Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui DVD: Review By Dodd

Good entertainment for children is a hard thing to come by these days. Sure there are the popular CG creations by Disney's Pixar or the innuendo-laced Shrek that provide high quality amusement for both adults and children. These are CG films considered funny and smart with moralistic messages to them. Not only are movies such as these visually incredible, but also they actually have scripts behind them that are brilliant.

Then there are animated films that are all sight and not so much meaning. These cartoons are hypnotic flashing colors on the screen. Children stare at them in wonderment because they just look cool. Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui is one of these types of animated features. CG animated robots do battle with one another in order to save a city from evil. Is there any deep meaning to all of this? Not really. But it sure does look kick ass!

Bionicle 2 tells the story of six Matoran robots who are recruited to save the city of Metru Nui. These robots are miniature workers who serve their city with jobs such as mask making, archiving, and constructing tools. Toa Lhikan comes to these six industrial workers and gives them each a stone so they too can become Toas and save Metru Nui ("Toa" is a title given to a robot when they receive new powers and abilities). All six of the Toa druids join forces to collect sacred disks, overthrow evil leadership, and save their island city.

Damn. Explaining the plot of this movie has brought back memories of playing with action figures, watching Saturday morning cartoons, and playing silly make believe games at recess. Hard to believe that was just last week.

The plot of Bionicle 2 is nothing to do back flips over. For younger ones, it may be a bigger deal. However, the storyline is incredibly childish and recycled. In fact, the mentor relationship that the Taos share with Tao Lhikan reminded me a lot of the Luke/Yoda relationship from the Star Wars films. Especially since Lhikan is a small, elder-like robot with a cane that dispenses advice to the robots about how to get in touch with their deepest powers and abilities. "The Force" anyone?

While the plot is not so wonderful, the visual effects are very impressive. This grants the feature a boost in its film rating along with the impressive special features. The island city of Metru Nui is wonderfully crafted as well as the robotic characters. I hate to be one of those people who sits back and enjoys a presentation simply for its eye candy display, but good CG animation is hard to pass up.

These bonus features are dynamite. I will give supplemental features the green light if they are insightful, but these features are both insightful and interactive. Nothing beats getting to be hands-on with a DVD.

Making of Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui

The creators of the feature explain elements of the stories and animation methods. Every now and then a little dot appears in the corner of the screen so the viewer can highlight it with their remote to find out even deeper information on what is being discussed. There is plenty to watch here in the making of the cartoon. All bases are covered here clearly and thoroughly. They do promote Bionicle action figures a bit though. I hope these guys do not get too much like Pokemon.

The Legend Revealed

The creation team answers questions sent in by Bionicle fans from across the world. This is mostly beneficial for diehard viewers of series.

Metru Nui Explorer

Another great interactive feature where the viewer can use their remote to select different sectors of the city and different characters for detailed explanations. This is very creative and well done.

Promotions

Gag me. DVD buyers don't pay for commercials.

Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1)- Enhanced for 16x9 televisions; As I mentioned, the best thing about this feature is the amazing animation. No complaints in this department.

Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1; With all of the non-stop action, the feature sounds great with the right sound system.

This is a quite satisfying DVD experience really. Not only is the feature presentation animated very impressively, but also the special features allow for the viewer to make more choices in what they get from their featurettes.

My recommendation probably goes out mostly to fans of the Bionicle series. However, any grownups that appreciate good quality CGI animation may want to give this disc a rental. While the plot is thin and hokey, the animation is a great demonstration of creativity and cutting edge technology. Definitely worth the rental if you think this is your cup of tea.