Rise of the Guardians - Written Review

Dreamworks is at it again and doing what they do best.  Say what you will about these guys, but they know how to tell a good story.  This movie had me interested back when I saw the first teaser in March.  It was vague, which I hate, but it had potential, which intrigues me.  And this movie lived up to that potential by taking fairy-tales, folk lore, and children stories and reinterpreting them an combining them in a really, well, magical way that worked.  I think the title itself is what intrigued me the most: Rise of the Guardians.

Those elves at the bottom are useless and creepy.  Honestly.

Santa Clause, the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Jack Frost, and the Boogeyman are the cast of characters.  All of them just tales from our childhoods.  None of which have any bearing on each other and are no way connected.  Their back-stories, jobs, responsibilities, and origins are completely different and unrelated.  But they did it.  The people at Dreamworks really did it with this one, and they did it right.  What did they do?  They took established stories and put a new spin on them without bastardizing them and making them completely unrecognizable in anything other than name.  Yeah, I'm talking about how Twilight bastardize vampires in EVERYTHING except the fact they suck blood and are called vampires.  Dreamworks doesn't do that with the Guardians.  They tweak the characters, but they're all still recongnizable as those characters.

I just remembered: I'm allergic to flying.  Especially in a sleigh.

 I will say that I initially had my doubts about the movie when it started.  For the first 10-20 mins there is A LOT that goes on.  Some of it silly, and I thought it might be a movie for kids in the 2-3 year old range.  But it all culminated into a great, fun story with good pacing.  That and the acting was fantastic.  Alec Baldwin as Santa, Hugh Jackman as the Easter Bunny, Jude Law as the Boogeyman, Chris Pine as Jack.  Just great performances from everyone, which was a big reason this movie was good.  Bad voice acting can and does make animated movies suffer.  Not this movie.  Can't wait to see the behind the scenes extras.

Your breath...it smells like carrots.

As a movie reviewer I can pick apart this movie when it comes to time passing and a few other details.  But honestly, this is one of the few times I can roll with it.  Due to the fact that it's a kids' movie, it's about mythological characters, and magic.  And also, it was just a good story and fun to watch.  It has characters that most of us believed in growing up, so it's a bit nostalgic in that regard.  And not to get too mushy, but there is a wonderful message of love, sacrifice, and family in there.  It's a great movie.

Film Crazy Adam really approves and really recommends this movie.