Rise of the Guardians (2012) Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law, Isla Fisher, Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo Movie Review

Rise of the Guardians (2012)   4/54/54/54/54/5


Rise of the Guardians (2012)

Legendary Legends

When Santa becomes aware that a bogeyman called Pitch is on the prowl, bringing darkness to the thoughts of children as they sleep he summons the other immortal Guardians; the Sandman, Easter Bunny and the Tooth fairy to discuss what to do. It is then that the Man in the Moon informs them that their numbers are to be increased as Jack Frost is to be a new guardian. But that is a problem as Jack has a chip on his shoulder as children don't believe in him like they do the other guardians.

I think because every time an animation comes out it gets raved about I am always sceptical when I come to watch them. But thankfully my scepticism is often misplaced and the animation turns out to be every bit as good as others have said it is. That is certainly the case when it comes to "Rise of the Guardians" a not only astonishingly beautiful looking movie but one with great character chemistry and a storyline full of creativity. In fact 'creativity' is the key to what makes "Rise of the Guardians" because it takes the familiar legendary figures of a child's life, such as Santa, and re-imagines him, here as a tattooed Russian who whilst a good guy has something quite fearsome, almost pirate like about him.

Rise of the Guardians (2012)

Part of why that re-imagining of Santa works is in the detail and I am not just on about the animated detail, which to be fair is some of the best I have seen, but it is in the mannerisms combined with the voicing, the writing and the great job of putting all this together to make the characters come to life so that they genuinely have interplay and chemistry. It stops "Rise of the Guardians" being just another animation and becoming this animated world which captures your attention and your imagination.

The irony of all this is usually in visually strong movies there is a weakness when it comes to the story but "Rise of the Guardians" doesn't have one. The story going on here with Pitch turning children in to non believers is enough to be the back bone for the creativity whilst alongside this we also have Jack's story and as such we have some creativity with him waking up in a pond suffering from amnesia, a scene which for grown ups is reminiscent to the opening of the first Bourne movie. And that is another reason why "Rise of the Guardians" is so good as it also offers up enough entertainment for grown ups as well.

What this all boils down to is that "Rise of the Guardians" is every bit as good as most people say it is will plenty to entertain all the family including some fantastic animation work which right from the word go grabs your attention before the creativity and character interplay takes over.


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