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Follow Genre: Animation, Adventure
Director: Peder Pedersen
Distributor: Warner Home Video

LEGO: Legends Of Chima Season 1 (DVD) – Series Review

Site Score
7.1
Good: Entertaining for kids, good quality of animation
Bad: One-dimensional, feels like a set-up for season two
User Score
8.5
(2 votes)
Click to vote
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 8.5/10 (2 votes cast)

LEGO. Back in the day it was a constant source of entertainment and frustration. The joy of making some cool jet and the annoyance at stepping on one of the little blocks with your bare feet. Nowadays, Lego has expanded its empire towards movies and series. One of their new series is Legends of Chima, an adventure epos about nine tribes who compete for a power source called Chi.

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Legends of Chima revolves around Laval, the prince of the Lion tribe, and his two best friends. Eris, from the Eagle tribe, and Cragger, the prince of the Crocodile tribe. Chima used to be a peaceful land, with the Lions protecting the source of power: Chi.The Chi comes from mount Cavora and is harvested in power orbs. The animals can use these orbs to power up and to fuel their cool looking tanks, bikes and jets. The Lions take it upon themselves to make sure Chi use isn’t abused and share it equally with all nine tribes.

Lately however, tensions have been rising between the Lions and the Crocodiles, putting the two best friends right in the middle of it. Things gets worse when Cragger’s parents end up in the Gorge of Eternal Depth. Cragger’s sister Crooler takes advantages and brainwashes Cragger with a magical brain washing plant. For some unknown reason she’s really bent on taking control over the Chi and is planning to conquer the Lion Temple. Thanks to some manipulations and schemes, she also starts to convince other tribes to go along against the Lions and their allies.

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The great thing about Legends of Chima is the world setting. We’re introduced to nine very distinct and recognizable tribes. Excluding the Lions, Eagles and Crocodiles, we also have the Wolves, Ravens, Gorillas, Rhinos, Bears and Beavers. All the tribes get at least one cool moment in the series, creating an atmosphere of a big and complex world.

Take the Gorilla tribe for example. Based upon a community of hippies, these little fellows hang out in their tree houses and chill out all day. They absolutely love nature. So much even, that when someone threatens to hurt a flower, they jump into their Gorilla Mechs (they’re great) and go on the offensive.

LEGO: Legends of Chima isn’t all war and drama. It offers a lot of fun adventures and mixes humor with seriousness. The tribes often come together to compete for the Golden Chi, a super-rare special Chi. They do this by racing each other in Speedors (bike like vehicles), each time on a different terrain. Thanks to this Legends of Chima avoids the deathtrap of repeating itself each time.

While Legends of Chima will surely entertain the youngest of the family, it might not hold up for the older kids. The targeted audience is six, and it shows. Bad guys suddenly get an aura of red over them, while the good guys are always shared in a blue color. It’s a nice wink to Star Wars, but it’s doubtful if it will be enough to captivate them.

It’s biggest flaw lies near the ending. By episode 15 you start wondering how they can close the many mysteries they created. Well, the answer is pretty simple. They don’t. You’ll probably will be forced by your kids to buy season two as well, just so they can learn how it all ends (and who the mysterious ShadoWind is).

legends-of-chima-2The computer generated world is excellently made. Like all LEGO games and movies (except The LEGO Movie) it combines a realistic nature with LEGO characters and vehicles. These characters and vehicles mostly follow the rules of LEGO (as in, the legs are pretty static). This is shown when the animals are duking it out, instead of being lively and vibrant, it sometimes falls a little flat.

The music is pretty good. The composer, Anthony Lledo, has worked on other LEGO movies such as Lego Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Brick (2008) and LEGO Star Wars: The Quest for R2-D2 (2009). Each animal has their own tune, kind of like in Peter and the Wolf (but not quite so good).

Conclusion:

LEGO: Legends of Chima is the start of a massive world that LEGO is building. It introduces us to all sort of characters, without becoming confusing or losing focus. Kids will love the different tribes and the possibilities to have a favourite next to your standard Lions is a welcome touch. Unfortunally, to know how it all ends you’ll also have to get season two, but that might not be the worst punishment ever.

The other big downside is that you’ll have to buy that awesome Gorilla mech as well, but hey, at least they know what storylines to play with it thanks to Legends of Chima.

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Rating: 8.5/10 (2 votes cast)
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Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)
LEGO: Legends Of Chima Season 1 (DVD) - Series Review, 8.5 out of 10 based on 2 ratings

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