is nothing but a spoiled, annoying little twerp that makes the snake people do petty, childish crimes when they could be, you know? Actually terrorizing people?! And the fact that he's not only a main stay, but eventually becomes a main character of the show just makes me hate him even more!
The voice acting just isn't that good, mainly due to weak material and bad direction. Vincent Tong sounded underwhelming as Kai, not really buying that he's meant to be the hot tempered one. Michael Adamthwaite sounded like her was trying to give Jay a voice crack when he speaks, and it just cane off as annoying. Brent Miller sounded too monotone as Zane, almost to the point where he might as well be a robot. The late Kirby Morrow wasn't particularly funny as Cole and he didn't really sound as enthusiastic as I would've hoped. Kelly Metzger sounded rather conflicted as Nya, like she wasn't sure what voice she should use for the character so it alternates between bubbly and serious. Paul Dobson was just awful as Master Wu, like he doesn't sound even remotely Japanese or even as a wise, humble old man. Rather he sounds like a middle aged man impersonating an old woman and it just does not fit. Jillian Michaels is really the only actress that's doing a good job here as she made Lloyd sound like just like a boy who's so full of himself and realishes in it. All the snake people either sound annoying, stupid or both depending on the characters and I'd prefer they sound more like dastardly cartoon bad guys than have attributes of snake like quirks for their voices.
The animation is the worst part of this show as it not only looks terrible but it also fails as an advertisement for the toy line. Brought to life by Wil Film ApS, the designs of the characters were clearly based on the toys they were planning to sell with the classic blocky bodies, the clothes looking like they were painted on and their limbs being separate pieces. Unlike in previous Lego animated projects, though, the what they characters move is very uncanny and ruins the illusion. The characters move more like they're made of clay rather than solid plastic and as such it comes across as unnatural blob-like. It gets worse when the characters start fighting and oh brother, do I have some choice words for these scenes! First of all, the lack of mass on these characters is painfully obvious. Second of all, the impact of each hit feel like being pelted with a cottonball. Third, and this is the biggest sin, the actual spinjitzu is LAME! The characters spin in a brightly colored tornado and just knock the bad guys over! This makes the main sellinv point of the show look so lame and unengaging. Why would I want to knock my enemies down with a tornado move when I can just do that with a regular punch or kick? The backgrounds are also very flat and vacant, making the land of Ninjago very empty and visually displeasing. It'd be one thing to be a badly animated cartoon, but for a cartoon that's also a commercial for a toy line, this is INEXCUSABLE!
I'm glad I didn't watch this while it was on TV because I guarantee you I would've dropped it like a hat after 1 episode! Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu is another terrible cartoon that fails at EVERYTHING! The writing is terrible, the characters are detestable, the animation is abysmal and voice acting is stale at best! And to add salt in a fresh wound this doesn't even make for a good toy commercial as it did a terrible job selling its main gimmick with its terrible animation and awful action scenes. As such, it deserves the worst fate to bestow on a piece of entertainment this bad: to be ignored and forgotten! Do NOT watch Ninjago! Don't even bother daring yourself to sit through all 15 seasosns as I guarantee you it's not gonna get any better! This is a Lego set that should be tossed in the incinerator! -.-
Concocted in 2009, the show was developed by 19 people. No I'm not making this up. This show was developed by Thomas Sørensen, Tommy Andreasen, Thomas Kristensen, Simon Lucas, Nelson LaMonica, Menelaos Florides, William Stahl, Scott Godon-Decoteau, Maarten Simons, Michael Svane Knap, Toby Dutkiewicz, Brian Nielsen, Lars Danielsen, Tommy Kalmar, Cerim Manovi, Robert May, Heidi Rathschau Nielsen, Kevin Burke, and Chris 'Doc' Wyatt. With this army of a development team, you'd think they'd have no trouble fleshing out this world, the characters, and mapping out the action while having plenty of time to develop side plots, establish character arcs, and nail the comedy aspect of the show. Oh brother, do I got bad news for you! Despite having more than enough people running the show, the end result of Lego's hired brain trust was a terribly made kids show! I knkw you're thinking I'm being harsh because I said this show had ninjas, snake people and dragons. However, that was what they advertised in the commercials for this show. The actual premise of the show is were the problems immediately start. Stop me if you've heard this one before: under the tutelage of their wise, old master, 4 teenagers must learn to master the art of ninjitzu to stop an evil overlord in dark armor from wreaking havoc on innocent people. Ring any bells?! That's right, this show is just a carbon copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! There are way too many similarities between the 2 to be coincidental. The wise, old master speaks in riddles, the big bad is an evil overlord with black armor, one of the ninjas has a temper, they ride in an armored vehicle and so on! Sure, they're different enough to avoid a lawsuit from Paramount, but that's still no excuse to blatantly copy someone else's homework like that. And it doesn't even do a good job at that because the writing is absolutely terrible. Each episode follows the formulaic plot of the characters trying to learn a lesson while fighting evil. These lessons range from "working together" "steadying your mind" "the dangers of spreading rumors," all stuff we've heard before and done better. This is also yet another infuriating example of "tell, don't show!" I am so sick and tired of having to explain this, but I'm obligated too or else I'm being complacent, which I hate! Telling the audience the backstory or unseen events rather than showing them is UNACCEPTABLE! Especially with the medium of animation, which is a visual medium and as such you should take full advantage of visual storytelling instead of having the characters constantly talk about stuff we'd rather see! Due to the expository dialogue, the pacing is painfully slow with the inciting incident taking forever to happen, and by the time it does happen, there's only several minutes left in the episodes. That's a major problem because these episodes are 22 minutes long! Most of the runtime is spent on boring exposition, unfunny gags, and lackluster world building. There's an episode that's mostly about the characters trying to figure out the answer to their master's riddle, when it's so painfully obvious my dog could've figured it out: and she's DEAD! To future writers, take note as this is exactly what NOT to do when pacing your story!
As stupidly similar this show is to TMNT, the biggest difference between them is while that franchise has likable and memorable characters, this show does NOT! By Yoda's pointy ears are these some incompetent and detestable ninjas! All they do is argue about who's gonna be the Green Ninja, don't take their master seriously, and chatter on like parrots in a room full of howler monkeys! Kai is the arrogant, hot tempered ninja (cough *Raphael* cough), Jay is the brainy chatterbox ninja (cough *Donatello* cough), Zane is the more level headed yet naive ninja (cough *Leonardo* cough) and Cole is the jokester of the quartet (cough *Michaelangelo* cough). Together, they are 4 quarters of a whole idiot that don't follow orders, don't have good chemistry with one another, and don't even have common sense! Master Splinter- I mean Shifu- I mean Yoda- I mean Miyagi-I mean Wu...Kenobi, is yet another old man that speaks in riddles and doesn't have real authority or respect from his students. Nya's the tech girl who's often shafted because Heaven forbid we have a strong female character in this show. The snake people are varying degrees of annoying, one-dimensional bad guys who want to take over the world because it'd be foolish not too in this awfully generic kids show.
Then there's this show's main antagonist, Lord Garmadon. He's so sinister, cold and ruthless, he easily puts every other bad giy in this show to shame...IF HE WAS ACTUALLY IN THIS STUPID SHOW! For all the talk about how reviled and evil he is, he doesn't even appear in the first season save for a dream sequence, which was just terrible as it made him look like a wimp. You know who's the actual antagonist of this show?! His snot nosed son born out of wedlock, Lloyd! Lloyd is such an annoying little twerp who would've made for a funny one off side villain while the ninjas fight a REAL threat, but because he's this show's central antagonist, his presence just makes me want to turn this show off! Lloyd is nothing but a spoiled, annoying little twerp that makes the snake people do petty, childish crimes when they could be, you know? Actually terrorizing people?! And the fact that he's not only a main stay, but eventually becomes a main character of the show just makes me hate him even more!
The voice acting just isn't that good, mainly due to weak material and bad direction. Vincent Tong sounded underwhelming as Kai, not really buying that he's meant to be the hot tempered one. Michael Adamthwaite sounded like her was trying to give Jay a voice crack when he speaks, and it just cane off as annoying. Brent Miller sounded too monotone as Zane, almost to the point where he might as well be a robot. The late Kirby Morrow wasn't particularly funny as Cole and he didn't really sound as enthusiastic as I would've hoped. Kelly Metzger sounded rather conflicted as Nya, like she wasn't sure what voice she should use for the character so it alternates between bubbly and serious. Paul Dobson was just awful as Master Wu, like he doesn't sound even remotely Japanese or even as a wise, humble old man. Rather he sounds like a middle aged man impersonating an old woman and it just does not fit. Jillian Michaels is really the only actress that's doing a good job here as she made Lloyd sound like just like a boy who's so full of himself and realishes in it. All the snake people either sound annoying, stupid or both depending on the characters and I'd prefer they sound more like dastardly cartoon bad guys than have attributes of snake like quirks for their voices.
The animation is the worst part of this show as it not only looks terrible but it also fails as an advertisement for the toy line. Brought to life by Wil Film ApS, the designs of the characters were clearly based on the toys they were planning to sell with the classic blocky bodies, the clothes looking like they were painted on and their limbs being separate pieces. Unlike in previous Lego animated projects, though, the what they characters move is very uncanny and ruins the illusion. The characters move more like they're made of clay rather than solid plastic and as such it comes across as unnatural blob-like. It gets worse when the characters start fighting and oh brother, do I have some choice words for these scenes! First of all, the lack of mass on these characters is painfully obvious. Second of all, the impact of each hit feel like being pelted with a cottonball. Third, and this is the biggest sin, the actual spinjitzu is LAME! The characters spin in a brightly colored tornado and just knock the bad guys over! This makes the main sellinv point of the show look so lame and unengaging. Why would I want to knock my enemies down with a tornado move when I can just do that with a regular punch or kick? The backgrounds are also very flat and vacant, making the land of Ninjago very empty and visually displeasing. It'd be one thing to be a badly animated cartoon, but for a cartoon that's also a commercial for a toy line, this is INEXCUSABLE!
I'm glad I didn't watch this while it was on TV because I guarantee you I would've dropped it like a hat after 1 episode! Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu is another terrible cartoon that fails at EVERYTHING! The writing is terrible, the characters are detestable, the animation is abysmal and voice acting is stale at best! And to add salt in a fresh wound this doesn't even make for a good toy commercial as it did a terrible job selling its main gimmick with its terrible animation and awful action scenes. As such, it deserves the worst fate to bestow on a piece of entertainment this bad: to be ignored and forgotten! Do NOT watch Ninjago! Don't even bother daring yourself to sit through all 15 seasosns as I guarantee you it's not gonna get any better! This is a Lego set that should be tossed in the incinerator! -.-