Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Rise of the Guardians (2012)

This is topic Rise of the Guardians (2012) in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 12-01-2012, 05:03 PM:

CINEMA: Megaplex at Thanksgiving Point, Lehi, UT
AUDITORIUM: 3
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema (2K, 2D)
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Trailers started with no picture. After about five minutes, sound shut down and the manager appeared in the auditorium to apologize while they rebooted the server. Show started over eleven minutes after scheduled start time.
RATING: Two stars (out of four)

Nice of the manager to drop in and explain. I would call the handling of this more professional than average.

THE PLOT: The children are in danger! Wackiness ensues

So apparently Santa (who is Russian, go figure) hangs out with the Easter Bunny (who is ugly, grumpy, and Australian...I'm guessing they're just trying to pop the foreign box office), the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman. They are a guild of heroes who protect children. The Man in the Moon declares a fifth guardian...Jack Frost...is being added to the fold. Together, they take on Pitch Black, aka the Boogeyman, who is planning on making children disbelievers of the Guild members so that they'll have no faith in anything, yet somehow believe in him.

Yeah.

Why'd I go to this?

Posted by Jarod Reddig (Member # 6363) on 12-01-2012, 09:40 PM:

Lol sounds awful!

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 12-01-2012, 10:31 PM:

I quite enjoyed this movie - the upcoming 3D kids movie that looks beyond horrendous is 'Dino Times 3D' [projectile vomit] As for 'Guardians' the 3D is stunning, Dreamwork's animators really stepped up their game in making a stellar looking film.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 12-15-2012, 04:44 PM:

^ Me too! [Smile]

Not to be confused (or associated in any way) with the much inferior Aussie-flavoured Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole from a couple of years back, this years Christmas kiddies' tent pole from Dreamworks Animation sees the teaming up of celebratory mythological characters, Santa (Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) and the Sandman (who has no voice) to stave off the menace of Pitch Black (Jude Law), AKA the Boogie Man, who seeks to turn kids' dreams to nightmares. The Man in the Moon (also voiceless) chooses Jack Frost (Chris Pine), the attention-seeking boy who is invisible to all humans, as the new vital recruit needed to repel Pitch Black's latest uprising. Can Frost avert his childish, mischeivious ways to become a team player and save the children of the world from darkness?

The film owes more than a little to last years Arthur Christmas from Aardman Animations which, in turn, took influences from the likes of The Santa Clause and Bad Santa; films that sought to spin the Santa legend in new directions. Walking the line between the bland innocence of the former and the subversiveness of the latter, Rise of the Guardians appeals to kids and adults alike.

Alec Baldwin's tattooed Cossack Santa provides much of the adult humour; in a moment which reflects the "Lord Farquaad" joke from Shrek, his references to "Pitch" Black in his thick East European accent, sound like "Bitch". There are many other adult-targeted references to pop culture scattered throughout - drawing many a query from my 6 year old to my frequent chortling. I particularly like the irony of the Easter Bunny being Australian given that rabbits are an introduced noxious species in this country.

The story has strong Christian overtones: the Man in the Moon is a proxy for God; Pitch Black is Satan; and Jack Frost, the boy who must make a deep personal sacrifice for the sake of the cause, is Christ. With his endemic ability to freeze water on contact, Frost can even walk on water! It's all very unsubtle but given this is a Christmas/Easter story then I suppose it is entirely appropriate.

Executive Producer Guillermo Del Toro's influence is naturally felt throughout the distinctive production design and this is a good thing. The CG is as good as you'd expect and there's plenty of colour and movement to hold the kids' attention throughout its 97 minute run time.

As a slice of harmless but highly enjoyable entertainment, it doesn't get much better than Rise of the Guardians and next weeks release of Wreck It Ralph has some stiff competition for this years Xmas kiddie coin.

9 out of 10

Posted by Melanie Loggins (Member # 6454) on 12-23-2012, 12:21 PM:

I ended up showing this the weekend of the Sandy Hook shootings, and it was so emotional I couldn't even quite respond. I was already a little teary-eyed at the thought of the movie: that there are people whose JOB it is to protect childhood. And I watched it Friday morning and then went home to the news. Watching it the rest of that weekend was almost too much. I thought the animation was beautiful and the characters were more entertaining than they had to be to get the job done. But I do recognize that I'm probably not being very objective about it.