You'll have to just see it to believe.I'm 47 years old. I normally walk out of animated films which sound too noisy for me.
I not only stayed the entire movie. I watched it again 4 times -alone even, just to experience it again and again.
The magic of childhood is the magic of wonder, play, dream, believing. And if you still have that imagination left in you,
then maybe you could still sit down, laugh, cry, cheer with your kids while watching this movie.
At the beginning of RotG, fun-loving Jack Frost (voiced by Chris Pine) is saddened by the fact that humans cannot see him or even hear him. Fast forward several hundred years later and Jack has become distant from the cast of characters that are collectively called the Guardians, made up of a slavic Santa who is called North (voiced by Alec Baldwin), Tooth aka the tooth fairy (voiced by Isla Fisher), Bunny aka the Easter Bunny with a pronounced Aussie accent (voiced by Hugh Jackman), and Sandy aka the Sandman who has no voice but possesses an adorable manner of communication (conveyed through golden sand dust that pop up from his head). The Guardians' primary role is to protect the children of the world and through their deeds, to keep the children believing in them. This keeps darkness which is manifested by a malignant character named Pitch (voiced by Jude Law) at bay.
To cut a long story short Pitch aka the Bogeyman returns with a vengeance, bent on destroying children's belief in the Guardians and in the process taking over the world, turning it into a place of fear and darkness. The man in the moon, a voiceless but commanding presence, who appointed the Guardians in the first place, selects Jack Frost as a Guardian to help the others defeat Pitch, but Jack is initially reluctant. After all, children can see the other Guardians, but can't even hear him much less believe in him. It takes a turn of events before Jack gets on board and is committed to defeating Pitch.
The story flows almost seamlessly and the characters are all appealing in their own ways. North aka Santa is an imposing and deceptively intimidating gentle giant who advises Jack to discover his inner core, his center so to speak. This is done in an ingenious manner using nesting dolls, which I thought was a unique concept. Tooth is not at all what I imagined the tooth fairy to look like. Unlike the Disney Fairies, Tooth is imagined as an exotic bird-like figure, full of beautiful feathers and with an elfin human face. Sandy the Sandman is small but has strength beyond what I thought him capable of and poses a formidable threat to Pitch. Bunny is one of the fiercest-looking of the lot and has the courage to show for it. The most human looking of them all, Jack, is also possessed of an inner strength that is slowly revealed as the story progresses.
This is a great movie to take the family to, though I'd advise parents with children under six to exercise caution as there are certainly scenes where Pitch, embodying the corrupting powers of darkness, advances with menace upon sleeping children and fights with spectral horses symbolizing fear and nightmares. My eight-year-old, who has watched most of the Harry Potter movies, loved this film though she was upset at the way some of the Guardians were attacked by Pitch, and insisted on sleeping with her night light on. So, I would certainly advise using your discretion before deciding to take a young child to watch this.
The message at the heart of this wonderfully imaginative and visually spectacular film is to have faith in the good things, and that this faith or belief, however one chooses to call it, will eventually eliminate despair and darkness from one's heart. This is a great family-friendly animated film that will appeal to audiences of all ages.Ever since "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" comic (not the movie), I've been intrigued by the basic premise: legendary characters from other genres are given the superhero treatment and then brought together under unlikely circumstances to face a global threat. This structure is the standard plot of just about every Avengers and Justice League comic, but only recently -perhaps a sign of the times -has cobbling together a diverse cast of characters become movie entertainment.
"Rise of the Guardians" continues the trend by turning the dial on iconic characters like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman up to 11. Each of these characters gives a gift to children, which in turn causes the children to believe in them and bestows a form of immortality. It's an oddly parasitic relationship that was prominent in Wizard of the Coast's "The Primal Order" supplement, in which deities need worshippers to gain power. Our heroes may not be all that powerful, but they are certainly popular. At least some of them are.
One of the questions weighing on my mind in bringing my five-year-old to this film was how "Rise" would deal with Santa Claus. It's one thing to question the existence of the Tooth Fairy (I never liked her anyway), the Easter Bunny (does anyone believe he exists?), and the Sandman (pretty sure NOBODY believes he exists)...but Santa Claus? That's some tricky turf right there.
Parents needn't worry. Santa is a jovial, dual saber-wielding slavic warrior full of wisdom, jolly humor, and generosity. As voiced by Alec Baldwin, this is a Santa I can get on board with!
The Sandman doesn't speak, but he pantomimes through thought-forms that lend themselves well to 3-D viewing.
The Easter Bunny is voiced by Hugh Jackman, which seems oddly natural. He's a combative, boomerang-wielding humanoid rabbit that can throw egg-smoke bombs like a ninja. He's also pretty adorable.
Isla Fisher (yes, the nymphomaniac from "Wedding Crashers") plays the Tooth Fairy as a neurotic workaholic who has been "out of the field" for so long that she no longer knows how to relate to kids. She also moons over Jack Frost (Chris Pine, AKA Captain Kirk).
Frost is the teenager of the bunch, frustrated by his lack of fame which makes him literally invisible to children. Frost is on a personal journey to discover how he became who he is and in doing so, accepting his role as a new Guardian of children.
And that's what "Guardians" is secretly all about: aging gracefully into parenthood. The older adults (the existing Guardians) worry about being forgotten, uninvolved in their children's lives. Pitch the Boogeyman (voiced by an unctuous Jude Law) craves attention so much that he would be happy to just be feared because it means he will be remembered. And Frost has to deal with his own childhood before he can become a parent.
There are some amazing set pieces, plenty of clever quips, and enough magical battles to keep the movie clicking along. But Frost is something of a bland catch-all for every rebellious "cool kid" in the history of movies (he wears a hoodie, he MUST be cool!) and his big revelation about his past isn't much of a revelation at all. "Rise of the Guardians" is clearly just getting beginning to launch a franchise, and this is a good start. But I'll take a movie about just good ole sword-swinging Claus any day.A great and ancient evil is rising in the land, and it is up to the guardians-Santa Claus, the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny-to convince the reluctant Jack Frost to fight for the innocence and imagination of the children of the world
The quirky premise leads into an enchanting tale of faith and self-discovery. Jack Frost, whose heart is as warm as his magical powers are cold, is the reluctant Guardian-elect. Invisible to children, bereft of memories, and unclear as to his purpose, he wanders through life making mischief (the Easter Bunny is still deeply unhappy about the blizzard on the Easter of '64) and racking up more naughty than nice points. But when Pitch Black, the boogeyman, schemes to wipe out the faith of children in Santa Claus and the other Guardians, Jack Frost teams up with the Guardians to bring laughter and joy back to the children of the world. In the process, naturally, he finds himself and his innermost gift.
The premise and plot, though simple, is beautifully written and wonderfully presented. The animation is dazzling and exciting (I'd be first in line for the ice-slicked roller coaster ride through the town, as seen in an early action scene) and the characters are charming and international in their appeal. Santa Claus speaks with a Russian accent and wields double blades. The Easter Bunny is over-sized at eight feet; he wields a boomerang and speaks Australian-ese. It would have been too much, I suppose, to hope that the Sandman would look like Morpheus from Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, but little Sandy kicked some serious booty with his Indiana Jones-style whips. The Tooth Fairy smiles too much; she raves and swoons over pearly white teeth. Jack Frost is at turns whimsically charming and heartbreakingly lonely.
Rise of the Guardians will appeal to any young child who still believes, children/adults of any age who want to believe, and cynical adults (like me) who don't believe but who can appreciate a great story and awesome animation.
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