Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

I suppose this is that movie that's a third generation retelling of an older more established fantasy settings and hero's journey. Which seems kind of like retreading dead waters at this point, but hey throw some owls in there and you got something fresh enough to justify a ninety some minute movie. While on the surface having a cast composed almost essentially of all owls seems a bit silly, and to some degree it still is, but the movie carries itself in the right tone. The fact that they're owls never sticks out to a negative and the fantasy aspects of the story kick and carry the weight of the plot nice and properly.

On reflection there's a few things to like about this little movie. The CG looks fantastic, the facial animations carry all the right emotions and don't even get me started on the feather as each one acts as they should wither their in the air or dancing through the rain all without diving strait into the uncanny valley. The voice work has some charm and believe it or not Hugo Weaving is not the villain in this movie, in fact he has two separate roles in a bizarre double casting. Helen Mirren has a nice mother/temptress run at things, and Jim Sturgess finds that sweet spot between being a naive dreamer and headstrong bravery. Furthermore the heavy handed emotional speeches that usually make my ears bleed just a bit actually have some proper reserve behind them, relying more on the power of the words more then the emotional act behind them. And I will say this, although in about twenty minutes of the movie you'll hear somewhere around fifteen fantasy words, one's that have no relevance to the real world, but the movie never makes the mistake of sticking around them long enough to where things just get dry and confusing. It's kicked from one reel to the next, which kind of works in its favor to some degree. You're never lost in this world and the plot advanced fast enough that your brain never has the time to throw up too many red flags and pull you right out of the story.

As far as negatives are concerned. The owls suffer from the same boring over dramatic dull most fantasy stories suffer from in terms of plot. In that everything boils down to the one righteous path or collective taking arms against the bullying radical one. Essentially when broken down the bad owls, the Pure Ones, really only seem to be into slavery, kidnapping and training child soldiers and for all other purposes ethnic genocide all aimed in the total commitment of just being evil bastards. There's no real balance of purpose for the Pure Ones. Furthermore on another note, you would think a pseudo fantasy heroes journey would be all about the journey. Where each step for the main character is filled with adventure and danger and perhaps even a lovely maiden or two along the way. But this never really settles into that sort of pattern, perhaps it because the owls have the advantage of flying over those pesky foot dwelling creatures normally put on camera, but our cast of heroes scale all the way to Mt Doom and back and only break a sweat when the plot demands it, which is about three times throughout the movie. Oh and although this is sort of a kids movie, the standard betrayal has no real emotional resonance because its handled more as a demand of the plot than a character turn not to mention if you don't see these things coming I must assume you are either a bit of a young ling or a recent victim of cranial intrusion.

In the end I'd equate this movie to something like The Dark Crystal or Dragon Heart. Those kind of over zealous fantasy pseudo epics that have more than a few open wounds but have enough charm to warrant a viewing. I'll admit I enjoyed myself. While there's not a whole lot of new thins brought to the table and I can't help but feel I'm missing out on more than a few things for not having looked into the source materials, what is there hits all the right notes for this kind of fantasy setting and there are a handful of nice idea's that even Tolken never got into well. In that there's a bit of subtext about the cost of heroism and how much it hurts to do the right thing even when its what needs to be done, and I quite liked those aspects. Although I would caution the more casual movie viewer as this movie asks you to buy into a fair amount of fantasy tropes and once again there are only five types of characters owls, a single snake, some crows and some bats and one ratty looking mole like thing.

One last thing, speaking from a 3D viewing perspective. It's actually well done here. The unique perspective give the aerial combat a nice visceral punch and the ever sprawling backgrounds look deep and distant giving the movie the feel of a huge sprawling world. So there is some value to the price jump between the 2D and 3D if your into that sort of thing.

Legend of the Guardians is director Zack Snyder's first attempt at a completely CGI and children's film while his other credits are all hard "R" films. So does the king of slow-mo succeed?

The quick answer is yes. Guardian's is a film that takes the liberties 3D and photo realistic CGI have to offer, like Avatar, to make a world and characters larger (or smaller) than life to let your mind be soothed into something beautiful, mystical, and most importantly, entertaining.

The story takes the classic yet reliable fable of good versus evil. To put it simply, an army of Evil owls who have obvious horrid intentions of ruling the Owl Kingdom must be stopped against all odds. The only creatures powerful and wise enough to defeat the army are the legendary Guardians of Gahoole.

The film follows main owlet Soran, voiced heroically by Jim Sturgess. Soran is kidnapped by the army of the Evil Owls. After being exposed to the armies wrong doings, Soran knows the only hope in defeating the baddies are to warn the Guardians. From there, the film takes flight into an epic adventure of action, companionship, and beauty.

Guardians is a rare treat in computer animated cinema. While Pixar is always reliable, Guardians is a very different film that strives to be an epic while appealing to a mass audience and succeeds in doing so. From the fantastic action scenes, to the articulate directing, spectacular animation, smart 3D, and top notch voice acting, Guardians is a film that will leave you mesmerized days after it's viewing.

I'm sure you know the basic premise so i'll get straight to the point.

Pros: Surprisingly funny, superb animation, pretty good story (darker than I expected when it was billed as "from the creators of Happy Feet").

Cons: First half of the movie is pretty jumpy, and its also cheesy at some points.

I've only seen it once, so my review isn't as thorough as it could be, but overall this is a pretty good family movie, (not just for kids). I'm 21 and while I thought it looked good, I had feeling it was going to be bad. Its a shame they probably won't be making another one because of poor box office performance. I may see it a second time in theaters and will definitely get it on DVD.

PS: Before the movie begins (almost pixar-esquire) there is a Wile E Coyote and Roadrunner cartoon (well, 3D animation) which is a pleasant surprise.

Right from seeing the trailer in June, I had extremely high hopes for this movie. What drew me to this film was the animation quality and the animals they used; owls. Thankfully, the trailer did not reveal too many details about the story, I love going into a movie not knowing what to expect.

As for the film itself, I found it to be an extremely captivating and magical experience, a similar experience that I had not felt since seeing Avatar in December of '09. The animation was beyond top notch as each audience member bare witness to the immense detail of the owls and the environment. Each feather on the owls and each rain drop and spec of dust from the environment was clearly visible in the film.

The cast chosen for the film couldn't have turned out better than it did. The overall voice acting was fabulous and wouldn't have wanted any other way. The perfect octaves, expressions and moods were used in each line. Straying back to the previous paragraph slightly; most animated movies leave most people guessing the actor who plays the voice of a given actor. I, however, did not do this in this film. I was simply too immersed into the film to really notice.

The music used in the movie was beautiful and majestic. Truly epic scores of musical composure added so much to the film. You can tell the music in a movie is great when you never truly notice it, not to say it doesn't deserve its recognition. I merely mean that if you notice the music in a movie, it simply stands out too much and becomes a distraction. So having not noticed the music, I simply mean that the music became one with the movie and the experience.

In the end, I left the theatre with a very familiar feeling that I had not felt since I was a child. The feeling of classic Disney storytelling. The feeling of a masterpiece in the making. Legend of the Guardians is truly an epic film with a very rich plot and brilliant characters

I have loved animation for as long as I can remember, as far as when I was 2 when I saw The Lion King in the cinema. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is not one of my favourite animated movies, but it is a long way from the worst. I've not read the books, so I cannot say how good Legend of the Guardians is as an adaptation. But I will judge it on its own terms, as it does deserve to be. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Sure the dialogue is stilted and sometimes verges on ridiculous with the profound talking about gizzards. At times also, while never dull, not too preachy(even with the death, slavery and indoctrination) and well-meaning, as well as maintaining a serious tone despite some of the writing, the story is rather formulaic and rushed in how it is told. On the plus side, it is really one of the most visually beautiful films I have ever seen, the owls are beautifully modelled, but the landscapes, the camera angles, colours and the flying in the storm scene are just breathtaking to watch. Every bit as impressive is the score, which is really stirring stuff and fits perfectly with the visuals and the goings on in the story. The characters are engaging also especially Soren, who you identify with every step of the way, and the voice cast with the likes of Jim Sturgess, Helen Mirren, Hugo Weaving, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Miriam Margoyles and Anthony LaPaglia are superb. All in all, even with its faults Legend of the Guardians is a breathtakingly beautiful film. 8/10 Bethany Cox