Rise of the Guardians

Remember when I used to make reviews for things? Well, apparently people likes them so why not? It's my own sleep time.

So, Rise of the Guardians, that one movie tumblr seems to be so hyped about recently. In all honesty, I wasn't sure what I was expecting from this movie when I went to see it for the first time, and believe it or not I still don't. But even if most critics didn't seem to give it much of a positive rating, I'm standing here tipping my hat to Dreamworks and making fanart plans.

I'll be getting into a detailed review in a minute, but for those who just don't have the patience for it, here's the abridged version: this movie is downright BEAUTIFUL. I love the characters, I loved the worlds the animators created, I loved the animation, I adored the color palettes used and just everything visually related to this movie is brilliant. It had its fare share of funny moments - not enough to turn it into a full-lengthen comedy but enough to make it enjoyable for children (and I did watch this movie with a child so yes, I know of what I speak). It also had its fare share of deeper moments as well as all these little details that just made it one step away from perfect. But as with every movie, there have been a few flaws. There were moments in the movie, especially around the third act where the movie tended to forget itself. It was like it was trying to be more than it was supposed to be. And at times it seemed to be moving a bit too fast for my liking.

So overall, I can sorta see why some critics might not say the best of things about this movie, but does not explain why a few flaws suddenly make for all the good thing this movie be overlooked.

And this is where the review gets its SPOILERS! Be warned, there be lots of wordings ahead.

So what's the story? Without giving too much a way we have Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy and Sandman as the Guardians who vowed to protect children's hopes and dreams. Now, a few days before Easter, Pitch Black - also known as the Boogieman - set in motion a plan to plunge the word in fear and darkness so he could rule it and also take revenge on the Guardians for defeating him during the Dark Ages. On the "suggestion" given by the Man in the Moon (whom apparently is the equivalent of the Pope in this world), the Guardians recruit a still-young winter spirit named Jack Frost to become a Guardians as well as help them take down Pitch. This however doesn't go smoothly since Jack is more set on fun and games than work and responsibility and is going through what we would call an existential crises... for a better part of 300 years.

And believe it or not, this is what makes the story work. From the trailers alone you would probably expect something like Hotel Transilvania - with lots of humor and goofy moments but regrettably forgettable after a while (oh, and an Easter Kangaroo... and a Russian Santa... I think our generation will never get over these two things). But what we got was so much more.

The redeeming quality of the movie and by far its best must be its characters and especially the dynamics between them (but we will get to that in a minute). Each of the Guardians and not only were designed and written perfectly and work together perfectly (don't take that literally).

Let's start with the main character: Jack could have been your cliché badass-wannabe but they didn't forget the part where he was still a child with child-like logic and child-like behavior. He is uncertain and weary of "adults", has obvious trust issues, doesn't know what could be considered right or wrong and given the fact that he basically alone since forever adds to his character. Most throughout the movie he's struggling to figure out his place in the world, after all, so ya', I wanna hug him.

Now, North, known to most of you as Santa, is just brilliant. He's this sword-fighting, adventurous Russian with this unique sense of human you can't help loving. He's - and here I am actually kind of quoting the man - fierce, scary, mysterious but also kind and loving and simply all shades of awesome. If I would have to pick a favorite character North would probably be it. I'm sorry, but his good nature is simply infectious!

In Bunny and Tooth I won't go into a great many detail, but I don't need to. For Bunny just imagine having Wolverine magically transform into am 7-foot something rabbit with a thick Australian accent and just dare tell me that is not a stroke of entertainment genius. As for Tooth... well... I kept on saying to myself during the movie that she was bordering on that awkward-sort of creepy it's impossible not to adore in a character. She is also energetic, cheerful, caring and protective of the ones she cares about and God help you if you mess with that. And must I say he design is freaking fantastic?

Oh, and Sandman is Bruce Banner/The Hulk and no matter what you will say will ever make me think otherwise. Still, at the same time Sandy definitely has this child-like behavior to him. It's like he's this child caught in a grown-man's body who knows he's the adult and needs to act the adult but at the same time can't because... well... child.

As for Pitch... he's the freaking Boogieman, what more need I say? He is the Sandman's direct opposite, for where Sandman delivers hope and pleasant dreams, Pitch delivers nightmares and fears, which would explain why the fight between these two became so intense. They are basically two being fighting for the same territory and being the nerd that I am I was this close to building a shrine for the Dreamworks crew for that.

But now concerning character dynamics: having such a wide palette of characters around is bound to create some very interesting relationships. Now I won't get into too much details, mainly because you deserve to discover this piece of art for yourselves, but I will focus on two: that of Jack and Bunny as well as that of Pitch and Jack.

Jack, as stated before, is mostly the outcast, the troublemaker and the trickster so links between him and anybody else would be a tricky thing. But somehow, they make it work. The relationship between him and Bunny is all sarcasm and snark and "Haha - fuck you" and I for one loved every second of it, because while it is established that they hate each other so much the fact that they manage to work together in the end that is so much more gratifying. Helping someone you like is easy, but working with someone you don't like is a sign of maturity and this movie managed to capture this growing up of Jack's rather good. If I need to be a nit-picker, I would say that it could have been exploited a lot better, but I do bare in mind that this is a movie for children so I'm not faulting it too much.

Now between Jack and Pitch, we have a different sort of workings altogether. Both of them are unwanted immortals, outcasts because of their behaviors and personality as well as because of the fact that they are not believed in by children. On a very basic level, these two are just as much linked characters as Pitch was with Sandy, only on a slightly different level. It would have been very easy for Jack to have joined Pitch, but of course he didn't. This is a children's movie. The hero always does what is right. But I give the animators points for appealing to Pitch's stability as a character rather as just a villain by the scene. If you will look carefully, you'll notice that when Jack refuses Pitch's offer, the Boogieman is not immediately angry as you'd expect from an everyday villain (at least at first) but more likely hurt, saddened and disappointed. Pitch has probably lived for hundreds - nay, thousands of years before the events of the movie. Imagine being alone for such a long time - being ignored. Couldn't have been pleasant. And no, I am not trying to find excused for Pitch being Pitch. He if the freaking boogieman. It's his job. But this helps me explain (at least to myself) why he became the villain of the story rather than the necessary evil, because that is my problem with the movie.

The Boogieman IS a necessary evil for children. What I noticed with the human children in the movie is that they were much too carefree, much too reckless and didn't seem to be having any regard for actions which could very well end their short little lives. Now you could argue that they are too young to understand but wasn't that why the Boogieman, at least in our world, was created? Let's take the instance where Sophie ran dead into the magical portal for Bunny's world. She didn't fear the completely-unnatural-what-the-hell-is-this-shit-I-need-mother-help-me-lord-there-is-nothing-natural-about-this thing. She ran right in it! What if it wasn't Bunny's Warren? She could have ran right into a dangerous situation and nobody would have know! Children don't understand which is why they NEED to fear things at that age. And if children are too young to be scared of rational fears at least they should be fear irrational fears. The fact that Pitch went overboard and fucked the natural order beyond all recognition when it was already fucked up is another matter.

I don't know. Maybe I am thinking too hard into this.

Also, there are times when the movie tends to forget itself and tries to be more than it's supposed to.

Still, for what it is, the movie was definitely enjoyable. The characters are fun, the animation is beyond beautiful, the worlds they create are freakin' fantastic and even the music is nice, even if I don't listen to the soundtrack with as much dedication as I do the one for How To Train Your Dragon. The good elements in the movie are really, really good and the few problems it has (because nothing is perfect) don't bother me as much. Though I think this is still one of those movies which I love most because of what it could have been and the problems it rises as well as all the gateways to new scenarios these new worlds opened. In my opinion, it is a movie worth watching and though it saddens me that Dreamworks will most probably never invest in a sequel, the gateways it opened are something worth it all.

What can I say but give it a watch. If not all of it, you will definitely find something to like.

Mad girl, over and out.