I admit to not knowing much about the Lego spin off, Bionicle. I just know that it's a toy series made by Lego featuring different designs and working on having a big story. I can't help but be reminded of how awesome "The Lego Movie" was, because this can't hold a candle to it. It was weird how this set up all this new mythology in something that was originally just goofy and nonsensical. Now, I do appreciate what they tried to do with this movie. They're taking a story driven toy franchise and adapting it. The thing is, this movie comes off as so clichéd.I couldn't remember any of the characters' names. To be fair, they are pretty hard to remember! It features these characters go on a journey to find a mask and they learn about themselves and destiny and sacrifice and stuff. I'm sorry, but it just seems like I've seen all of this before. While it's by no means an awful film, it might just be that I've seen so many movies that I see these tropes everywhere. I guess the CGI isn't bad. It does come off as too goofy sometimes. It's weird how what is technically the first Lego movie isn't all that good. Maybe the theatrically released film was too good for me. While the film wasn't offensive and mostly harmless, I think you can just skip this and watch the awesome Lego movie instead. **

This was one of my favorite movies when I was young. I was super into Bionicle and Lego. Watching the movie today is quite nostalgic but even ignoring that, this still is a pretty good kid's movie. The characters are well designed, the voice talent is pretty good, and it is a pretty entertaining story. I think that this movie does teach some good lessons about friendship and working together to achieve the best outcome. There are a couple elements that only a Bionicle fan will understand but the movie does a decent job of introducing newcomers to the world of Bionicle. Overall, "The Mask of Light" is a fun and entertaining adventure.

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

At the behest of my kids, I have watched this film over and over, probably at least 100 times. It is one of the few of their favorites that has not gotten irritating after dozens of viewings. The story arc includes classic struggles and familiar archetypes, the animation is great, and the dialog is engaging.