Rise of the Guardians review

Released in 2012 under the direction of Peter Ramsey on a budget of $145 million with distribution by Paramount Pictures; "Rise of the Guardians" is the 25th animated feature film created by DreamWorks Animation and renowned author William Joyce, whose previous works for film include "Meet The Robinsons" and "Robots." I'll admit I wasn't too interested in this movie, but I had made plans with my friend whom I usually see stupid movies with, to go see "Red Dawn" and laugh at it's idiocy and my other plan to go see "Life of Pi" was ruined as well, so, oh well, go with what you got. Besides, reviews for this movie had been rather good, perhaps this won't be such a waste of time.

Plot: In this magical world where apparently the moon can "talk" to people and eggs can walk, childhood fables live and take care of the children with pretty much bribery through dreams, eggs, presents and money. They are referred to as "Guardians," whose members include a Russian Santa Claus (v. Alec Baldwin), an Aussie Easter Bunny (v. Hugh Jackman), a hyperactive bird-like Tooth Fairy (v. Isla Fisher) and a short and silent Sandman (v. by no one at all sine he says nothing). But when a dark force known as Pitch Black/ The Boogeyman (v. Jude Law) returns to make the children of the world lose faith in their idols, the four must recruit the mischievous yet fun-loving Jack Frost (v. Chris Pine) to help the children continue to believe in them or else the world will be doomed to….live in fear forever?

Yeah, apparently when I heard the ideas for this film in the early stages, it sounded like an animated version of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" but when images started coming around, it became clear that the movie needed to have a main character to lead the viewer through the movie, I saw the image of Jack Frost and I groaned thinking he was gonna be an annoying douce of a teenager. Thankfully, I was proven wrong, but let me get to the point. The movie is not so much about these childhood fables as it's more about the dilemma of Jack Frost, who isn't happy because nobody can hear, feel or see him and yet I find it strange that he can throw snowballs at children and yet they can't even acknowledge his presence. Not to mention, if these kids know who Santa is, then they must know about Christmas songs, right? Well, if I'm not mistaken, isn't there a particular song with a particular lyric that goes "Jack Frost nipping at your nose?" You would think kids would at least want to ASK about that? Or hell, this movie is sorta set in the modern age, don't these kids have internet? Whatever, I'm losing my train of thought.

The movie is nothing special plot-wise. Protagonist wants to know his purpose in the world, conflict rises, destiny calls for protagonist, hero denies the quest, joins the quest after seeing the consequences of the antagonist, protagonist assists characters, protagonist loses confidence, lowest of low points, encouraging plot device is employed, Protagonist returns to save the day, protagonist finds what he's been looking for, antagonist defeated, the end. What's that? I just spoiled the movie for you? Well, unless you as young as the kids in the audience for the screening of this film I saw it with, then yes, I just somewhat gave away what happens, not that you could have already predicted it before you even say down in your seat. I took a look at the trailer and I already figured what was going to happen in the movie. Sure, the ideas that the movie employs are creative, but adding creative ideas is no different than just taking peanut butter and jelly sandwich and just adding pickles and ham. You can add new flavors to make it taste different, but the taste of peanut butter and jelly is still the same. But not like kids will know that, they haven't seen every movie in the world and they can't be expected to.

Characters:

These are probably the most entertaining animated characters I've seen in a long while and that's coming from a guy who still hasn't seen "Wreck-It Ralph" yet (I'm getting to it! There are too many movies coming around!) 

Chris Pine: DreamWorks seem to have this thing with making their main characters rejects, you ever notice that? Shrek, Oscar, RJ, Po, Hiccup, Megamind; all characters that society has rejected or ignored. Does the staff at DreamWorks need a hug or something? Seriously, can't we have some people who are actually accepted in society for once? Oh well, Jack Frost is an interesting character, though I do find it problematic that no one can see him just because some kid doesn't know his name. Which does bring up the question, did he give himself the name Jack Frost or did he notice people his freezing abilities being the work of a "Jack Frost" or did he find some way to express his name to people- ARGH! This is making my head hurt! 

Isla Fisher: I've always had a disproval for hyperactive characters in animated movies because they bounce all around the place and this Tooth Fairy was one of my least favorite characters. Not to say she's bad, I just didn't really have much hinderance to care about her. She has her moments, but I found her character trying my patience.

Hugh Jackman: Oh Jackman, you're making your fellow Aussies look bad! The poor continent has had enough to suffer from "Crocodile Dundee" in the 80's and Steve Irwin in the late 90's, the poor country has practically been labeled this stereotype. I mean, he's a rabbit that calls people "mate" and he uses boomerangs as weapons, heck, in the large chamber room where he does all his egg distribution, the first continent, from left to right, is Australia. Look Mr. Jackman, you're a good actor, you really are but an Australian Easter Rabbit was not what I think of when it comes to Easter. Then again, when I was a kid, I always wondered why the easter eggs were made of plastic and so easy to open up and why they were filled with brown sour chocolates that smelled funny…huh, maybe my criticism isn't really about professionalism and more about my deep-rooted childhood conflict with that mean ol' Wascowy Wabbit…

Alec Baldwin: Alec's performance really had me fooled throughout the film. I never even put the two together, Baldwin puts such exuberant energy into his role that he comes off as…well, jolly. But I won't lie, this is a badass Santa Claus; he has "Naughty" and "Nice" tattooed on his arms, he uses a chainsaw to make his toys, he employs yetis to make his toys (the elves are pretty much the yellow twinkle minions from "Despicable Me") and when he fights, he pulls out two swords that have the letter N on both of them. Now THIS is a badass Santa. He should kick Tim Allen's ass.

Jude Law: One major complaint I have about using actors with recognizable names in movies is that you're constantly looking for them throughout the movie. This movie is no exception, but for this movie, the choice of voices work in it's favor. Jude Law really does fit the character and when I was watching, I literally forgot who was voicing him. Sadly, the character is rather one-note, he is a nasty guy but he's so whiney, if I've made it clear yet, I can't tolerate villains whose sole motivation for being evil is based on whining. Still Jude Law really gives a great performance.

The other characters are just there doing what the script calls for them to do. There's some kid who still blindly believes in all these childhood fables (even somehow being able to identify the Tooth Fairy AND The Sandman even though both only come around when you're asleep) but he's all right. The main characters themselves are fascinating and it was a shame the movie was as short as it was, cause I really wanted to know more about them. Perhaps we will get to know more of them in the inevitable sequel...

Production: I got to hand it to DreamWorks, even though I find their movies to be inadequate compared to other animated films, they sure can make good-looking movies. Details like Jack Frost's ice forming on windows or Sandman's sand. The animation is impressive, the design to the North pole and the Tooth Fairy's palace and the Easter Bunny's underground tunnels look amazing. The music…oh…hi Alexandre Desplat…we meet again. I think at this point, I don't even need to explain this guy since barely anybody can even remember the guy. Reasons being, he doesn't make anything memorable or anything that sticks in my mind. Sure, he did make some impressive sounds for "Argo" but I largely forgot it for the most part, forget is the key word hear. Because I never once remember a song or composition made by this dude, his resume credits may include works like "The King's Speech," or "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" but did you remember any of the music from those movies that was made by other composers? Such as The Harry Potter theme from the original Harry Potter film playing at the end of "Deathly Hallows" or Beethoven's Symphony #7 in A, Op. 92 that played in "The King's Speech." Still, pretty visuals, nice details on the backgrounds and characters goes a long way.

Bottom Line: You know, I had fun with this movie. I liked it a lot better than I thought I was going to. The story, while predictable and familiar, at least keeps your interest with fascinating characters that will make you laugh and root for. The animation looks great, the humor is fun and the message to "find your center" is handled maturely for kids to comprehend. If you had no interest before in seeing this film, I give it a strong recommendation you check this film out. As for the 3D, well, I saw it in 2D but from I saw, I imagine the film must look really good in 3D as well, so if you want to pay the extra dollar, check it out in 3D for a rolling good time.

Final Thoughts: 3.5/5

Until next time, I'll keep the fires stoked for when we burn through celluloid again.