Legend of the Guardians could be considered Watership Down with owls instead of rabbits. Though it may be an animated film with talking animals, it's hardly a shiny happy movie for kids. Guardians is a little darker and a little more violent than your normal children's fare.
Soren (Jim Sturgess) and Kludd (Ryan Kwanten) are brothers still learning how to fly. Kludd is jealous of the attention his family heaps on Soren, an idealistic dreamer fascinated with bedtime stories about the heroic Guardians of Ga'Hoole. After falling out of their tree one night, the brothers are snatched away and press-ganged into the army of Metalbeak (Joel Edgerton) and his queen Nyra (Helen Mirren). Calling themselves the Pure Ones, Metalbeak and Nyra ready their forces to attack other owl kingdoms to weed out the weak. In addition to their soldiers, the Pure Ones have slaves called pickers whose task is to gather large amounts of metal flecks. When accumulated, they generate a magnetic field that interferes with an owl's ability to fly.
Soren and an Elf Owl named Gylfie (Emily Barclay) manage to escape and traverse long, arduous distances to seek out the legendary Guardians who live in an ancient, Avatar-looking tree. After finding the Guardians, Soren is taken under the wing (pun slightly intended) of a grizzled old war veteran voiced by Geoffrey Rush. Meanwhile, Kludd willingly chooses to stay with Nyra, becoming a loyal warrior to their supremacist cause.
Guardians is based off the first three volumes of the fifteen book series, Guardians of Ga'Hoole, written by Kathryn Lasky. The film was directed by Zack Snyder and it is both his first animated movie and his first non-R-rated picture. Guardians is packed with the Snyder's trademark flourishes, mainly slow motion shots. Similar looking owls swoop at one another like WWII fighter planes. The slow motion actually helps since the action tend to look like undulating blobs of feathers. Despite that, the animation by Animal Logic (Happy Feet) is well done and the images are breathtaking.
Snyder's production is strong in visuals, but weak in story. The plot is a Cliff Notes version of the familiar hero's journey seen in countless other adventures. Snyder's desire for a darker film doesn't mesh with the studio's desire for a more family friendly tone. Serious themes of enslavement and genetic cleansing clash with scenes featuring comic relief sidekicks. Guardians simply lacks the deeper emotional resonance that Pixar has been able to capture time and time again.
Rating: * ½
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