Home
» Movie Review » Movie Review: Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
Feb
12
Who would have thought Zack Snyder would create a child-friendly movie? I mean seriously, the transition is quite baffling. Sin City, The Watchmen, 300, and then Legend of the Guardians? We’re talking about owls here! Nevertheless, Snyder proved there is little to worry about. After all, his fervent penchant for Computer Generated Images and slow motion action can give the non-believers some “you got served” effect. He managed to pull off an enchanted world we’d expect to come from a Disney production line, but with his signatures written all over it. Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga’Hoole is certainly one of the good watch-worth movies of Snyder, but not the best. Why? Because amidst the stunning visuals and graphics (if the movie was a woman, she’d be gorgeous) lies a stale fantasy book theme.
Legend of the Guardians opens mainly with two young owls, Soren (Jim Sturgess), the main protagonist, who is an ardent fan of the stories about the Guardians and can speak about them any chance he gets, and Kludd (Ryan Kwanten) his brother. With a failed attempt to fly, both were abducted by the Pure Ones, a cryptic and sadistic group of owls rival to the Guardians. Kludd saw the dark light and decided to side with them while Soren refused to embrace their ways and decided to escape to go in a search for the Guardians. Between the two brothers, a war between the Guardians and the Pure Ones dictating the balance of the owl world was at hand.
I may not be an expert of animated films (I wish I was…), but the way I see it, there were two main flaws in Legend of the Guardians. First, the creators chose to stick with the conventional protagonist journey to find good against evil, ridden by prophecies, sidekicks and a little bit of romance. As the title suggests, it’s about a legendary group of sentient owls said to be the protectors of the owl world. Of course the conventional way to do this is to present a search for these owls (because they’re a legend after all), therefore riding along with a hackneyed theme. Of course, there wouldn’t be action in this movie unless the filmmakers stir up a battle (imagine an owl movie without a battle scene, sheesh!), so naturally, the good against the bad comes in a long way. Naturally, the good ones triumph in the end (you guessed it right). Although Legend of the Guardians was a screen adaptation of the novels written by Kathryn Lasky, its stand should have been independent.
And second, unlike other animated movies such as the Ice Age series, one won’t have a chance to have a feel for the owl world. The movie had such a fast pace, it seemed like a world where owls were only a part of it, not a world where owls ruled – and this is supposed to be a world of owls. It dashed from one scene to another without really giving much focus on the rhythm of the landscape and characters. In the Ice Age series, one can already determine what world the story would revolve around (of course the vast amounts of ice and the mammoths are your biggest clues). In Legend of the Guardians, it just didn’t work out so well. Also, one can have a difficult time identifying with the characters, for unfortunately, they lacked development. Each character was only given a little background check, some didn’t even have one. But then again, the main target audience of this movie are the kids, who I think wouldn’t really care if they can relate to a character or not (seriously).
Other than that, I think nothing more repulsing can be said about the movie. And you have to give it to Snyder and the people behind the art of this film; the visuals were outstandingly beautiful, especially his slow motion trademark scenes. The battle gears of the owls are one of Snyder’s attention grabbers. The slip-in metal talons, the crafted helmets, and the mid air clash scenes, they are the lot that makes you open your mouth and say “Wow, that’s cool!” The colours of every scene and landscape were fantastic, effectively adding affection and some eye candy.
With Legend of the Guardians, having a less appealing story and underdeveloped characters, one might ask “Why should I watch an owl movie?” The answer is simple. The kids will love it, and Zack Snyder created it.
You can check other Movie Reviews HERE.
-
Bryon