NOT THAT DARK AND GRITTY

MOVIE REVIEW:

RISE OF THE GUARDIANS

By:

G.P. Manalo

Starring:
 

Chris Pine

Alec Baldwin

Hugh Jackman

Isla Fisher

Rise of the Guardians - The Guardians are these holiday characters such as Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Sandman, and The Tooth Fairy who protects the children of the world as long as those children believe in them. But when the Boogeyman/Pitch continues to give the children nightmares, threatens and destroys the plans of the Guardians, they found themselves having a new member of their team... Jack Frost.

I wasn't expecting much for Rise of the Guardians when the trailers came out for this movie, I just thought that this looks very generic and stupid but that was the first trailer, when they showed the second one I thought that it look pretty good and surprising that they added one character in the movie. But then again I wouldn't be expecting much because if last year's "Arthur Christmas" (which is almost similar to this movie) did teach me anything it wouldn't be never to expect anything from the first trailer (and ends up surprising me). And I ate all of my words, this is actually a great movie. Theres a lot of heart and layers in this movie, there are also things that may surprise you.  And I have to say I thought this is a very enjoyable movie.

If there is one phrase that i keep hearing from other critics it is the fact that they are calling this movie "The Avengers for Children" (Implying that 100% of the population of children haven't seen The Avengers). I can see that but i think it should be called "The Avengers with Folklore Characters" (then again the Boogeyman in this movie had that Loki-Vibe to him). In fact you can tell that this is a children film with It’s simplicity of the jokes, the storytelling and such. So there was this kiddy vibe to it. Visually I thought the movie is beautiful, the animation is smoothly done especially the action scenes in this movie, I thought the character designs were simplicity at it's best (though Tooth Fairy looking like a hummingbird seems off), And for an Animated movie this has pretty good Cinematography, Little did i know the Artistic Consultant is the same guy who did the Cinematography for Skyfall (And other famous movies like Shawshank Redemption and *Insert Coen Brothers Movie here*).  I did not see this movie in 3D,  The theater i went to doesn't have the 3D version of this movie, which is pretty disappointing because i heard so much praise of how good the 3D is. I can tell that you will get tons of shots here and there that will blow your mind (Just by the Dreamworks Opening). 

"Women will only watch this movie to see me..."

I love how this world is created, the character designs and ideas being put to those characters are probably the cleverest things I have seen on-screen in an animated film for a long time (Wreck-It Ralph is like a month ago now, does that feel like a long time?). Guillermo Del Toro, did a fantastic job visually with this movie. I love how each and every character would have, their own thing to do, having their own stories. They are still the same folklore characters that we know and loved (and forgotten in time) but the creators did their own take on each and every character. It’s like Nolan’s Batman, It’s the same character that we all know and loved but there are some changes from someone else’s idea that makes him the dark and gritty Batman we know now (Not implying that the characters in this movie are as dark and gritty as Batman, but you get the idea). The writing in this movie was good, I love how each character interacts with each other (It’s like someone consulted with Joss Whedon for the writing at some point) . But Comedically-Speaking in this movie, the Comedic dialogue is definitely child-ish though there weren’t any fart or shit jokes that Dreamworks usually do in their movies there were just weak comedic dialogue though there were a few jokes here and there that I did chuckle though they were done by characters in the background (like those walking and talking chicken nuggets in Despicable Me). But I had to accept what it is, having those kind of dialogue be uttered by these characters since this movie is for kids. Characterization wise, I thought everyone is a badass in this movie like The Avengers everyone had their moment to shine though, Tooth Fairy felt weird as a character in this movie on how they emphasized her obsession on teeth (they did explain why but it was just.... egh). I also like the fact that they center around that sense of childhood, believing in something and I loved how it is emphasized in this movie, There was at one point where I felt like a kid again. And I’m a sucker for movies that do that to me lately.

The voice acting in this movie is pretty top-notch, There were many voice actors that I did recognize though some you can tell that it is them who are voicing that certain character, but Alec Baldwin really stole the show with his Russian accent for Santa Claus. And also Jude Law as Pitch, I thought was done very well also, His character in this movie is definitely the Loki of this movie (having said that this movie is The Avengers with Folklore Characters). Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Sandman and The Easter Bunny were badass in this movie and I also like how each character interact with each other but putting them out of the way. Jack Frost is the center of this movie, at first I thought that he’ll be centered way too much, he is but not as much as I was thinking he will be. The characters in this movie were developed enough, despite the fact that they center this whole character when this is a team-based movie, you can still feel that these characters are a team in the end. I liked how they made Jack Frost as an actual person throughout the movie and another good job of the creators to do that. I thought Chris Pine, Isla Fisher were pretty good with their voices and Hugh Jackman sporting his homeland accent is great yet recognizable since he sounded like an Australian Wolverine (I mean the comic book character not the Animal).

In the end this is Dreamworks’ quality animated films, they retire from pop culture references here and there and sticks to them making a very quality adventure movie. This year is basically a year for quality animated films, with films such as this along  with Wreck-It Ralph, Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania, Brave, and Paranorman all example of quality animated movies we have this year, In fact this is going up there with How to Train Your Dragon and the first  two Shrek Movies in my good Dreamworks Animated Films of all time. Rise of the Guardians surprised me, It is an enjoyable film, surprisingly action-packed, well voice acted, outstanding visuals, the simplicity of it made this movie great all in all. And in the end I loved it though there were some minor problems such as pacing problems for quite a little bit in the movie, there were some kiddy clichés too that feels uncomfortable to watch but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. I highly recommend you see this movie with your family,whether it's your parents, wife or kids they might find themselves enjoying this movie.

THE GOOD:

+OUTSTANDING VISUALS

+AMAZING ANIMATION

+TOP-NOTCH VOICE ACTING

+SIMPLE STORYTELLING

+GREAT IDEAS ADDED TO THESE CHARACTERS

THE BAD:

-NONE

MY RATING:

5/5 – EPIC WIN!