Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui

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Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui
Directed by	David Molina, Terry Shakespeare
Produced by	Vanessa Chapman
Written by	Henry Gilroy, Greg Klein, Thomas Pugsley
Starring	Christopher Gaze, Michael Dobson, Paul Dobson
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	October 6, 2004
Running time	75 min.
Language	English
Budget	$US 5,000,000
Preceded by	Bionicle: Mask of Light
Followed by	Bionicle 3: Web of Shadows
IMDb profile

Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui is the second movie of the Bionicle series and is a prequel to Bionicle: Mask of Light. This movie was created using Lego elements from the Bionicle series, and was released as a direct-to-DVD movie.

In this story, Vakama recalls the events that took place long before Mata Nui. His Turaga friends Nuju, Matau, Onewa, Whenua, and Nokama are chosen to be the Toa Metru of the island of Metru Nui. They must destroy the voracious plant Morbuzakh to save the island of Metru Nui.

The film was received with mixed reviews, with some noting the filling in of plot holes from the last movie, but continued to be noted for its visual effects and musical score, though others questioned its artistic merit. The film was followed by a sequel, Bionicle 3: Web of Shadows.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 3 Reception 4 DVD release 5 Cast 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot

The story begins when Toa Lhikan gathers Toa stones from a suva. Suddenly, he is attacked by a four-legged insectoid and a big brute. He manages to escape and deliver the stones to chosen Matoran from each metru, the last of which was Vakama, a maskmaker who was ordered by Turaga Dume to make a Mask of Time. Just then, Lhikan was ambushed by the four-legged Dark Hunter, known as Nidhiki, who was once his "Brother" and a creature named Krekka. Nidhiki held Vakama hostage over molten protodermis to get Lhikan to surrender. Unwilling to surrender, Nidhiki let go of Vakama to his doom, but not before Lhikan slipped his surfboard and saved Vakama. As the Ta-Matoran went sliding through the tunnel, he received a vision of the future. A golden Toa stone hovered around him telling him to: "Save the heart of Metru Nui. The Great Spirit depends on you." He touches it, it turned into Lhikan's mask saying: "Time is short. Hurry Vakama." As he chases it for an answer, darkness blocked his path. Vakama came spiraling out of the tunnel and landed unharmed, and then saw the two Dark Hunters take Lhikan away. He blamed himself for not helping save him, but meanwhile a huge crimson stone split apart and a dark voice says: "I must have, the Mask of Time." Vakama opened the wrapping around the Toa stone just as Turaga Dume arrived. Vakama managed to hide the stone just as the Turaga asked for the Mask of Time, but Vakama said it was not ready. The Great Kanoka Disks can only be retrieved by a Toa. Vakama had to bring the complete mask to the Coliseum before the Great Contest. As the Turaga left, Vakama notice a map on the wrapping. It was a picture of the Great Temple. When he reached the temple, he met five other Matoran from other metrus: Nokama, Matau, Nuju, Onewa and Whenua. They put the stones in the Toa suva and a momentous miracle happened. Lhikan's mask appeared and said: "Faithful Matoran. Metru Nui needs you. A shadow threatens its heart. Prove yourselves worthy Toa and fear not. The Great Spirit shall guide you in ways you could not imagine." The mask transformed into a ball of light and shot six strands of lightning at the Matoran; bathed in the light, the Matoran were instantly transformed into Toa. Vakama then tells his fellow Toa about what happened to Lhikan and then he gets another vision. He sees Metru Nui covered by shadow and tormented by lightning. He once again hears Lhikan's voice saying: "Save the heart of Metru Nui. Find the Great Disks." Six Kanoka Disks tried to strike him and the vision ended. Onewa thinks he's insane but the Toa then go on the search for the Great Disks which can only be found by seeking the unfamiliar within the familiar.

Little that they know that they were being spied on by Dume's pet, Nivawk. Onewa found the Po-Metru disk at the tallest tower in Sculpture Fields, Nuju found his disk frozen in ice atop the tallest Knowledge Tower, Matau found the Le-Metru disk in a chute and slams hard against the side, Whenua tries to escape a mutant Ussal Crab who was guarding the disk, Nokama find the disk in the maw of a vicious sea creature, and Vakama holds the disks beneath his chin being hanged upside down by a plant (the Morbuzakh) in a fire pit. At the Coliseum, Turaga Dume told the Matoran about the disappearance of Lhikan. Then the Toa arrived but Dume merely dismissed them as imposters and kidnappers. Onewa, Whenua and Nuju ended up getting sucked into a sand whirlpool and hundreds of Vahki Rorzakh were closing in on Matau, Nokama and Vakama. Vakama fired a weakness disk at Lhikan statue, scattering most of the Vahki. The Toa fled right into a nearby chute. In Dume's throne, the Turaga began talking to a huge pair of red eyes saying that the Mask of Time wasn't completed. The Dark Hunters went to the Ko-Metru chute control, threatening a Le-Matoran to reverse the chute polarity. Suddenly, all cargo in Metru Nui ground to a halt, then went straight backwards. The Toa were making their exit when a crate was heading towards them. Onewa on top of Whenua, tried to push open the grate in their prison, but it was no use. Nuju began to despair, but just then, a mysterious figure came out from the shadows... Meanwhile, the Toa were hanging for their lives. Then Vakama got another vision: A tall Toa Lhikan was standing before him. When he was about to ask, the Toa turn into the Bionicle symbol of unity, duty and destiny. The symbol shot into the sky, but before Vakama could understand, Nokama's voice interrupted him. Nokama's hydro blades were losing their grip. Trying to swing to a support beam, they made it. Unfortunately, Matau slipped. Then, his aero slicers became wings, but he slams into a poster of Dume. While the Toa were resting, Vakama was trying to find out which disk was the Mask of Time. Suddenly, two of the disks melted together. Vakama then fused the rest of the disks. Nokama says they should go but then Vakama sees Lhikan's spirit star heading towards Po-Metru. Hitching a ride on a Vahki transport, they find silver spheres on board. Once Vakama places his hand on one, another vision exploded in his head: Hundreds of silver spheres were right before Vakama. When he reaches for one, it opens, revealing a Matoran. Before he could shake the Matoran, her head shot up with red eyes of pure evil. When he came back to reality, he opened the sphere but found nothing in it.

Meanwhile, Nuju, Onewa and Whenua meet a mysterious Turaga who tells them they must find their mask powers. Back on the Vahki transport, Vakama doubt ever being a good Toa but Nokama tells him to have faith. When they reach an assemblers' village, it was quite deserted and more of those silver spheres were lying around. Suddenly, they were attacked by Krekka and Nidhiki. Matau went hardheaded into battle and was hit by Nidhiki. Just then, a herd of Kikanalo were stampeding through the village. The Toa began running, Nidhiki hid in a ditch and Krekka climbed a tower. The herd destroyed the supports of the tower and Krekka fell right onto Nidhiki. While the Toa were running, Nokama's mask start to glow. Standing right in front the herd, it stops before her. Talking with the Chief (The one with yellow eyes with the others red) who wanted to know why they were allied with the Dark Hunters. After exchanging a few words the Chief said they were free to pass since they are both against the Hunters who defiled the sangtity of the Herd Lands. Matau made a statement that he thought the Kikanalo were dumb beasts. The Chief counter the same statement for the "tall green Matoran". Upon hearing this, Vakama asks if the Hunters passed with a "tall Matoran". The Chief said the Hunters took many things to the Place of Unending Whispers. With the Toa on their backs, the Kikanalo roamed across the plains. Matau liked taming a wild Kikanalo beast but his ride bucked him. Back in the prison, the Turaga had Nuju build a tower of rocks and Whenua a blindfold. The Turaga teaches them many things and that a Toa's duty is to all Matoran, regardless of metru. So Onewa had to help both his brothers... At a canyon, hundreds of Vahki were guarding the entrance. While Vakama comes up with a plan, Onewa is wearing blindfold and carrying a rock. But he bumbs into Whenua. Complaining that was a complete waste of time and this was a load of duty, Onewa tells Whenua to sit down. Just then, his mask glowed and so did Whenua's body. Whenua was about to clobber Onewa when Nuju tries to stop him and his mask glowed. Rock broke from the wall, revealing a path to freedom. Nokama and her Kikanalo lead the Vahki guards away and so did Matau. Nokama sent her pursuers off the cliff. Then the Dark Hunters arrived. Matau hid behind a rock and the duo were going to corner him. Krekka then met up with a green-glowing-headed Nidhiki telling him to circle around. Just then another Nidhiki met up with a green-glowing-headed Krekka. The other Krekka saw two Nidhikis heading in opposite directions. He chose to hit the one on the left but it was real one. Matau escaped saying, "Shapeshifting. Some mask power are worth the wait." Vakama was cornered by Vahki when five Kikanalo yelled a wave of sound that sent the Vahki flying. Reaching the caves mouth, the Chief says, "Not bad... for Flat walkers." The Kikanalo sealed the cave, not knowing they were being spied on by Nivawk, who return to Dume. But who he returned to was not Dume, but a figure who looks like the Turaga but wore a Mask of Shadows.

In a tunnel, Whenua's mask lit it up. Suddenly, he is attacked by a Vahki whose voices sounded familiar. It turned into Matau. Everyone had found their mask power except Vakama. Asking where Toa Lhikan was, the mysterious Turaga revealed himself. He was Lhikan except his power resided in all of them. Asking Vakama if he saved the "Heart of Metru Nui", Vakama thought he was. Unfortunately, the Matoran were. Vakama felt like a total failure. When he opens a sphere, inside it was... Turaga Dume. In his head, Vakama hears a voice saying to bring him the Mask of Time. Just then, Vahki were swarming in. Taking shelter in a room, Vakama takes leadership and the Toa manage to get out of the room with a Vahki transport. At the Coliseum, Turaga Dume has the entire population of Matoran put in silver spheres. Then, a Vahki transport slams in. Out into the desert arena, the Toa meet the most powerful being ever, Makuta. Suddenly, darkness swallowed the light. Lightning crackled at Metru Nui. Heading for the Coliseum's storage room, the Toa find they are too late. The Matoran are trapped in endless sleep. They took six Matoran spheres along to get to safety. Makuta uses Metru Nui's powerplanet to energise himself. Now he was swirling vortex who shot a crimson hand at Nivawk. The Toa were escaping when the Hunters came in. Onewa managed to control Krekka to grab Nidhiki and jump off. But they were caught by Makuta and were absorbed into his essence. The Toa's Vahki Transport was heading for Ga-Metru where hundreds of Vahki were waiting. Jumping into the protodermis sea, they seemed to have drowned, but the transport submerged.

Vakama was still working on the disk into a mask when Matau said something about time, making him realize what Makuta wanted. His head was filled with revelations and was shown a way to the light. Nearing the Great Barrier, a huge winged figure came upon it. It was Makuta but he was an amalgamation of Nivawk, Nidhiki and Krekka. While Matau drove right to the light, Nuju levitated Vakama up to Makuta. Makuta used his power to create protodermis pillars to drop on the transport, knocking Nuju unconscious and sending the Matoran spheres into the sea. Vakama faces Makuta and bring out the completed Mask of Time. Makuta tries to pursue Vakama to become one with him. But Vakama refuses and puts on the mask. Makuta sends a tentacle of darkness at him as time slowed. Vakama couldn't move out of the way. Lhikan sacrifices himself. The mask fell off the cliff. He gives Vakama his mask and tells him to trust him visions. He is proud to have called him brother. Vakama then turns invisible. He finds Makuta about to put on the Mask of Time. He shoots a disk at mask which flies out of Makuta's hands and into the sea. Makuta attacks Vakama but gets slammed against the Barrier. Then the Toa came and united their power which sealed Makuta in shell of protodermis. They look up at the night sky and saw Lhikan's star burst into six separate ones, meaning that Mata Nui had proclaimed them Toa. Walking into the light, Vakama looks back and sees light back in Metru Nui. On a new island paradise, the Toa awakened the Matoran by passing on their power. but when the Matoran came to, they saw not the Toa of Metru Nui, but Turaga. Vakama declares their new home, Mata Nui, in honor of the Great Spirit. A Ta-Matoran named Takua lead Vakama to another Ta-Matoran named Jala, whose mask was destroyed. Vakama gives him Lhikan's mask.

[edit] Production

Plans were in place before the release of the first Bionicle movie to create a second movie.^[1] The writers Terry Shakespeare and David Molina did have some input into the script, though most of the mythology had already been sketched out.^[2]

For the visual style of the film, director David Molina stated “We wanted to give this audience a bigger view of the BIONICLE world – more environments, larger vistas.” Also, “The island of BIONICLE 2 is something like Manhattan, with lots of commerce and large buildings. The first film was very intimate, very organic. Metru Nui is more mechanical, so it has a different feel.”^[3]

For the camera work, director Terry Shakespeare said "We really concentrated on depth of field with the camera," Comparing the two Bionicles, he felt "The first film had primary colors that were coded to the areas and a younger feel. For BIONICLE 2, we opened it up – the palette had to be more sophisticated, more realistic with earth tones, so we desaturated the characters."^[3]

Most of the animation was created in Taiwan by a company called CGCC.^[2] The process of creating the movie, from storyboarding to delivery of the film took 12 months.^[2] Molina additionally added that the pipeline and process for creating this film was faster and more refined than the original Bionicle movie. “Our strength is bringing characters to life and not just robots,” added Shakespeare.^[3]

[edit] Reception

Cartoon Networks Toonami aired several scenes from the film along with the first Bionicle movie Mask of Light.^[4] The film was first screened on October 6, 2004, at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California.^[2] Cartoon Network aired the movie for the first time less than two months after its release on December 18, 2004, at 7pm Eastern Time.^[5]

Though reviewers are still skeptical as to the toy promotional nature of these films, several noted their marked improvement over the original Bionicle movie, including its filling in of major plot holes that had been present in the first film.^[6] It was also noted for its references to The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Matrix, and Excalibur.^[7] Some found the short but complicated introduction of characters and places to be difficult to follow, and the story itself hard to follow. There was also concern that the Bionicle brand promotes violence, running counter to the LEGO themes of patience and careful construction.^[8] A sequel entitled Bionicle 3: Web of Shadows was released in 2005.

Bionicle 2 was nominated at the DVD Exclusive Awards for Best Animated Premiere Movie.^[9] It was also nominated for best director and best original score.^[10] Bionicle was nominated at the 32nd Annual Saturn Awards for Best DVD release.^[11] It was also an iParenting Media Award winner for Best Home Video/DVD.^[12] Two awards were won by the studio that created Bionicle 2 at the 27th Annual Telly Awards.^[13] It also won the Golden Reel Award for Sound Editing in a Direct to Video Release.^[14]

[edit] DVD release

Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui was released on DVD on 6 October 2004 in the United States. It was praised for its high quality picture and 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. The DVD included a number of documentaries including the making of the movie and associated toy line.^[15] There is also a featurette entitled "The Legend Revealed" that has a brief question and answer session with the production team.^[16] Some critics were concerned that the DVD makes too much of an attempt to sell the Bionicle product.^[17]

[edit] Cast

• Christopher Gaze .... Turaga Vakama (Narrator) (voice)
• Michael Dobson .... Lhikan, Krekka (voice)
• Paul Dobson .... Nidhiki, Whenua (voice)
• Tabitha St. Germain .... Nokama (voice)
• Brian Drummond .... Onewa, Matau (voice)
• Trevor Devall .... Nuju (voice)
• Alessandro Juliani .... Vakama (voice)
• Gerard Plunkett .... Turaga Dume (voice)
• Lee Tockar .... Makuta, Kongu (voice)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Movie Website
• Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui at the Internet Movie Database