Once the ruler of an entire universe, the Great Spirit Mata Nui finds himself cast out of his own body, his spirit trapped inside the fabled Mask of Life, hurtling through space. After landing on the far-away planet of Bara Magna, the mask creates a new body for Mata Nui, who unwillingly gets caught up in the furious battles of the nearly barren and dangerous planet. The locals, called Agori ask for his help against the unrelenting army of the Rock Tribe, called the Skrall and their leader, Tuma. The Glatorian warriors start to train him, teach him how to protect himself, while Mata Nui also adds some of his special powers to their fighting skill. The experienced veteran Ackar, the feisty female Kiina, the young Glatorian Gresh, and a friendly, special beetle named Click aid him on his way. But there is a traitor among the Agori, and bigger secrets lay hidden under the sands of the desert planet. Mata Nui must help his new-found friends, but he also has to find a way to return to his old body and take revenge on the evil being who had banished him.

The animators went to great lengths to make the movie characters look as close to their toy counterparts as they can. In the first three Miramax-produced Bionicle animated movies, muscle and flesh were added to the otherwise mechanical looking characters, and some of their other features have been tweaked as well to make them look more like living beings, rather then robots (they were given fingers and mouths, for example). That is not the case in this movie - the characters even have the pins and axles showing that keep their bodies together, and they also wear a life-counter gear, something that was originally meant to be a toy-only feature. But to be able to emote better, their helmets can retract the parts that cover their mouths, and eyebrows were also added to them.

Mata Nui:
[the Mask of Life transforms Click into an awesome shield]


Mata Nui:
Magnificent!


Mata Nui:
[He sees that the shield still has Click's face on it with his eyes]


Mata Nui:
Which you can... see... for yourself.

Continuity: The large shoulder armor of Strakk changes its connection to his arms between shots. In some shots, they attach to the front of his upper arms, while in others, they are on the sides.