Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole: Movie Review

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole: Movie Review

Legend of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
Rating: See below
Vocal cast: Jim Sturgess, Emily Barclay, Ryan Kwanten, Helen Mirren, Sam Neill, Geoffrey Rush, Joel Edgerton
Director: Zack Snyder
So the second week of the school holidays are here and it's almost as if the film distribution gods know you've got a problem keeping the kids entertained.
To that end, releasing four days ahead of the usual date comes computer animated fare, Legend of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, loosely based on the books The Guardians of Gahoole.
Sturgess plays Soren a young barn owl whose life is full of the tales of the Guardians of GaHoole who legend says are there to protect the kingdom. But his brother Kludd (True Blood's Ryan Kwanten) isn't so impressed and is a little jealous of the way their father spends more time with Soren.
One day while the pair are learning how to fly, they're captured by two minions of the evil MetalBeak (Animal Kingdom's Joel Edgerton) who swoop them off to a dark far away part of the kingdom.
When the pair arrive, they find MetalBeak's preparing to raise an army of soldiers to take over the kingdom. Soren vows to escape, find the legendary Guardians and stop the attack but his brother Kludd finds that he has an allegiance to the cause...
And so the sides are drawn and the battle lines are put in place...
Firstly, let's just say Legend of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is worthy of your time for several reasons; one, the fact the film is prefaced by a short called Fur of Flying starring Wile E Coyote and Road Runner (a real 3D treat) and two, the main film heralds the next level of animation.
Beautiful, sumptuous kingdoms are brought to life by stunning use of CGI; the owls themselves are given such depth and detail that they stand out. The landscapes and scenery are so wonderful that you're drawn into the kingdom of Gahoole with ease.

Coupled with a soaring soundtrack that evocatively captures every mood (from learning to fly to the final attack), it's clear the film makers have spared no expense.
And yet, to this adult's eye, it doesn't quite achieve as much as its potential would promise the story's somewhat light in terms of narrative and I'm still not 100% clear MetalBeak was doing with "owl flecks from owl pellets" and how their power could bring down the warriors and guardians.
That said, what Zack Snyder's achieved with this has really raised the bar even though scenes looked reminiscent of outtakes from Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in terms of look and feel of the warriors, his at times nightmarish world is an astonishing visual achievement.
(A word of warning: the tone overall is somewhat dark and frightening; so much so that the very young may be a little terrified by everything unfolding on the big screen)
But the panel of young reviewers enjoyed it heartily: Connor (17) thought "the whole thing was very good, very real although the story was a little muddled" and it made him "think twice about seeing another movie" (There's hints of a sequel at the end.) He thought the battle scenes and fight scenes were good (they're reminiscent of the 300 style of fighting; a sort of speedy, stop slow mo then speed up of clashing.) Overall 7/10
Jackson was a lot more enthusiastic giving it a 9 1/2 out of 10 - in fact, he hardly moved through the whole film he thought "the fight scenes were really good, the special effects were amazing" but he left the film pondering on how the owl blacksmith could make so many metal helmets for the fighter birds. Still it may have kept him quiet on the way home...

Rating from the kids overall: 8/10