It’s official. Hollywood has finally run out of animals to capitalize on.
They’re really scraping the barrel with this “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.” Owls aren’t necessarily the most heroic of the animal kingdom, let alone the most interesting.
Despite the beast of choice, the ads for this film show a grand level of mastery in animation. Nobody’s here to examine its graphics, though. What we’re here to do is ask that burning question: Is it a good movie?
Can “Legends” succeed on its own merits, defining itself as a proper film without the 3D gimmick? Does the extra dimension make it tolerable? Well, never fear, fellow moviegoers. I have the answer to these questions. No.
No, it’s not original, and no, it is not tolerable.
“Legend of the Guardians” is a tale woven within the mythic culture of a medieval owl kingdom. Soren, a barn owlet with a courageous heart, is kidnapped with his brother Kludd and taken to Saint Aegolius Academy of evil owldom. Among the brainwashed ranks of The Pure Ones (a classically sinister and equally dull enemy troupe), Soren befriends an Elf Owl named Gylfie, and together they escape the ranks of orphaned laborer owls. They have no choice but to abandon the reluctant Kludd, who’s already taken by illusions of false grandeur as a warrior for the wicked Queen Nyra.
With me so far? It turns out that The Pure Ones are led by a dictator villain named Metalbeak, whose sole purpose is to –you guessed it — reign over all of owldom. The fate of their world rests on Soren, with a little help from the legendary guardians of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree.
This film was in desperate need of a prologue. I was disoriented geographically and culturally throughout the entire movie, and the ongoing list of otherworldly character names didn’t help the lopsidedness. The various owl demographics created a riddle of confusing action sequences, where you’re left to guess which owl is which. It’s difficult to find a familiar face among a cast of birds that all pretty much look alike.
“Legend” is a masterpiece in animation, and the filmmakers make an impressive effort to ensure you are aware of this. Their acknowledgment of fine detail via slow- motion graphics becomes tiresome and overwhelmingly distracting. As rewarding as it is to notice every dilation of the pupil and flick of the tongue, the bombardment of slow-motion sequences counter-intuitively causes extreme overexposure and desensitization to the visual trick.
Layering this misused element with poor editing, awkward sense of timing, predictable script and clunky plot results in a cinema dud, and an oddly executed mishmash of a kid’s movie. Themes of fellowship, family and fable are all overpowered by the fantasy environment, which emphasizes laughable parallels between the “Legends” plot and other medieval cinema lore (i.e. “The Chronicles of Narnia,” “King Arthur” and “The Lord of the Rings”).
“Legend of the Guardians” is a forgettable addition to Hollywood’s animated film collection, and more aptly serves as a gaudy 3D advertisement than a movie worthy of mention.
Grade: C+