Rise Of The Guardians

Rise of the Guardians, despite sounding like a sword and sandals epic or a mythology based rumble, is actually the prototype standard animated Christmas release that appears around November time each year (he types, reviewing it in April). Some thrills for the kids, a few hours peace for the adults, a moral message and good triumphing over evil. In fact, the material is actually so basic it’s not much of a surprise to see that DreamWorks dropped it in the lap of first time director Peter Ramsey. Ramsey does have a solid background in films, particularly as a storyboard artist, so he muddles through this just fine. There isn’t much here though to warrant any further viewings. Quick summation: When Bogeyman Pitch (Jude Law) plans to engulf the world in darkness the Guardians (Jack Frost (Chris Pine), Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), The Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) and The Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher)) team up and come to the rescue. The rest you can already work out for yourself. As mentioned this is more than acceptable for kids, but it does little to pique the interest of the older members of the audience, with virtually no references or gags to tickle the more adult funny bone. You can argue that this was targeted at a young audience only, but executive producer Guillermo del Toro’s involvement suggests more was afoot, but I see little evidence of his assumption that the film had areas that were dark, moody and poetic. The involvement of another well know name though does provide some positives, as ubercinematographer Roger Deakins helped out on the lighting and overall the animation is very good, though cheapened by the pointless 3D. The biggest weakness the film has (not that the kids will care or notice) is that the Guardians themselves are actually quite weak. Jackman’s Easter Bunny is an unfunny lazy Aussie stereotype, Baldwin’s Claus sports an incomprehensible Russian accent, though must disconcerting of all is Pine as Jack Frost. Though it’s not clear how old Frost is meant to be (though clearly it’s on the youthful side), the illusion of childhood innocence is somewhat smashed due to Pine having the voice of a fifty year old. This has made some decent coin at the box office and it seems, despite its flimsy premise, DreamWorks were determined to support this as much as possible (this is the first film I’ve seen in years where five minute clips of the actual film were shown as previews before other films). That approach has clearly, and literally, paid off, but it can’t cover up the fact that this is strangely lacking in enchantment.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict

If you missed this, fear not. They’ll be another one along come next Santa Claus time. Rating: 6/10.