What I Learned From the LEGONINJAGOMovie

Thank you to Warner Bros for kindly sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are honestly my own.

I just had an experience that made me realize that animated family movies are an important part of the literature of our digital age, after watching the “Lego NINJAGO Movie” two times in three days! Let me tell you all about it . . .

You might have seen on my Instagram feed that my family went to LEGOLAND California last week. We were on a “secret mission” to find out everything about the new “The LEGO NINJAGO Movie” before it was released. (I had to keep the “secret” until today, but you can catch the film in theaters beginning this Friday, September 22, 2017, in both 3D and 2D).

The LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE story seems simple — an evil warlord named Garmadon, “The Worst Guy Ever,” is on a quest to conquer the peaceful land of Ninjago with his vast and fantastic army.. The only force that can possibly stop him is a secret squad of ninjas — high school students who change into powerful fighters when Ninjago is under attack. One of these secret ninja’s is evil Garmadon’s own son, Lloyd, an outcast because of his wicked father. And the spiritual leader of the ninjas is Garmadon’s own little brother, Master Wu, played by Jackie Chan.

[column-group]
[column]
[/column][column]
[/column][/column-group]

During our adventure, we also got to chat with all the stars and creative team behind the movie, like Dave Franco, Justin Theroux, Fred Armisen, Abbi Jacobson, Olivia Munn (did you know she is a genuine karate black belt?), Kumail Nanjiani, Michael Pena, Zach Woods, and the legendary Jackie Chan. Our entire family are huge Jackie Chan fans — my husband started watching Jackie’s Hong Kong-made action movies in 1986, almost 10 years before he had his first American hit movie, and Red Bear has watched Jackie’s movies along with us since he was born. Naturally, we enjoyed the movie very much!

[column-group]
[column]
[/column][column]
[/column][/column-group]

The movie is practically non-stop action, as Garmadon attacks and the ninjas keep fighting to throw him back, until they are forced to use The Ultimate Weapon. When that fails and makes things worse, they are forced to resort to The Ultimate Ultimate Weapon — and the quest for that changes everyone and all of the relationships in a good and believable way. Remember I called Ninjago a family movie? It is — the storyline has elements about facing personal challenges, looking within oneself, and even looking at family members from different points of view that appear in great literature throughout many cultures and different time periods. I don’t want to spoil the movie for you, but it is really enjoyable for children and parents both — and thought-provoking!

How do we like this movie? Red Bear gave a “10” out of 10! And for me? I have seen many “children movies” since Red Bear was born, and this one really is a big hit with me. You know when you are an adult, you look beyond the color and exciting action in animated movies, and look at the story and message, the part that touches the heart. After watching the LEGO Ninjago Movie, I realized, “While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about, too.”

[column-group]
[column]
[/column][column]
[/column][/column-group]

I have been feeling bad lately that I have been getting busier and busier, and I don’t really have time to play with Red Bear so often anymore. We used to play ball and build LEGO creations together, but now we spend more time doing things separately, and I miss our old “together” time. I worry some about keeping a close and healthy mother-son relationship. I don’t want to regret later in my life and feel I should have spent more time with my child when he was growing up and moving away. And it’s not too late right now to spend more time with them, read with them, talk to them, and spend times with them. But he’s my first child, and at the same time I have to realize one day he will move on and have his own life — hopefully, he will be well prepared to succeed and be happy, and we will always stay loving and close emotionally.

[column-group]
[column]
[/column][column]
[/column][/column-group]

After all the movie talk, please allow me to talk a little bit about our stay in the LEGOLAND Resort hotel. –we were guests at the LEGOLAND Resort Hotel (and learned that they are expanding with a castle-themed hotel next door, opening next Spring). Thumbs up for the room, food service, and play areas — Red Bear especially loved having a “no adults” zone and bunkbed in his part of the suite. And, of course, we squeezed in plenty of time to enjoy our favorite rides at LEGOLAND Park itself, and had a unique chance to meet and talk with Chris, one of eight LEGO Masterbuilders in the whole world, and, direct from Denmark, Simon, one of the main designers for LEGO movies and parks. The whole adventure was fun and great!

[column-group]
[column]
[/column][column]
[/column][/column-group]

There is a quote I saw somewhere on internet, (sorry I don’t know where is come from), and it went something like this: “Your children won’t remember how successful you are at being a good employee (a blogger in my case); your children won’t remember how much money you have in your bank; but they will remember if you were there for them.”

Thanks to Warner Bros. for the wonderful movie and the wonderful hosting, again! As always, all opinions are honestly my own. The movie will hit the theaters on Sept 22, 2017 in both 3D and 2D — I hope you catch it! If you do, I can’t wait to hear what you think about this movie. I’ll bet you’ll love it too!

SaveSave