Psycho's Movie Reviews #55: Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga'hoole (2010)

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is a 2010 3D computer-animated fantasy-adventure family film directed by Zack Snyder. Based on the Guardians of Ga'Hoole book series by Kathryn Lasky, the film was written by John Orloff and Emil Stern and features the voices of Helen Mirren, Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess, Hugo Weaving, Emily Barclay, Abbie Cornish, Ryan Kwanten, Anthony LaPaglia, Miriam Margolyes, Sam Neill, Richard Roxburgh and David Wenham. The film was produced and developed by Village Roadshow Pictures and Animal Logic, following their success with the 2006 film Happy Feet.

Legend of the Guardians was theatrically released in RealD 3D and IMAX 3D in North America on September 24, 2010, and in Australia on September 30, 2010 by Warner Bros. Pictures; it was accompanied by a new 3D Looney Tunes cartoon entitled Fur of Flying. It grossed $140 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its voice performances, visual effects and tone but criticized its story and characters.

Plot:

Soren, a young barn owl, lives in the Tyto Forest with his family. Soren enjoys listening to his father's stories of the "Guardians of Ga'Hoole," valiant warrior owls led by Lyze of Kiel who fought against the evil Pure Ones, but his older brother Kludd does not believe them. When their father starts teaching them how to fly, Kludd becomes jealous of Soren and pushes him off a branch while their parents are out hunting, causing them both to fall to the ground. They are attacked by a Tasmanian devil, but are saved (and subsequently kidnapped) by Jatt and Jutt, two owls who work for the Pure Ones.

At a facility called the St. Aegolius Home for Orphaned Owls, the Pure Ones' queen Nyra greets the brothers and several other owls who have been kidnapped and says that they will become either soldiers or pickers (owls who pick through owl pellets and find little bits of magnetic metal called "flecks" that are used to build a superweapon). Kludd becomes a soldier while Soren and Gylfie, a young elf owl, become pickers and are forced to be "moon-blinked," but they resist. A boreal owl named Grimble teaches them to fly and tells them to find the Great Tree of Ga'Hoole, but Nyra finds out and kills him. Soren and Gylfie escape and soon meet Digger, a burrowing owl, and Twilight, a great grey owl. While resting in their hollow, Soren is reunited with Mrs. P, a blind snake who is his family's nest maid, who was captured by Twilight while searching for Soren and Kludd. She agrees to go with them and find the Guardians.

The owls fly towards the sea of Hoolemere where some crows guide them to the legendary shrine of the Guardians, guarded by an oracular echidna who sends the owls out to sea to find the Island of Ga'Hoole. While flying, the band encounters a fierce storm and Digger's wings freeze, causing him to fall into the sea and nearly drown, but they are saved by Boron and Barran, a pair of snowy owls who are the king and queen of the Guardians. They lead the party to the Great Tree of Ga'Hoole, where Soren tells the Guardians about the Pure Ones' plans. The Guardians are skeptical, but an elderly screech owl named Ezylryb is convinced and Boron sends a great grey owl called Allomere out with two scouts to investigate St. Aegolius.

The owls stay in the Tree of Ga'Hoole for a long time and are looked after by a young Guardian-in-training named Otulissa, a short-eared owl whom Soren develops a crush on. During a flying lesson in the middle of a rainstorm, Soren grasps a brief hold on gizzard-flying (flying purely with instinct), but loses control and falls towards the sea. Ezylryb rescues him and orders Soren back to his hollow, where he learns that Ezylryb is really Lyze of Kiel, who fought and defeated Metal Beak, Nyra's mate. Ezylryb explains to Soren that battle isn’t about glory or heroism, but doing what is right. Allomere returns from his scouting mission with news that his two wingmen were killed in an ambush. He brings back two moon-blinked owlets, one of which is Soren's younger sister Eglantine. The Guardians prepare for battle and fly out towards St. Aegolius; before leaving, Ezylryb instructs Soren to tend to his sister. When she finally snaps out of her trance, Eglantine tells Soren that it was Kludd who moon-blinked her and gave her to Allomere, confirming that Allomere is a traitor and that the Guardians are actually flying into a trap. The owls fly back to St. Aegolius where they find Metal Beak holding the Guardians captive in a machine powered by "flecks" guarded by bats.

Twilight, Gylfie and Digger fend off the bats sent by Metal Beak to kill the Guardians, and Metal Beak has Allomere taken away by several bats. Meanwhile, Soren navigates his way through a forest fire by successfully gizzard-flying and manages to disable the fleck trap by burning the wooden winch holding the lids of the fleck containers up, slamming them shut and nullifying their effects. The Guardians and Twilight fly into battle and Ezylryb goes straight for Metal Beak and Nyra, who nearly overpower him. Soren joins the battle after he sees Kludd, but Kludd attacks him; they engage in a fight that culminates in Kludd falling into the fire below, presumably killing him. Furious at his brother's apparent death and betrayal, Soren grabs a flaming branch and stabs Metal Beak to death, saving Ezlyryb. Nyra, shocked at her mate's death, retreats with the remaining Pure Ones, vowing revenge on the Guardians.

When they return to the tree, Soren and the others are initiated as new Guardians by Boron and Barran. Some time later, Soren tells the story to a group of owlets, revealing that Nyra is still out there with a contingent of Pure Ones and Kludd's body was never retrieved. Meanwhile, back in the smoking remains of the canyons, a shadowy figure with glowing red eyes is seen looking at Metal Beak's body and mask. The film ends with Ezylryb and the owls flying off into another storm.

Production

Development:

Warner Bros. acquired the rights to produce a computer-animated film to the book series Guardians of Ga'Hoole by Kathyrn Lasky in June 2005. Donald De Line was set to produce the film and Lasky was set to write the screenplay. In April 2008, Zack Snyder signed on as director, Zareh Nalbandian took over as producer and a new screenplay was written by John Orloff and Emil Stern. Production began in Australia in February 2009.

Animation:

The film's animation process took place at Animal Logic's headquarters in Sydney, Australia. A team of over 500 artists, technicians and support staff were amassed to design and animate 15 unique species of owls, as well as other forest creatures such as snakes, crows, bats, centipedes, bees, beetles, moths, a hermit crab, a Tasmanian devil, and an echidna.

The animated end credits sequence shows the adventures of Soren, Gylfie, Digger and Twilight as told by the young owls as if they were putting on a shadow play performance in the Great Tree. This idea was conceived by Felicity Coonan and took around three months to animate. Coonan wanted the sequence to be a playful experiment in 2D and 3D, as the classic storytelling form of shadow puppets is a 2D medium. The credits were designed to be legible without 3D glasses.

Casting:

Much of the cast was announced in the early months of 2009. Hugh Jackman, Hugo Weaving and Ryan Kwanten were announced in January; Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, Rachael Taylor, and David Wenham in February; and Emilie de Ravin in March. The rest of the cast was announced in November 2009, including Emily Barclay, Abbie Cornish, Jay Laga’aia, Miriam Margolyes, Helen Mirren, and Sam Neill who replaced Jackman as the role of Allomere. However, like Jackman, both Taylor and Ravin were also no longer in the film. Laga’aia was also going to voice Twilight but was replaced by Anthony LaPaglia.

Release/Reception/Box Office:

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole was theatrically released in the United States on September 24, 2010, and in Australia on September 30, 2010. After Warner Bros. ended its long-time distribution deal with Village Roadshow in Australia at the end of 2020, Warner Bros. Pictures distributed the film worldwide, with Roadshow Entertainment (via Village Roadshow Pictures) distributing in Australia and New Zealand.

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 52% of 133 sampled critics gave the film positive reviews and that it has received an average rating of 5.70/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Legend of the Guardians' dark tone and dazzling visuals are to be admired, even if they're ultimately let down by a story that never lives up to its full potential." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film a score of 3/5 stars, describing it as a "likable family movie" and writing: "It's all very weird sometimes, but engaging: a nice half-term treat for younger children." John Walsh of The Independent wrote: "The stars of this computerised epic are the Design and Art departments, who provide stunning landscapes, caves and kingdoms, and whose 3D magic is genuinely thrilling", but added: "The dark atmosphere and violent fights would scare most under-nines." Stephen Cole of The Globe and Mail gave the film a score of 3/4 stars, describing it as "a splendid adventure sure to thrill children and fantasy buffs, while leaving everyone else passably entertained."

Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph gave the film a score of 2/5 stars, praising the film's visuals, but criticizing its dialogue and humour. He concluded: "We’re left with something gorgeous, turgid, and emotionally impenetrable – less a movie, more an Imax screensaver." Andy Webster of The New York Times wrote that the film "may be a hoot, but for all its pyrotechnics, it fails to soar." Sandra Hall of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote: "It takes a certain knack to make a film which has a sinister feel to it without being the least bit exciting but Snyder has done it with this one."

In the US it took in $5.5 million on opening day, ranking third at the box office in the US. It ranked second on Saturday, earning $6 million, and was No. 1 on Sunday, earning $4.6 million (US). Overall, it earned $16,112,211 on its opening weekend, reaching second place at the box office behind Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps in America. This makes Legend of the Guardians Zack Snyder's first film not to reach No. 1 on its opening weekend in the US.

In its second weekend, the film slipped 32% to $10,887,543 and held on to second place, this time behind The Social Network, claiming the title of the biggest second-weekend hold for an animated feature in 2010. The film ended its run in January 2011 with a $55.7 million domestic (US) gross. The film also grossed over $84 million from its international release, bringing its global box office total to $140,073,390.

My Review:

The most amazing quality of animation to this day, surpassing even it's namesake animated film; Rise of the Guardians, ever so slightly. This is one of the best looking animated features I have ever seen. The detail is amazing, from the feathers to the rain to the lightning. The environments are absolutely gorgeous as well. They perfectly convey the atmosphere and the emotion in each scene, better than any other studio alone ever could. It's astounding, especially when you think about what Pixar was doing in 2010 (no disrespect to Pixar of course). Legend of the Guardians has all the suspense, intrigue and narrative depth you would expect from an immersive and thought provoking, summer blockbuster, unfortunately, the pure joy and creative freedom of animation is wistfully overlooked in exchange for an excessively logical and cohesive story-line. The story is absolutely gripping. Like Lord of the Rings mixed with Warrior Cats mixed with The Lion King. The heroes and villains are so enjoyable to watch as they set off on their journey. Although lack of concrete direction or even, common sense is a recurring theme among the world of big budget animation, one of the greatest virtues or freedoms which caricature artists have, is the ability to break away from the constricting, cinematic laws and be able to conceptualize, infinite worlds without limitations. Legend of the Guardians creators focused keenly on execution. There is no doubt what-so-ever regarding the time and effort invested into the quality of animation and transparency of the story line. However, at the end of the day, an owl, is still just an owl. Personally, I would have liked to have seen a more splendorous rendition of the Guardians, maybe give them some kind of super powers, nothing fancy, but enough to give the story a more dynamic or inspirational twist.

Other than that, I highly recommend this film if you haven't watched it already; 10/10, I can't believe this was made by the same people as Happy Feet.

{I love how there's a song by the group Owl City on the soundtrack to a movie about Owls; honestly it's a good song}.