Review: LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA’HOOLE

rating: 3

If you care, this review delves into slight spoiler territory, so proceed at your own risk. With how bad the story is treated, however, I'm probably doing you a favor. It's almost heartbreaking to watch Legend of the Guardians play out, its beauty and grace marred by one of the most hackneyed stories since Eragon. Legend of the Guardians, in my earnest opinion, is the most beautiful and jaw dropping CG animated film ever to see wide release, surpassing even the technical wizardry of the fine folks at Pixar. This should be, by all means, a landmark film for animation, a movie destined to be looked back on as a milestone. Instead, however, the film places more emphasis on the techniques employed in the film making process rather than on its real heart and soul: the story. It's a flat, lifeless movie that is held up by the amazing spectacle it presents, whether you see it in 2D or 3D. The film revolves around the misadventure of two young brothers, Soren and Kludd. Soren is a dreamer, one who thrives of the legends of the mythical owls of Ga'Holle, Guardians and peacekeepers of their world. Kludd, however, wants nothing more than to prove to both himself and Soren that he is stronger than what people gives him credit for. After the two sneak away from their nest for some extra flying practice, an accident delivers them both into the clutches of an evil organization known as 'The Pure Ones', a one-breed group of owls determined on ruling the rest of the owl kingdoms through their breeds' inherent strength. Soren and Kludd happen to be a part of the same breed as the owls in charge, thus causing the leader, Metalbeak, to take a keen interest in them. The two brothers begin taking different paths, Kludd buying into the propaganda fed to him by Metalbeak's general and mate, Nyra. While Kludd is taught how to fly through vicious training exercises, Soren is sent to mine for a mysterious dark material, training himself to fly in secret alongside a desert owl named Gylfie. Soren and Gylfie escape captivity and begin a search for the Guardians from Soren's legends, embarking on an epic quest to save the owl kingdom from enslavement under the rule of the Pure Ones. The film climaxes with a final fight between the Guardians and the Pure Ones, with Soren fighting both Metalbeak and his brother in a fight to decide the fate of the world. If any of that synopsis sounds familiar, don't act too surprised. Legend of the Guardians is a cookie cutter fantasy epic that would probably feel right at home alongside a copy of 'Willow' or 'The Dark Crystal'. If you can overlook its completely superficial plot, there's some fun to be had with the novelty of watching a fantasy epic retold with owls. For everyone else, however, Legend of the Guardians is almost painful to sit through, its plot a terrible rehash of tropes and cliches. The film does little to set up its world, only using its brief moments of exposition to establish that Kludd and Soren do not agree on things. As soon as the kidnapping starts, there shouldn't be any doubt that these two characters are going to end up hating each other by the end of the film. What amazes me most about the film's insipid story is the sheer lack of interest it has in its characters. Every character, even minor ones, all serve as plot devices for Soren's journey. This means that every character is functioning merely for the sake of pushing the story along, lacking any type of depth or characterization. Would the film suffer for taking just a few moments to let the characters ponder their decisions or just build up relationships? Characters establish themselves as either friend or foe quickly and either jump on Soren's side to help him succeed or join the Pure Ones to stop the Guardians. Probably the most cliche moment of the film comes from the obvious betrayal subplot that ends with (wait for it) the betrayer being killed by Metalbeak once he has no need for him anymore. I'm positive this came as a shock to everyone under the age of seven. I lost track of every character aside from Soren towards the end of the film, and when the credits rolled, I frankly did not care about whatever happened to anyone aside from Soren. What's the point about becoming emotionally invested in characters that do not have any discernable personality? The characterization is worse than 9, which at least spent twenty minutes setting up relationships and explaining personalities before starting to kill them off. The fact I had to look up the names of each character just proves to me that there was no one worth investing in. This was not helped by the fact that every character is given a phonetically complicated name. The winner for worst name in this mess is Noctis. For those of you who know Latin, you might understand why this is completely, and utterly, moronic. For those who don't, it means night. I almost had an aneurysm in the theater the moment this character's name was spoken. What saves this film from being a complete wash are the absolutely breath taking visuals. Had Zack Snyder used a different script or spent more time focusing on developing the bare bones material that made it to the screen, this would have been my choice for animated film of the year if only for technical wizardry alone. This movie is breath taking, from the gorgeously rendered fantasy landscapes to the dizzying bouts of flight that take up a large portion of the movie's runtime. Snyder's trademark slow motion is present for the battle scenes and some of the more intricate flying scenes, feeling very much like an owl version of '300' at times. These techniques, however, do a phenomenal job of accentuating the wonder this film has to offer, letting the breath taking vistas and characters display their full, unadulterated beauty. Make no mistake, this is the most visually amazing to hit all year, a true feast for the eyes in every sense of the word. Some of my favorite scenes of the film are only on the screen for a few seconds, their beauty transcending any type of description that would do them justice. From amazingly rendered scenes of fire and flowing red flags across a bleak, stone filled castle, the film is a testament to the hard work of the Animal Logic studio. The acting is almost pointless to talk about. The voice work done by Jim Sturgess as Soren is boring and flat, although it's clear the poor guy is trying. Given the blandness of the script, I figure there was little he could do to make anything sound remotely interesting, but it's still no excuse for the feigned enthusiasm you can hear in his character's overly excited moments. Everyone else served their roles well, but no one stood out as particularly engaging, save for the devious turn pulled by Helen Mirren as Nyra. Her owl's design was very striking and beautiful to see in motion, but her character was the stock role of devious henchman. A shame too, as her character sounded so evil and malicious. No one else did much to elevate the poor characterization, but no one really dropped the ball very hard, save for Sturgess. I almost feel sorry for Animal Logic. When everything's said and done, Animal Logic's work is squandered on a pedestrian story that is not engaging, not fun, not funny, and above all else, not interesting to watch. Their work does manage to save this film in all of the most superficial respects, a possible testament to Zack Snyder's tendency to focus on the visual wonderment rather than the true core of any film: Its story. This should have been a benchmark film for animation, a technical wonder that would be cherished. Instead, it's just a cookie cutter, paint by numbers fantasy with pretty colors and designs. In spite of all of these horrible flaws, I would still say the movie is worth seeing for the sheer beauty at play, so in this regard, check it out at a matinee or rent it. Don't worry much about kids, they probably won't be into it very much given how dark the battle scenes are and how uninteresting its story is. For people who appreciate spectacle, this is the must see movie of the year, a visual experience unlike anything ever seen before. It makes me furious to think that all of this beauty is wasted on a story so bland. Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is out in U.K. cinema's now.