Jackie Chan portrayed the live-action character Mr. Liu in The Lego Ninjago Movie.
Mr. Liu is an elderly shopkeeper who appears in the film’s live-action framing scenes. He tells a young boy the story of Ninjago, turning the animated adventure into a tale being shared in the real world. Chan also voices Master Wu, the wisecracking martial-arts master within the animated story, so he performs two distinct roles in the film.
This dual casting is a frequent source of confusion. Mr. Liu is not one of the Lego ninja characters, and Chan’s live-action appearance is separate from his animated performance as Wu. The framing device connects the everyday world with the imaginative Ninjago setting while giving the film a storybook quality.
Released in 2017, The Lego Ninjago Movie is a spin-off of The Lego Movie franchise and draws on the Lego Ninjago toy line rather than serving as a direct adaptation of every detail from the television series.