Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (B- or 2.5/4 stars)
Zack Snyder (filmmaker of 300, Watchmen) makes his animation debut with 'Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole' (based on 3 popular novels by Kathryn Lasky). The movie follows Soren (voiced by Jim Sturgess), a young barn owl enchanted by his dad's epic stories of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, a mythic group of owl warriors who wore armor and fought a great battle to save all of owlkind from the treacherous 'Pure Ones'. Soren dreams of one day joining his heroes, but his jealous older brother, Kludd, poo poos the idea; yearning to hunt, fly, & be seen as the apple of his dad's eye (stealing the distinction from Soren). Disaster strikes the family when Soren & Kludd's bickering causes them to fall from their treetop home & right into the talons of 2 'Pure One' owls!
The 2 are abducted & imprisoned at the St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls, helmed by the evil Nyra (voiced by Helen Mirren). There, they face a horrific future as either brainwashed (by the moon) soldiers or slaves. Kludd longs to be a soldier, but Soren & his new friend Gylfie (Emile Barclay) escape with help from a guard named Grimble (Hugo Weaving, also voicing the father role) & set-off on a long, arduous journey across the sea to the island of the legendary Ga'Hoole owls; where the elderly Ezylryb (voiced by Geoffrey Rush) will train Soren in the art of warfare. Can Soren train properly, change his brother's mind, save his kidnapped sister (Eglantine), defeat the leader of the Pure One's (the malevolent King Metalbeak), & save the owl kingdoms?
I'm pretty 'mixed' on this movie. On one hand, I was fascinated by the spectacular images on display throughout the film. Some of the visuals are exquisite - where I must commend the animators, art team, & special effects people. Every owl looks real (as my critic pal Kevin notes in his review). Every gesture or inflection feels real. The trees look real. The flying-through-the-rainstorm sequence (again, as Kevin noted) is exceptional. Nothing is more glorious in the film than that. The sound design of the movie kept me alert. The musical score is grand & epic; as it should be (for this story). There are a host of cute moments (with owls, how can there not be?). There are some welcomed scary moments (parents of little ones, beware). And I liked the universal themes of faith, courage, sacrifice, & betrayal.
All that said, for as beautiful as the movie is, I had a hard time keeping up with the variance of owl characters; and I feel there was wayyyy too much plot for this 88 min. film. That's short for a kid's movie that introduces many characters (of similar ilk), with difficult names to process, & jams 3 novels-worth of story into it. There's no chance to breathe or process who you're meeting, or what's going on from 1 minute to the next. I just wish the film was a good 10-15 min. longer. The movie deserved it. So overall, while the visuals are truly STUNNING, I also found 'LotG:TOoG' to be an inessential family movie that tackles a standard hero quest with rushed plot points & cute characters of minimal personality or distinction. But I still think it's worth a viewing.
The 2 are abducted & imprisoned at the St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls, helmed by the evil Nyra (voiced by Helen Mirren). There, they face a horrific future as either brainwashed (by the moon) soldiers or slaves. Kludd longs to be a soldier, but Soren & his new friend Gylfie (Emile Barclay) escape with help from a guard named Grimble (Hugo Weaving, also voicing the father role) & set-off on a long, arduous journey across the sea to the island of the legendary Ga'Hoole owls; where the elderly Ezylryb (voiced by Geoffrey Rush) will train Soren in the art of warfare. Can Soren train properly, change his brother's mind, save his kidnapped sister (Eglantine), defeat the leader of the Pure One's (the malevolent King Metalbeak), & save the owl kingdoms?
I'm pretty 'mixed' on this movie. On one hand, I was fascinated by the spectacular images on display throughout the film. Some of the visuals are exquisite - where I must commend the animators, art team, & special effects people. Every owl looks real (as my critic pal Kevin notes in his review). Every gesture or inflection feels real. The trees look real. The flying-through-the-rainstorm sequence (again, as Kevin noted) is exceptional. Nothing is more glorious in the film than that. The sound design of the movie kept me alert. The musical score is grand & epic; as it should be (for this story). There are a host of cute moments (with owls, how can there not be?). There are some welcomed scary moments (parents of little ones, beware). And I liked the universal themes of faith, courage, sacrifice, & betrayal.
All that said, for as beautiful as the movie is, I had a hard time keeping up with the variance of owl characters; and I feel there was wayyyy too much plot for this 88 min. film. That's short for a kid's movie that introduces many characters (of similar ilk), with difficult names to process, & jams 3 novels-worth of story into it. There's no chance to breathe or process who you're meeting, or what's going on from 1 minute to the next. I just wish the film was a good 10-15 min. longer. The movie deserved it. So overall, while the visuals are truly STUNNING, I also found 'LotG:TOoG' to be an inessential family movie that tackles a standard hero quest with rushed plot points & cute characters of minimal personality or distinction. But I still think it's worth a viewing.