Rating: 
Amid the slew of predictable Yuletide fare, it is diverting when an original holiday film emerges, yet despite being blessed with a livewire premise, DreamWorks’ hotly anticipated Rise of the Guardians summarily squanders its promise by way of an oddly bland screenplay. Pitched as a more kiddie-friendly take on The Avengers, Guardians brings together the cream of the crop of children’s mythic heroes – Santa Claus, Jack Frost, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and The Sandman – for a superhero super-group that relies on children’s capacity to believe in them, yet even kids might have trouble getting invested in this surprisingly dull animated film.
While there are a few nice ideas – such as making Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin) Eastern-European, and giving the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) an Aussie accent – Rise of the Guardians simply isn’t very interesting, largely because the conflict throughout is so benign. The Guardians, who have just recruited protagonist Jack Frost (Chris Pine) as their newest member, are bestowed with power because kids believe in them, and if this belief fades, so too do their powers, so the villain, Pitch (Jude Law), attempts to eradicate that belief. Pitch fleets in and out of the film indiscriminately with a sub-Voldemort sense of presence and menace (if voiced with commanding gusto by Law), while his motives are vague and forgettable.
Through and through, the film’s problem is with scripting; the gag rate is exceedingly low and it just doesn’t have the narrative chicanery needed to pull off its ambitious premise. Furthermore, the banter between the heroes lacks zing and is mostly procedural; there’s none of the frantic squabbling within the group that made Joss Whedon’s The Avengers such a hoot. Vocal performances, meanwhile, are largely rendered anonymous despite boasting a roster of top-shelf talent because of the script’s pronounced lack of wit. However, at the end of the day, it’s Chris Pine’s fatal miscasting in the lead role – his deep, raspy voice sounding distractingly inappropriate for a teenage boy – that really sinks the whole thing.
All this said, Rise of the Guardians is hardly an exhausting sit; it is gorgeously animated for the most part, and stands as one of the best recent arguments for 3D, unsurprising given DreamWorks’ sublime dimensional work on How to Train Your Dragon. It’s just a shame that its visual invention is not matched by the script, which goes through the motions of an epic “event” movie, yet has little of real ingenuity or originality to offer beyond the premise itself. Several of the most successful aspects feel derived from superior animated films; Santa Claus’ elves, for instance, with their diminutive size and brash clumsiness, are a clear effort to evoke the same sort of fanfare that Despicable Me’s minions have earned.
Were it not for the immaculate 3D and dynamic direction, DreamWorks’ latest might have been a complete failure; as it stands, it is a hugely disappointing waste of a grand premise. All style and no substance, Rise of the Guardians’ gorgeous visual presentation boasts a lot more dimension than its underwhelming script.
Rise of the Guardians is in UK cinemas November 30th.
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10 Comments
*audience boos at you*
Dude, prepare for a load of rage mail coming your way. You sir, have no idea what you’re talking about.
I can’t take this review seriously at all. I mean you just sound pissed off about it for no apparent reason. I’ve seen a ton of footage of this movie and it looks amazing and I don’t know what you were expecting script wise.
I always said that the people who write reviews like this one are the people who, two weeks before seeing the movie, were absolutely set on hating it and only used seeing the movie as an excuse to ‘write a legit negative response’ to it.
Please put on a helmet, sir. I imagine you will soon be bombed by a hateful audience.
This review is kind of upsetting since I’ve been waiting months to see this movie and I’m counting down the days before it comes out. At first I thought Pine’s voice was too deep for Jack, but then I remembered Jack’s not a teenager but hundreds of years old. The deeper voice is a constant reminder that although he might look young on the outside, he has actually lived for a long time. So I don’t think it was a mistake to cast Pine as Jack- in fact, I love it now! As for the script, I can’t say anything until I watch it… but from what I’ve seen so far, I know I’m going to love it!!!
Well, I cannot say much about this review. But may I ask you something? First, why compare it with Avengers? It’s like comparing a movie for kids with a movie for superheroes-obsessed adults. And, from whose perceptive are you looking from? Remember, this is for kids, not for adults (unless you claim that you are a kid…), so you cannot watch a movie like this from an adult’s perceptive. My opinion: even though you don’t like something, you shouldn’t just say it this straightforwardly, because it is unkind, really, since you did not need to put all your efforts to create this movie. And, you should write this review (straightforwardly or not) AFTER the movie is released.
Reviews for this movie are going to serve as a great exposé on who among us is the most jaded and cynical A-hole with the strongest “Dreamworks Animation sucks” bias. I just went to a screening. I wasn’t expecting much based on the trailer but was surprised at how great it was. This is one of the purest “children’s movies” DW has ever made. The biggest flaw I can think of is that the visuals took center stage at times. Not much of a flaw for anyone who enjoys eye candy.
Your review honestly doesn’t make a lot of sense. First you say the movie’s main problem is the script, which you say almost nothing about. Then you change your mind and say that what sinks it all is Chris Pine’s performance, which is getting plenty of praise elsewhere. But you completely fail to mention Jack’s portion of the story at all. Your observations about the movie seem to go only as deep as “it’s cool that they made the Easter Bunny Australian” and “the script didn’t have enough jokes.”
Hmmm. It’s almost as if you barely watched the movie at all.
What a douchy review.
Rise of the Guardians is American 3D animated,adventure movie based on William Joyce’s The Guardians of Childhood book series and The Man in the Moon short movie by Joyce and Reel FX.Watch rise of the guardians online or you can also download rise of the guardians movie on totalmoviez.com.
http://www.totalmoviez.com/watch-rise-of-the-guardians/
This review is spot on – a waste of an interesting premise. What sinks it of course is the addition of the teenager trying to be cool and accepted and also a villain that is threatening in voice only. Jacks story is a combination of trying to hard coolness and sulky petulance witha touch of outright ridiculousness – wow, its great he got to be Jack Frost and all he had to do was die in a horrific way! Gosh – how did Santa become Santa? Was he crushed by a huge present? In the end its yet another teenagers dream of being a beloved celebrity cause its their destiny. Boring and easy. Also – the “coolness” of Jack causinging the kid to bobsled through town is truly horrifying – he races him past near death several times and in the end its all “cool”. Keep the cool kick ass Santa for his own film and jettison the rest.