Legend of The Guardians : The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Welcome to another episode of Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is  Legend of The Guardians : The Owls of Ga'Hoole. Directed by Zack Snyder. Written by John Orloff and Emil Stern. Based on novels Guardians of Ga'Hoole written by Kathryn Lasky.

100th review countdown....#84

MPAA Rating : PG for some sequences of scary action.

Runtime : 90 min

Cast

Emily Barclay - Gylfie (voice)

Abbie Cornish - Otulissa (voice)

Essie Davis - Marella (voice)

Adrienne DeFaria - Eglantine (voice)

Joel Edgerton - Metalbeak (voice)

Deborra-Lee Furness - Barran (voice)

Sacha Horler - Strix Struma (voice)

Bill Hunter - Bubo (voice)

Ryan Kwanten - Kludd (voice)

Anthony LaPaglia - Twilight (voice)

Miriam Margolyes - Mrs. Plithiver (voice)

Helen Mirren - Nyra (voice)

Sam Neill - Allomere (voice)

Barry Otto - Echidna (voice)

Richard Roxburgh - Boron (voice)


From the same studio that created Happy Feet, comes a tale of fantasy, action, family and wonder. Placed in the hands of Hollywood's most gifted director when it comes to visuals and more importantly adapting another published work.

Soren is a young barn owl who is fascinated with a legendary group of protectors called the Guardians of Ga'Hoole. They are in charge of maintaining a truce between their world against the Pure Ones, an evil race of owls led by Metalbeak. His goal is to capture and brainwash orphaned owls for his army in an attempt to destroy the Guardians and take hold of the world. Soren and his brother Kludd are abducted by the Pure Ones and are taken away to join the resistance. Soren meets Gylfie and manages to escape and search for the Guardians. Kludd stays behind and choses to join the Pure Ones. Soren during his travel befriends Twilight and Digger. They all join in the search for the Guardians in the hopes that they can help defeat the Pure Ones and stop their plan of taking over the world.

This film in a word in STUNNING! 

I haven't seen animation this amazing in a while. The detail surrounding the owls and the world they live in is so rich that you can over dose from sensory overload. The characters are all living breathing parts of the story. There isn't a frame of eye candy or animated misdirection. A lot of these animated films resort to that tactic to compensate for a weak story. That isn't the case here. In fact you can make the case and I do in fact that the story could have used some more beef to it. There was a sense of flying through (no pun intended) character and story developments that may have shed more light to the Guardians and the need for their protection.

This movie is supposedly based on a trilogy of Ga'Hoole books. Since I never read them I have no idea if they just made the 1st book or mashed all 3 into this film. I am leaning toward the combination of all 3 books into this movie not being the case just by the way this one ends. Having said that, if sequels are most likely made then Snyder and company missed a golden opportunity to educate the Ga'Hoole iliterate like yours truly. I would have loved to have seen the Guardians backstory. Where did they come from? Why are they the protectors of the owl world? What caused the war in the 1st place? These things are lightly touched upon in exposition and opening credit narration.

Not good enough.

The rest of the movie is too good to be given the wash over treatment with some core elements of the saga. This is a shame because the man at the helm of this picture has done a terrific job in respecting a movies that's been adapted from a book. Just look at 300 and Watchmen for proof of that. This time the movie felt rushed and short changed. I'm not sure who made that choice but it's too bad because we could have been talking about one of the best fantasy films in the last decade.

Does this kill the movie completely? Absolutely not. Legend of The Guardians is still an amazing adventure filled with breathtaking animation and heart wrenching action. These owls are the coolest looking birds you will ever see on screen. I would however proceed with caution when taking the kiddies. Despite the PG rating, I wouldn't bring any kids younger than 7-8. The fighting between the owls can be brutal at times. There isn't any blood but it's implied by some of the injuries the owls suffer from the battles. Also, the warrior owls wear armor masks that give them a cool yet menacing look. They may give the little ones a spook so don't say I didn't warn you.

On the 5 star scale. Legend of The Guardians : The Owls of Ga'Hoole gets 4 stars with a "Go See It!" recommendation.

I wanted so bad to give this one a full house 5 stars and Worth Every Penny recommendation but the overwhelming feeling I had of missing story and character development just couldn't sway my mind.

This is still a wonderful movie that should be seen.

That's a wrap for today. Up next is The Social Network.

Until next episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"