to release in 27 different countries over the next eight weeks. It was released under the Miramax Home Entertainment label alongside Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Prior to its release, the film received a world premiere at Legoland in Carlsbad, California on 13 September: the premiere featured a huge mosaic built of Lego and a special effects show, in addition to special guests and costumed characters. The following year, the film received its television premiere on Cartoon Network's Toonami program block. At release, the film ranked high in multiple sales charts. In the "Top Kid Video" compiled by Billboard, it came close to the top of the charts upon release. Upon release, the film ranked at #2 on Amazon.com's VHS best seller list, coming in behind the VHS release of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. According to Lego's 2003 financial report, the film was top-selling VHS release in the United States in its first week, and ranked at #4 in a similar list compiled by The Hollywood Reporter. It was also among the top premiere DVDs of the year. The film's rental sales were also high, being placed at #8 in the animated direct-to-video charts and totalling $4.24 million revenue by October 2004. According to Animation Magazine, the film is considered to be a commercial success. Critical reception Entertainment Weekly gave the film a favourable ranking of "B+", calling it a "well-constructed CGI adventure" and saying that those who did not understand the story would enjoy the effects and action sequences. DVDTalk's Don Houston was generally positive about both the film and its additional content: he called the visuals "exceptionally crisp and clear" when compared to other films of its type, and gave high praise to the voice acting and noting darker themes within the film. His main criticism was that it relied heavily on foreknowledge of earlier Bionicle storylines. Sci Film.org praised the film's design and visuals, but felt that the film was too short, echoed Houston's criticism of a need for foreknowledge, and said that it was "too respectful" when compared to other films like Transformers: The Movie. Jules Faber of Digital Views Daily said the story had been designed with children in mind, and again praised the visuals despite seeing some stilted animations and poorly-done environmental effects. He was generally positive about the DVD's audio and visual quality. Both Houston and Faber noted homages to other