Movie Review - Rise of the Guardians

Rise of the Guardians  $$$   

 

 

 

PG

97 Minutes

Starring: Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, and Jude Law.

Director: Peter Ramsey. 

 

            Imagine Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy all working together as a legendary team of heroes. That’s what attracted me to this movie when I saw the first trailer for it a few months back. And that is exactly what it delivers.

            The story opens with Jack Frost (Chris Pine) awakening to his beginning as a legendary entity. We see him quickly jump into his role as the bringer of cold winter fun. As much as he enjoys the gig he wonders who he really is and the purpose of his magical existence now.

            Meanwhile, the Guardians have received instruction from the Man in the Moon to draft Jack into their ranks. Their current membership includes North (Alec Baldwin), Bunny (Hugh Jackman), Tooth (Isla Fisher), and Sandy. They are going to need Jack in order to battle against the fiendish Pitch (Jude Law). The lord of nightmares has returned to carpet the world once more in fear.            

            Production values for this movie are quite high. The animation is beautiful and the voice talent is excellent. As for concept, that is what initially drew me to this film. They do an amazing job of presenting some of the classic fairy tale legends in a new way. North is sort of a Russian Rambo version of Santa. Bunny has a decided Croc Dundee take on the Easter Bunny. Tooth and Sandy are delightful, even if not truly revolutionary in their presentation.

            During the first half of the movie gave me plenty of reasons to laugh. The dialogue is witty and fun. It made me want to see more of the original four Guardians – perhaps in their first confrontation with Pitch. Unfortunately, the last portion of the movie left me wanting. I did not feel that it had a satisfying ending. Let me state that I expect a lot of people will disagree with me on this last bit, but I felt as if they forced the resolution. When I walked out of the theater on my way home there was no prompting to hoot and holler about what a fantastic movie it had been. Good yes, but the end just clunked.

            Despite the ending this film still earned a rating of three movie bucks from me. You will definitely want to see it on the big screen with full theater sound to go with it. Catch it as a matinee if you can. If you have a different view about the ending I would really be interested in hearing what you have to say about it.

 

            Randy’s Rating System

$$$$   = Full Price    See this movie right away and pay full price, it’s worth it.

$$$     = Matinee      Catch this as a matinee or other discounted showing.

$$        = Discount     Wait until this movie reaches a discount theater near you.

$          = Rental         Wait until this movie reaches your local video rental outlet.

0          = No Sale       Don’t see this movie at any price.